All Forum Posts by: Connor Kerr

I would like to hear what investors say to people who speak on real estate negatively like they know what they’re talking about.

“Why would you want to buy another property so quickly”

“You’re young, you’ve got time”

“I would never stretch myself that thin”

“Any company that I’ve seen rapidly expand has failed”

“I wouldn’t want the headache of dealing with tenants”

It’s just funny to me that it’s always the ones who have no experience who like to give negative advice.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $141,500
Cash invested: $31,000

This is my first property. It is a househack dulpex. It's by no means a homerun, but like Brandon Turner says, your first deal just needs to be a base hit, just get on base. And that's exactly what I did, and at 20 years old too!!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I was drawn to SMF by the cashflow and the fact that they are easier to househack.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I found this deal on the MLS. It was listed at 145,000 and I offered asking. It got appraised at 140 so the bank wouldn't give me the loan, so I offered 141,500, but the extra 1500 came straight from my pocket. I also got them to fix a couple of issues prior to closing.

How did you finance this deal?

I got a conventional loan with 15% down. All the money came from me.

How did you add value to the deal?

I was the funder, the renovator, and the property manager.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Inflate your numbers when you analyze a deal. Even if you think you did, inflate a little more, there are always unexpected costs.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I worked with a family friend agent who was on his 3rd year as an agent and absolutely killing it. His name is Eric Henry with Keller Williams and he is outstanding. He went above and beyond to find me and negotiate a good property. If you're looking to buy in the Akron/Canton area, contact Eric Henry.

I just wanted to find out what other investors do with their security systems for SMF. I just got SimpliSafe for my house hack duplex. Do you guys put separate systems in each unit or do you put one base station in one unit and connect all security components in and around the building to it?

@Bryan Cuan I just bought a duplex and my agent went above and beyond. Very communicative, never a time when I couldn’t contact him. His name is Eric Henry with Keller Williams. I can message you his number if you’d like

@Kaylee Walterbach I worked 6 days a week for over a year to be able to save up enough for a down payment. I’m happy to say I’ll be closing on my first deal (a house hack duplex) in about 5 days! And I’m only 20 years old!

So I’m a week out from closing my first deal. One tenant wants to stay so we were trying to find out how much the security deposit was. The seller inherited the property from his father and he claims he never got the security deposit and he didn’t have a copy of the lease. We ended up obtaining a copy of the lease from the tenant and it clearly stated a security deposit of $545. So I need to know if I’m right here. Obviously a security deposit belongs to the tenant it came from. So whether or not the seller physically has the deposit, he still owes it to me at closing. Let me know what you think

@Dick Rosen periodic rent increases is something I haven’t thought about yet. I’ll have to look into that. Thank you for responding !

@Karla Simmons Ohio doesn’t have any maximum rent increase laws. I should be fine as long as this tenant agrees to sign.

@Shari P. This tenant has been there for 6 years and I don’t think she has had the rent increased in those 6 years. She doesn’t plan on moving out so I feel like she’ll be hesitant to sign at first but she’ll come around in the end.

I'm in the closing process for my first RE deal! It's a house hack duplex to get my feet wet. One unit is occupied and the other is vacant which is perfect. The current tenant has been living there for six years. Her rent rate is $525 a month for a 2BR, 1.5Bth. I checked the local rates in the area and the low end is $700 a month. Do I literally show her the local rents or do I just tell her straight up "this is what the rent will be. If that's not something you feel comfortable paying then you have 30 days to vacate". I'm curious what some of your answers will be. Thank you.