All Forum Posts by: Casey Roloff

Hey Tim!  Hope you're ready for the hot summers!  

Plenty of MFR opportunities in the area. MLS is scarce but there are good deals that pop up every once in a while. Only bad thing is they usually get snagged up pretty quick.

Let me know if I can help you out with anything!  

Israel. 

Yes, I am interested in mobile home parks as well.  Although, an "abandoned" park seems like a huge risk, given the fact that you are taking on the park with 0 current income and it's unknown how long it will take to achieve occupancy.  I'm also not sure that it would be worth the risk since I've never managed/owned a mobile home park.  I've been listening to the Mobile Home Investing podcast with Kevin Bupp (a recent biggerpockets guest), and it's been very helpful.

As far as Peter's NOI goes I would be skeptical about the expenses. I see similar expenses in my 4 plex and I have put a lot of effort in mitigating all unnecessary costs.

Depending on the sq. ft. per unit I believe that they are all under market rent.  I currently have two 1 bedroom units that are 590 sq. ft. each and they rent for $525 & $550.  I haven't had any issues finding tenants for them and have had 100% occupancy for the last year.  Judging the property by the condition of the outside, I'm willing to bet that each unit is in in need of a major overhaul before allowing market rent.  This project would be quite the undertaking for a new investor in the low income category.

As I have been monitoring the Yuma MLS for multifamily homes over the past year and a half I have realized that the majority of the properties listed, are listed for a reason. Most have been on the MLS for a significant amount of time. I believe that there are deals in Yuma but acquiring them will take a significant amount of work and time from you, the investor. To assist you with this I recommend reading Finding and Funding Great Deals by Anson Carter, he explains in depth how to find many off market deals utilizing methods that other local investors may not be currently using.

Hope this helps!

Hey Israel, I’m familiar with the property you’re talking about. Have you done any due diligence on the property yet, i.e. current rents, and how many of the 8 units are 2 bed/1 bath or 1 bed/bath etc? My first thoughts are the same as yours. The property is in a decent central location but in need of an extensive renovation to attract the tenant base and rents you’re after. $350k is much to high of a sale price considering the work needed. If I was to go after the property I would be placing an offer at a huge discount but my worries would be that I may not have the cash reserves available for the renovation or any possible unforeseen expenses. May I ask how you are considering funding the project? I’ll be looking into the same type of project in about 6 months when I (hopefully) sell two SFRs to gain access to their equity.

@Ahmed Khalifa - Check out Clayton Morris new book "How to Pay Off Your Mortgage in 5 years".  It's a quick 20 minute read and an excellent/affordable strategy to save thousands in interest over the life of the loan.

Elijah Smith Two examples of House Hacking. 1. You purchase a Single Family Residence as a primary home and rent out the extra bedrooms covering most if not all expenses. 2. You purchase a Multi-Family Residence (2, 3 or 4 Units) as a primary home and rent out the additional units. Purchasing the home as a Primary Residence allows you to purchase the property for a lower down payment % making it an affordable and attractive option for buyers starting out.

Emily McCabe I recently purchased a 4-plex which caters to the lower income tenant class. For several months I dealt with various scenarios, which all added stress and uncertainty to my already busy life. I then read the BiggerPockets book on managing rental properties and it changed my entire outlook on landlording. Brandon and his wife share their experiences dealing with tenants throughout their career and helped me gain a ton of knowledge that would have taken years, added stress and countless dollars to attain. The biggest takeaway that I found is that you need to start implementing policies and procedures into your business now to make these types of (unavoidable) situations easier to deal with in the future. After implementing their suggestions it's been smooth sailing for the past two months! As new landlords, I highly recommend that you and your husband read the book to help get on the same page for the path forward. Best of luck!

Welcome to BP Thomas!

@Michael Noto

Motivation!  Thanks my friend

@Michael Boyer

Thank you for taking the time to explain in detail.  Tenant screening was definitely the issue.  I allowed an ex-con trying to get back on his feet into the apartment.  My thoughts were that since he was part of a rehabilitation program and drug tests are conducted regularly that he may not be a bad choice, especially since the Achieve program pays for 100% of his rent & utilities.

If I was to have the opportunity to do it all over again I would be taking into consideration your last portion of advice.  I have two quiet tenants who mind to themselves, one that I like to refer to as a Chihuahua (All bark, no bite), and now a problematic tenant who I allowed to rent a unit.  An additional quiet reserved tenant would have fit perfectly in the unit and probably saved me a lot of headaches.

@James Wise

I laughed out loud when I read your post.  I had just dropped off the letter with instructions on how to file a legitimate complaint via mail.  I'll definitely take your advice into consideration but have to at least give the mail route a shot.  The funny thing is that none of the tenants like to text or phone, they all seek face to face meetings which is obviously not feasible when trying to run a business and scale up.  I also dropped off an official letter to the tenants who had been previously complained about.  Hopefully they will take them serious and there will be no further action required. (Very hopeful, I know).