All Forum Posts by: Dale Miller

On top of two other posters’ reasons, there are a lot of accidental landlords, or those who are “afraid to aggravate” their tenants because “they are paying rent on time, especially now”. They apologize to their tenants 100 million times when they are “disturbing” them during the picture taking/listing time.  These are the listings you want because the rents are under market and landlord is afraid of their tenants. Granted, some are plain lazy, but some are just plain scared and tired of “landlording”. If you have enough reserves besides the down payment (most likely have to evict tenants who are used to low rents and scared landlord) see these types of listings as opportunities. 

Good luck. 

There are no pictures because there doesn't need to be pictures right now. Multis are flying off the shelves if they're anywhere close to priced right. When it becomes a buyers market then you'll see more pictures put up with listings 

I know your pain Dale, but that's why it is so valuable to work with a realtor you like and trust who can go out and take a good first look.

@Dale Miller would you come back 4 different times to accommodate 4 different tenants who didn't do the dishes in the sink or pick their dirty clothes up off the floor.  That's if the landlord wants to allow you to do that, because the landlord may not want to rock the boat too much with the tenants as they prepare to sell.  In multifamily, photos don't give you as much value as they do in SFRs partly because a lot of the repairs/ maintenance is deferred maintenance stuff that doesn't show up in listing photos.  Photos are helpful if the units look nice, not as much if they aren't.

Hi @Dale Miller, hope to meet you in person once we can do so again. Will you be joining the BP Buffalo Zoom meet-up this evening? Honestly, one of the best things you can do is scroll Zillow listings to see what kind of rents different areas of the city command. The West Side has been hot over the last couple years, but there is a lot of growth in South Buffalo, Riverside, and Black Rock as well. In my experience, a lot of the slumlord-type owners have been overvaluing their properties when they want to sell. These are primarily duplexes that need $50-100K to properly renovate, and they are asking $100K+ prices. ARV barely $200K, so it just doesn't make sense. At least that's my finding. But, there are some good ones out there and it really depends on what level you want to take your properties. West Side is hitting as high as $1500 for a 3/1 apartment, which I personally don't see as sustainable -- especially if we hit a recession and people need to cut expenses.

Have you consulted a local realtor?