All Forum Posts by: Frank Macias

Cash for keys or file an eviction with the county. Those are the only two ways I know of.

Are you setting money aside for repairs/maintenance, vacancies, and cap-ex? If not, you will find that your $293 "cash flow" is a lot lower than you think it is. 

What makes you think you won't be able to keep renting it for $1000/month? Generally speaking rents go up year to year not down, unless the neighborhood is in decline then that is a different story. 

Your first home sounds small will you be able to add another bed/bath on that property? If so, that is a smart way to add value to the property and will potentially give you higher rents. Just run the calculations on the total cost of adding another bed/bath vs the increase in rent. You should be able to find out how long it takes you to recoup your money. If it takes you 5 years to recoup the money you put in to that improvement it's probably not worth it. Anyways, hope that gives you something to think about. Best of luck. 

Use the BP calculator, once you plug the numbers in it will tell you what your ROI will be.

Go to Tools > Rental Property

Input data... voila! All your metrics will be displayed

What are your goals in terms of your career or what you want to be doing? If I were in your shoes, I would have a career goal of what I wanted to do and take actions that moved me closer to that goal. You're fortunate that you have that rental property to cover your obligatory expenses but do not get comfortable. If I were you my hair would be on fire and I'd be trying to find a job, any job, to bring in some income. Hope that give you some insight and that your luck turns around. 

Great question @Jonathan Pflueger! I used both apps and here is the reasons why:

Realtor:

Pros:

-I prefer the layout and find it easier to use

-If you search by property type it has a specific "multifamily" option

-Built in mortgage calculator that shows cost breakdown of principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and PMI (I have compared county tax records to what realtor has and they have been accurate >90% of the time) - the cost breakdown makes it easier for me to analyze deals

Cons:

-No search by keyword function

Zillow:

Pros:

-For sale by owner (which someone already mentioned), foreclosures, auction properties.

-You can filter properties by searching listings with keywords. For instance, I can search properties with the phrase "mother in law suite" and it will show all properties with that phrase in it's description. Which is great for finding house hacking potential properties. 

Cons:

-No specific "multifamily" property type. It is lumped in as "condo/co-op" so you will have multi-family properties lumped in with condos. 

-Seems to be buggy and crashes often when I am on certain computers. 

As far as real time listings, I have seen properties come up for sale on realtor first and zillow second and vice versa. But I have heard that the listings on Zillow generally take longer to update. 

Between 6-7 hours. Sometimes I'll take a power nap in the afternoons. 

Looks like a good analysis. Wow those property taxes are a killer! Is there no way to sub-meter the water bill? Also, you put in $2k for rehab costs - which sounds like all the units need is some cosmetic work? Other than that, looks like you covered all the expenses.

Hello BP members!

I am currently in the market for a multi-family property in the Naples/Bonita Springs area where my wife and I will house hack. The prices in Bonita Springs work better compared to Naples however one aspect of Bonita Springs that scares me is the flood insurance. Does anyone own rental property in Bonita Springs (in the area of the attached pic) who can share how much they are paying annually for home insurance including flood insurance and if you getting good returns in that area. Or if you have anything else to add to this discussion I

would be grateful. Thanks in advance for your input. 

-Frank M. 

PS I didn’t mention USDA loans because you are purchasing in LA and that loan applies to rural areas.

Are you a veteran? The VA loan is 0% down. If not, there aren’t any other loan programs I know of for less than 3.5% down. You’ll need to borrow money from relatives/friends or from your retirement account (if you have one). Otherwise, you’ll need to find a partner OR maybe you just aren’t in the right financial position to be making this purchase...