All Forum Posts by: Carl Hebert

Welcome to BP! I would also recommend checking out the links that @Dmitriy Fomichenko listed and the advice 

@John West gave. 

Get pre-approved before you start looking. That way if you find something you can jump it. Find an agent that can get you on the mls so you can start looking. 

There are currently around 60 multi's for sale in the Lewiston/Auburn area with half being 2 units. Most of the 2 units don't make sense to me as an investor at this time, but might make sense if one was house hacking. 

I currently have 6 buildings in Lewiston/Auburn and think it is a good place to start as the prices are still pretty decent. When I started here 5 years ago there were 120-140 properties listed, but in the last year and a half it has dropped to 60-70. If a good investment property gets listed you need to get on it pretty fast as the good ones do not stay long, hence the pre-approval letter.

Good Luck!

@Jason D., ahhh now that makes sense, why couldn't my agent make sense lol. I will have to stop into his office for a chat. I feel we are at a place in the business where I should get this sort of coverage.

Hello everyone, 

I currently have 6 properties all in Maine and all insured through Allstate. 5 are landlord policies (3 unit, 4 unit, 3 unit, sfh and 3 unit) and one is home owner (4 unit). I asked my Allstate agent about getting an umbrella policy and he said it wouldn't cover rental property. I know I have read quite a few articles on getting an umbrella policy for added protection here on BiggerPockets. 

Has anyone been able to get an umbrella policy through Allstate? I would really like to stay with them and was wondering if my agent was just mistaken.

I also have my vehicles insured through them.

Thanks!

@Mohammed Ahmed - here is a great link to Zillows break down of FHA loans, it won't tell you interest rates, but has a ton of info on requirements, down payments, and insurance. FHA article Zillow

Good luck!

@Sarah Camic are you doing an FHA loan? I noticed the down payment is $3100, buy your rate is 5% and you show a pmi of $50. If it is a FHA your rate will be closer to 4% and your pmi will be close to $100. Unless something has changed with the FHA loans lately.

@Sarah Camic Great advice from @Harrison Smith, @Danny Randazzo, @Upen Patel, and @Corby Goade.

You really should get the pre-approval letter, it shows the agent you are serious and he can use it as leverage if someone else places an offer on the same property as you. 

We just closed on our 4th multi-family mortgage here in Maine. The last one they used the same criteria as the first one and ignored the rent income from all the properties even though they asked for copies of all the leases. Although the rent income is included on our tax return and could be counted as income from there maybe. The loan officer said they didn't count the rental income when I asked though. 

My understanding is if it is a commercial loan they will look at the income the property you are buying will make and base their decision on that. 

They also treat 1-4 unit buildings pretty much the same if you are going to live in one and you probably would qualify for an FHA loan with a low down payment and low rate. The downside to an FHA loan is the PMI that gets added to your payment each month, about $100 per 100k.

Good luck!

I could be wrong, but I do not think your fins can rust (aluminum), the covers can and with a little hand sanding and a spray can of Rust-Oleum they will look pretty damn good. I usually take the covers off and vacuum out the fins and straighten them with a putty knife as @Colleen F. said. Also make sure with the covers on that there is an air gap of about an inch or so to let air under the fins to be warmed up otherwise you lose a lot of efficiency. 

@John West your monthly cashflow may not be as bad as you are showing, you are showing 750 for mortgage and it should be around 500-550 at 4.5-5% you are also showing $100 a month for electric, unless you are paying for it in one of the units that should also be down around 35-50 for house electric. Why isn't the lawn/snow covered by property management? Are the rents under market? Most buildings I have picked up have been and I raise rents which is pure profit. 

I would get last years real numbers from the seller/city/utilities and plug them in. 

Where is this located? There are definitely differences between getting a place in Lewiston/Auburn, Augusta/Gardiner and Bath/Brunswick for example. 

If you can manage it yourself that also helps a ton on the cashflow. 

I agree with @Ryan Murdock though that you need to budget more then $20 a month for repairs. One call for toilet or sink would pretty much wipe that out for the year. 

Fellow Mainer here and I've been investing in the Lewiston/Auburn area for the last 5 years. Welcome! 

Once you clarify your question I'm sure you will get a bunch of answers.

 Thanks Andrew

That is what I was thinking also, but didn't know if there was something I was missing. My last mortgage experience was a nightmare, all on the banks side of things. They had multiple internal fails lol. I managed to close finally almost a month after the original closing date, but a close is a close. I just can't wait to start another one!