All Forum Posts by: Alex Chin

My instinct says that this is $1,000 "cash-flow" after debt service (PITI). I don't think vacancy, repairs, maintenance, etc. has factored into the equations yet.

Priniciple, Insurance, Taxes, and Interest on a $307,500 loan should come out to a few shades under $2,000/month, I think that he is counting the rest as cash flow.

Hello @Ben Lukes. I am actively searching for an accountant myself, so I'll have to join the club there.

As for the other issues, I self-manage my Tacoma property, and have used Tim Pierick to take a look at a few small-multifamily units.

@Ryan Patrick - Veristone has a pretty good rep, when you say you got scammed badly, what happened?

There is a possibility that it isn't the same Demitri, the guy at Veristone spells his name Demetry. You might want to see if you can verify that it's the same person.

@Nghi Le, @Sara Hoang, I recall you talking about gap funding awhile back, this something you're going to be interested in?

Hey @Matthew Richey. Without getting into any deep analysis, I would say the first thing you need to remember is that if you're going to be owner-occupying the property as a househack, your equation changes entirely. The goal is not to generate some kind of massive monthly cash-flow, you are looking to defray your living expenses while gaining valuable hands-on management experience and building equity in a property with a very low interest rate.

Don't start evaluating this property based on the 2% rule, 1% rule, or whatever. Instead, look at it from the perspective of: "Well, I need to live somewhere, and it may as well be "free" to me so that I don't have $1,000+ going into someone's pocket ever month." Treat extra cash as a bonus on this property. If you can finish the basement and get a studio apartment out it, so much the better (make sure that this is permitted first!). My instinct is to advise holding rents slightly under-market as your priority in this situation is to minimize vacancies so as to reduce your personal operating costs.

Hello @Sid Roberts, and welcome to the site. It sounds like you already have a pretty good idea of where you're looking to go, I'm curious as to what you're looking for in the immediate future. What type of apartment deal are you trying to put together? a 10-20 unit value-add? A 100+ syndication? a 5-O-1 mixed-use new construction project?

And what sort of information do you think the community can help you with?

"(for mah fellow former Marines out there) "Keep It Simple, Stupid."

And then the caveat:

"Keeping it simple is the hardest thing in the world."

@Thomas S. - thanks for the input. I know I wouldn't have bought it if it was my choice, but it's been passed on to my parents and so I'm just going with the flow here and looking to help them defray the annual costs as much as possible.

@Mark Miles - you're telling me, but it's not like I have too much choice in the matter, will likely be looking to manage bookings myself and move forwards as best I can. At least I don't have to worry about generating any kind of ROI.

@Chris Simmons - I'll keep you posted on how it works out for me, hopefully I can get this ball rolling soon.

@Troy Fisher - true true. I just read in the Seattle Times that in SF and San Jose, $1million dollar homes make up more than 45% of their housing stock! Holy cow! (Seattle was sitting at 7%, per that same article)

But competition-wise, as a rapidly growing city, Seattle is, like you said, as competitive as anywhere in the USA.

Hello @Kelly Moffat.

I wouldn't consider myself a "seasoned investor", but I do have a few actionable steps that you can take right now, beyond just podcast listening. You're main investment with these will be your own time, which you'll have to decide for yourself just how expensive for you that is.

1. Get familiar with home prices. Spend some time on your free "MLS" of choice. Redfin, Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, etc. Filter by recently sold and you'll eventually start to get a feel for what will sell for what in which area.

2. If you're planning on a buy-hold strategy, I would also get familiar with rents for your chosen area. Understand that some things may not matter at all, like there isn't much difference between renting a 1,350sqft. and 1,300 sqft, but on the other end of the spectrum, that 50sqft matters when the apartment only has 500.

3. Drive for dollars! Take a weekend and drive up and down every street in an area you're looking to invest in. Get a "feel" for the place, and understand what sort of renter looks for an apartment in the area.

4. Reach out to your friends and find out who is a real estate agent, who is in banking. Follow up with these folks, buy them lunch, get a sense for their feel of the market.

5. Start making regular trips to Home Depot, or Lowes, etc. Start to build up a feel for what material costs are like to fix up a floor, redo siding, tile a bathroom.

That's all I have off the top of my head, good luck and good hunting!