All Forum Posts by: Christopher Collins

@Mario B. various places around Sono. We have 4 so far. They are not on Washington but near the train and hospital off route 1. We underwrite 10% CoC but have been able to manage them up to a 18% so far with minimal turnover costs (3 years and running). Similarly we look for below $250 HOA fees, monthly rents of ~$1,800 at prices around $200K as our baseline. Very hard to find, so we are currently around 1-2 a year. Probably need to branch out into a more dynamic sourcing model but no time right now to do so. 

Hi Andres, 

We have one 4-family in Stamford and 4 condos in Norwalk that do pretty well. We look at ALOT of deals and very few manage to work. The market is definitely frothy out there. Don't rush it, we are long in the tooth for this cycle and  most on-market deals are not going to be great cash flow right now. 

Having said that, there are always opportunities for off-market deals by networking and finding distressed sellers if you want to do the leg work on foreclosures, estate sales, pre-foreclosures, direct mail, etc.

Just your current cash flow and protection against inflation. 

What class building is your condo in? Top class buildings haven't fared well since there is so much luxury supply coming to the market but there has be an increase in rent even over the past two years for lower-income housing. 

https://www.rentjungle.com/average-rent-in-stamfor...

https://www.zillow.com/research/data/

You can find rent trends in various places. Rents haven't gone up much over the past 2 years but if you look back at where they were in 2012 or 2013 they are significantly up. And based on income-rent ratios/affordability, i don't expect them to increase much over the next few years. 

Hi Liz,

My business partners and I are currently building out our Stamford condo portfolio and always looking to buy properties. We currently like Stamford because of its location to NYC and is close to where we live, but I think most people agree, the Stamford market has risen alot over the past few years and may need a bit of a break from rental increases. My partners and I are not expecting much appreciation or rental increase in the near term. 

Great article. Very much agreed on what David said 

1) Rents and expenses don't scale linearly (2% rule is needed for 50K properties, but 1% works for higher rent areas)

2) Rent increases will likley be higher in LA than Baltimore

3) Even with property mgmt, less properties in better areas = less work 

Having said all that......I am closing on a property in Baltimore next week. Hello cash flow!

1) Cash flow provides less disposition risk

2) Cash flow allows you to weather bad macro economic downturns 

3) And once you include re-investment rate in the Baltimore cash flows you'll really make it lopsided

Like the article! 

Thanks for the idea. This was an initial alternative originally suggested by one of the chimney professionals but after a little research it was ended up being too expensive on both the water heater front as well as the side vent because of the layout of the house and water lines etc. 

Does anyone has experience with Chimney Liners? 

I need to add a chimney liner to a three story chimney. It will only be used to vent the gas from four traditional hot water heaters. The chimney is narrow so two contractors suggested two 4-5", each liner would be connected to two HWHs. The other contractor suggested we only need one 5" liner.

Is there a ratio of exhaust to diameter that anyone can help me out with? Installing one liner is significantly cheaper if possible, but I want to make sure it won't cause backdraft for the units.

Thanks!  

I have a four-family house in Stamford that has a small yard, a handful of bushes/plants, and a 5-10 yard sidewalk up to the front door. 

Can anyone refer a local person who may be interested in the lawn care/snow removal upkeep that it requires. A professional lawn care company is too expensive for something that is so small.

Any suggestions/referrals?

Thanks!