All Forum Posts by: Evan Smith

@John Underwood are yours under one roof or split among multiple properties?

I Ill have 6 houses by the end of this summer which range from triplexes to quads. Overall ill have roughly 20 units. Im curious how people in my situation save for expenses. I used to save per house and just keep it in my bank account but at this point im thinking about just keeping a lump sum x amount and if it goes down I just replenish it to a certain point. 

With my monthly rent at this point I could pay for a roof or something else if it goes wrong one month. Obviously if I had a ton of huge stuff hit me at once I would have to do it over a few months, but im thinking it might be a waste to continue saving instead of just buying more properties. Curious to see what others here do.

I have tried three property management companies so far and they have all been terrible, mostly because they are taking on too much. My tenants at this point are so confused. Does anyone work with a decent company that they actually like? 

I have been taking the 50% rule more seriously after a few deals I had werent the greatest and I got stuck with properties that I believed the income would be much higher. I found a couple of off market 4 unit properties and they look like they cashflow really well but im afraid that they dont make sense. I am saving 35% for repairs, vacancy, expenses ect. It seems like what im saving should be sufficient but im really not sure. The buildings are older in general (1900s) but the roofs, water heaters, ect are relatively new. Here is an example of a deal I have lined up. Let me know if you think im budgeting too low or good enough. 

200k for 4 units, Total gross income a month 3325. Loan/taxes/insurance monthly is $1300. Im saving $1163 a month for expenses, which is 35% of gross but im managing myself and the taxes are rolled into the mortgage fee. Does this saving seem low for a 4 plex? My CoC at a 35% gross savings is roughly 15%.

I personally like groundfloor over fundrise. I spread out my investment over a ton of properties and you can do it as a non accredited investor, but if you make a good income realize that you will be taxed at your income bracket so you might want to think about physical real estate instead. The big problem with online services is they just dont have a long term track record of multiple decades so you are taking a higher risk than owning property directly. Also with loans you are trusting their underwriting system heavily so do your own Due Diligence.