All Forum Posts by: Eric Sanford

I've had my duplex's 2 boilers inspected in years past, it's been ~$250.  This year I mentioned during scheduling I needed the city's HVAC safety inspection sheet filled out.  After inspection, the invoice came at $560, same vendor.  Plus work orders for break down/clean boilers, trap combustion duct changes, and a new chimney liner, at $5950 for all.  These costs all seem high (and more than double for the inspection this time), plus suddenly a bunch of changes/repairs that never come up other years, now that I have to fulfill the city's inspection?  Thoughts?  Is the inspection portion just a coincidence, or are they taking advantage?  Are these items/costs normal (especially the $1500 per boiler cleaning), and I've just never run into them before?

I realize I'm resurrecting this thread, but for a relevant reason- how will Minneapolis' new zoning implemented in 2020 affect this question?  https://minneapolis2040.com/  

My general question: How do you narrow your criteria for commercial properties if you don't have enough experience to know what you're looking for? I just finished "Crushing It in Apartments and Commercial Real Estate", and there's a lot of talk about narrowing your search criteria to your particular needs and going from there. If you're new to CRE, how do you know what type of property/deal is going to work for you, or even what criteria are realistic? People say to narrow your focus or you end up looking at too many properties and wasting everyone's time, but how to know which properties or type of properties won't work for me?

My specific situation:  I live in Minneapolis and have owned one investment duplex since '13.  With the capital in that, and some other cash, I have around $250k that I'd like to invest in commercial real estate.  I like the idea of simplifying into a single property, and with %25 down for a commercial bank loan, that equates to about a $1mil property.  I also like the idea of non-residential property to avoid the time requirement of that many tenants, but more than a single tenant seems like a good idea to keep the entire property from sitting empty if a renter vacates.  Any thoughts?  Is looking for seller financing at all realistic in this market?  Or pursuing other financing options other than using all of my cash on a down payment?  Would it be better to split the cash up into multiple deals?  How do I narrow down my options?