All Forum Posts by: Chris Grenzig

@Steven Saviolis So we always go see the properties before we put any deal under contract. However, since we tend to buy 50+ units and usually 100+ we can ask our managers to go check out the deal for us early on and take some pictures, videos, and feedback on the property so that way we don't have to go fly out there every time.

Most of our deals are through commercial brokers, however we've just started up again doing more direct mail campaigns for multifamily and mobile homes and are hoping to have more direct owner relationships by the end of 2019.

We always try to buy in areas with minimum crime, however we really only buy B/C assets and more C than B which will almost always have some crime in the area. It's just knowing the area, being comfortable with it, having the right managers in play, and doing everything you can to minimize your exposure to the crime.

@Oleg Serdyuk so being from Ny, kind of similar due to the high costs. I looked at house hacking, but ultimately decided not to because I would still be coming out of pocket every month to cover expenses, or I'd have to live in a worse neighborhood which I didn't want.

Instead I rent a place that is nice, but is below my means, and I invest all my extra capital into stock market and our own deals. House hacking is an awesome option and could have worked very well for me, but ultimately didn't fit what I wanted for my personal life and goals.

Therefore, I think looking at additional properties instead of trying to house hack is definitely a possibility if that is what you would prefer. At the end of the day it's all about what is best for you, and not necessarily maximizing every dollar you have.

@Davere Currie you can't judge an investments risk factor based on the quoted returns. I can make any deal return 5% and 15% IRR, but I could very well be wrong, overestimating, inexperienced, or flat out lying.

Without more information I think you need to do some more research on the fund, what their investing in, what type of debt/leverage their using, their timeframe, their different underwriting assumptions, etc.

@Justin Pencook even if you don't see an ROI attached to free deal analysis, it will help get your name known and probably eventually lead to increased listings. Who knows, if you do a good job on an evaluation, they might be thinking about selling another deal they own and were impressed with what you had presented to them.

Don't make the free analysis complicated and over the top, that way it doesn't eat up too much of your time. 

@Adrienne Melton Welcome! I did the same thing with Nevada, definitely don't need it so get rid of it!

Ask your attorney as you're buying a property what entity and where you should file as each state can be different. There is no one size fits all and can change. That's why having a reliable attorney is important.

@Account Closed the article was written on Dec 5 and I believe the fed loosened their reigns on the number of rate bumps forecasted for 2019 after the 2 year and 5 year treasury inverted in mid Dec.

I'd be interested to see the article rewritten or amended to account for the new guidance (I think they lowered from 4 bumps to only 2 for 2019). 

I found this article from Kiplinger written on the 21st that touched on some of the thoughts of interest rates after the announcement.

https://www.kiplinger.com/article/business/T019-C0...

@antoine martel at http://www.martelturnkey.com/ I think does some of those markets, I would shoot him a message.

@Sachin Bhat if you already own a few properties and are looking for similar ones in the area, you should have a pretty good idea of what your expenses will be. Obviously the taxes, utilities, insurance are fairly fixed, but you should be able to have a good handle on that stuff. If your current deals are operating at 35% expense ratio, then you may have an advantage over others because of your ability to reduce costs if you self manage. Just because someone says they have to be 50% doesn't mean they can't be more or less by a good margin. If you're worried about potential capital items, pad you capital budget a little bit and at the end of the day it's just where you feel comfortable doing the deal.

Don't compromise your criteria to make a deal work, good chance you may end up resenting that deal in 1-3 years.

@Dan Peebles A lot of people have spoken about market and over leveraging which is true, but I'll avoid adding to that because no ones talked about deals not doing so well in good markets.

Number 1 reason I've found when deals have underperformed is the management that is place. Your deals will live or die depending upon your management team you have in place. That goes for the company, your maintenance guys, your on-site manager, any sub contractors you bring in to do work, etc.

When you buy properties, especially multifamily when you get to over 10 units and even more so once you get buildings 100+, these are actual people and communities and not enough people take into consideration the people factor when operating these things. An on-site that is organized, friendly, fair, tough, no-nonsense, marketer, will take your property over the top.

Case in point, one of our deals in Jacksonville went from 90-91% occupied to 97-98% within a month because we brought in a new on-site who is unbelievable. She is incredibly organized, chases down late payers much quicker, has created a better sense of community, and has just been terrific for several months now. We've also been able to increase asking rents $25-50 without any work because of her excellent work following up on leads and staying on top of everyone.

@Robert Ellis It was a 121 unit vacant deal we found off market. We're still going through the whole permitting process and really not looking to release any specific info at this point in time.

@Ronald Rohde so it's still new, only closed a few months ago and we're going through the process with the city to get all permitting squared away and getting all plans drawn up before starting the work. We bought it all cash, closed in 2 weeks and haven't started the renovations yet, but they're way more than what we purchased it for.