All Forum Posts by: Nick Earls

Hi Jennifer, of the two listings you provided I would definitely recommend looking further into the lot in Amesbury.  That listing states the utility hookups are already at the street.  Even if you have to extend the line to your lot it will probably be much cheaper than bringing lines in to that Brockton lot. 

The Brockton lot does seem to have frontage on a nearby street, but the description mentions upland, which I would be careful dealing with unless you are prepared for large excavation costs.  Either way, you would need to bring out civil engineers and architects to determine the feasibility of building on either lot, but the Amesbury listing looks like a standard level lot, so logistically it will definitely be a quicker process than the Brockton listing.

You can do a lot of the legwork yourself to speed things up.  Look up the Amesbury zoning map and determine what zone you are in (the listing states single family use).  Some towns include the dimensional and use regulations on their zoning map, but if not, you should then look up the zoning code and track those tables down to see if you have the required lot size, frontage, etc to build in your lot's zone.

It seems you've already honed in on some of the best markets for your situation.  If you want cash flow, stick to the cities on your list (you can also consider Fitchburg or Lawrence if you're willing to deal with rougher areas).  The closer you get to Boston, the less likely it is you'll find a cash flowing deal. 

Lowell and Worcester are probably the safest bets for some modest appreciation potential while you still cash flow.

Search or have a realtor search for the highest price per square foot units that have sold in your market recently (recently can be more or less time depending on the volume in your market).  This should give you an idea what types of buildings are the most desirable.  Remember that PPSF obviously has diminishing returns the larger the unit and vice versa, so it's not a perfect tool, but it should be a good guide for your purposes.

Increased public transportation can only help investors and we should definitely support continued infrastructure improvements in the state.  Areas within walking distance to the T should have the most benefit, but it's reasonable to expect this project to be an economic boon to the whole region.

Your best bet is to reach out to as many realtors as you can in your target areas and explain your price point. You could also look into getting your real estate license as access to MLS is really valuable.

We use Garen Gregorian from Gregorian Engineers for all of our projects.  He is a real math genius and a pleasure to work with.

Codman Square has a very low volume of condo sales. There were only 4 Codman Square sales listed through MLS in the last 18 months. People may be tempted by seeing your beautiful finishes at such a low price when they look at it online, but once they see the neighborhood in person they are getting scared away. You also haven't been on the market for very long if the information on the Trulia listing is accurate, so if you can afford to wait a while longer the buyer you're looking for might still come along.

I agree that the best bet would be to try marketing the 2 units as a package to investors while you continue to market them separately to end users.  

$10,000 a month in passive income from $100,000 invest isn't realistic in real estate today, especially if you are just starting out.  The quickest way to scale using 100k in cash would be flips in my opinion, but no one would call flipping passive.  There are lots of resources on how to flip houses and you can even learn new construction once you have some experience.  Use some of the profit from flips to buy multi families and you can gradually work your way up to 10k a month in passive income.

The way I like to look at things like this is it's a barrier to entry that turns away many other potential investors and this should be reflected in the price.  If you have the funds to carry the building based on a conservative timeframe for getting the units rented, then you just need to make sure you are being given a discount in price that you think is appropriate for the extra work and risk vs. buying a more turnkey opportunity.

Generally sellers won't want to waste their or your time doing an inspection until you've already shown you're serious by making an offer.  An inspection contingency will protect you in the vast majority of cases so you shouldn't worry about it anyway.