All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I think this is a great idea! My goal is to buy my first house hack properly in the fall of this year. My question is, how can someone like me fit in? My only goal as of right now is to practice analyzing deals, reduce my spending, and build up my savings for my fall down payment.

I lost my job too! I was laid off last Wednesday from my Software Engineering role. I wish you the best of luck going through this, as I know exactly how it feels.

Dave Saveri 5% no pmi does exist. He OP lives in Massachusetts. Look up Mass Housing loans.

Welcome! Congrats on your first property. Is it located in Boston? I live in Medford and I'd love to grab coffee sometime.

Hi there! Living in Boston, I can tell you that a lot of hard work, and a lot of networking is required to find deals around here. I would mostly look at places around 50-60 miles in each direction away from Boston to be honest. 

South of Boston you have Attleboro, Foxboro, Canton, and even Quincy. West you have Framingham, Southboro, Fitchburg, Worcester and Springfield (which I would personally avoid).

I am normally not the type of person to complain about a company, but I do when they are using illegal practices. Now, I am not a lawyer, so as always discuss with an attorney if you have any questions. Today I met with a gentleman from Centre Realty Group in Newton, Massachusetts looking to find a rental property for me to move into. From the second I walked into the office, I felt really uneasy. The broker that was working with me was discussing a deal from his last client to his boss right in front of me. The real shocker is when he asked me to sign a disclosure before even showing me a property. It stated that I was signing to agree to providing a non refundable application fee of $20 dollars for every application I submitted. This is illegal in Massachusetts. I had asked if the fee would be applied toward rent, he had said no, and when I mentioned the legality of this, he brushed it off and told me he did not want to work with me anymore. Has anyone else had this experience, or am I sounding a bit over dramatic?

Has anyone else heard of the "Buy Cities" program for MassHousing loans? I am looking to purchase a 2-4 unit property in Attleboro, MA and I was wondering if this could be used? I was shocked when I saw 100% LTV for these particular cities.....so I would love some more info from anyone who can provide it!

More info here: https://www.masshousing.com/portal/server.pt/community/home_buyer_loans/226/buy_cities

I'm really glad to see responses still coming in here :) definitely enjoying this discussion and I thank everyone for participating. Since this post, I have been looking into Attleboro, as it is a nice city with close proximity to Providence and Boston. While it is not expecting any boom anytime soon, I do not see it declining. It seems to have nice inventory and can provide cash flow. The news of these potential companies moving into Rhode Island will be great for the state and for places like Attleboro.

@Jiva Segaran You are correct about me wanting to buy and hold! 

So the cash-on-cash according to my estimates is just over 10%. The BRRR approach is definitely what I was thinking of doing. I checked the tax records also and they confirm the numbers above.

It seems to me like this might just be a good deal!

Hello BP,

I am analyzing a deal that I found on Zillow, and it looks like such a steal! I am a little troubled though because it has been on Zillow for 21 days. It is a FSBO triplex, located in one of the better neighborhoods in this city. I was wondering if anyone would like to review this deal with me and just kind of let me know what they think? Here we go:

3 UNIT APARTMENT BUILDING
UNIT 1 5 BED 1 1/2 BATH 1755 SQ FT est rent 2275 MO (I disagree, a little high)
UNIT 2 5 BED 1 BATH 1375 SQ FT est rent 1955 MO (I disagree, a little high)

UNIT 3 4 BED 1 BATH 1275 SQ FT est rent 1955 MO (I disagree, a little high)

15X 10 STORAGE UNIT IN BASEMENT INCLUDED WITH
EACH UNIT

The listing price is 159,900, and I estimated about 50,000 in rehab. I also estimated an ARV of 270,000 based on location, property type, and similar listings. Zillow has a Zestimate of 409,000.

Even using my conservative numbers, the cash flow looks like this:

Rent: 3,000

Mortgage: 764.97

Taxes: 281.92

Insurance: 70.00

Vacancy: 210.00 (7%, neighborhood average is 5%)

Repairs: 300.00 (it is a little older)

CapEx: 300.00

Management: 300.00 (10%)

All of this leaves the cash flow to be a whopping $773.11, is there something I am missing here? I invite all opinions, criticisms and advice on this post. Maybe I am not seeing something, or maybe I am an idiot for not jumping at this deal. Let me know your thoughts!