All Forum Posts by: Chris Williams

I have three questions. 

1. Does the property need any rehab work?
2. Did you do your due diligence on the property and seller beforehand?
3. Do you have an inspector lined up prior to close?

If no rehab's needed, due diligence came back clean, and an inspector's waiting in the wings, then you're in a good spot. At least from a buyer's perspective. If something's missing...you may have a problem.

I'm guessing from your income tally that it already has tenants. Ergo, it already cash flows for its current owner. They must have a reason for selling. Did you find out what that reason is?

Now, if the property is OK as-is and inspections didn't turn up any red flags, then I'd say this looks like a decent deal. I am admittedly a rank amateur though (haven't even made an offer yet), so don't trust my sole opinion.

Hope it serves you well! I'm considering the same, mostly for the Pro forum and marketplace (where better to find deals/partners/private money than here on BP?).

@McKenzie Peterson I'm curious...how big is this property? Are the mobile homes all occupied? Did you talk with them?

I've never heard of this particular situation. Makes me wonder how it all worked out. If you'd care to share?

Even if establishing a park may not work, the story may lead you to a better solution.

I remember comparing the Boise area to other West Coast areas. I looked for a lower overall investment, but didn't find it. Now, I could have just done the research wrong; I'm nowhere near experienced to say. But I could find better numbers elsewhere, and so I looked elsewhere. Grain of salt.

Speaking solely from my own perspective here. I'd buy as many small multifamily properties as I could reasonably manage, with a percentage of the cash reserved for repairs/touch-ups of said properties.

This accomplishes two goals:
The money draws in the greatest cash flow possible, and
You don't accidentally over-leverage your holdings.

Let's say you can afford 3 duplexes at $150K total in, with $25K held back for repairs. 6 doors total. If one unit's tenants leave in the middle of the night, you're out 16.667% of net cash flow that month. Hurts, but not crippling.

Contrast this to buying 3 SFHs for the same amount. If one tenant leaves, you're now out 33% of net cash flow. That hurts a lot more.

Also, I did a little bit of research on Idaho a few months back. Decided not to pursue any investments there, as the numbers seemed a little off-balance. (I could easily be wrong, as I do not live in the area.) If I had $150-200K, I'd look at buying more in Ohio cities, the Phoenix metro, Pittsburgh, and maybe Detroit. Lower down payments, lower expenses, better ROI.

Hope that helps. Best of luck.

Vancouver is one of two areas in WA at which I'm looking. I'm coming from Silicon Valley, so the Vancouver area's prices are pretty darn reasonable to me!

The city proper is still good, particularly in the northern region. I've heard you should avoid Rose Village, but almost everywhere else is OK. Camas and Washougal are further eastward & smaller, but also have nice communities & reasonable prices.

I'm likely to move to Washington state in 1-2 years, and will buy a house there (hopefully a duplex/triplex I can house hack). From there I plan to invest in more affordable markets like Birmingham/Huntsville, Pittsburgh, Manchester, etc.

In case no one's mentioned it yet, pick up David Greene's book on long-distance real estate investing (it's over in the BP store). I'm reading through it now; there's some good material on building up a local team from anywhere. Best of luck!

$750/month is OK compared to house prices in the Bay Area. If you had a 3BR SFH here and charged $750 per bedroom you'd get $2,250/month in rent. There are still a few SFHs where you can get a mortgage for less than that.

However, you're much more likely to find SFHs elsewhere at/under that amount. Almost anywhere else! Which means you have a better chance of cash flowing there. Trying to cash flow in the Bay Area right now is, at least in my opinion, nuts.

Average, yes, around 750. But the range goes wide - I've seen rooms go for $1200/month easily. Not even super-high-quality rooms either, if the neighborhood's any indication.

Nathan makes superb points above. Especially the "put it all in writing" part. But, let me color in the discussion from the other side.

I've rented in houses for the past 9 years. Each time with a small selection of roommates. Anywhere from 1 to 4 others, all adults. Some younger than others, of course. This is also my current housing situation - renting a house with 2 other roommates. I'm the oldest; the others are in their mid-20s.

We take care of the place, keep things quiet, and pay the bills on time. Is it perfect? No, of course not. I have to pester the guys occasionally to stay on top of their cleaning. But for the most part things work.

How does it work? Because we all have a solid, stringent lease.

It includes provisions like:

• One person per room.
• One car per tenant.
• Very limited overnight visitors.
• No partying whatsoever.
• No smoking or drugs whatsoever.
• No pets. (I would really like a dog again...sigh.)
• Property manager does random inspections.

Violate these provisions? Your butt's booted out the door right quick. Discrimination isn't even a factor; the quality of the tenant is.