All Forum Posts by: Griffin Thomas

It would be great to meet up. I will be coming down from New England to attend. Looking forward to the conference and the weather!

Pay yourself first! 

Set a budget as soon as you receive your income and allocate the funds directly to your investments. Focus on the longer term goal. If you know you need to save, set the milestones so you can hit them weekly. 

That's awesome you are so interested so early! I agree with building credit. When it comes to getting financing and lending that will become very helpful. I would recommend just getting experience in the field. The more practical experience you have the more you can relate to people in the industry and communicate and connect with them.

@Albert L. - The variability of them, not really knowing exactly what they are going to be from a month to month basis. Also since it's a duplex, you can't just charge the costs back to the tenants like you could in a SFH.

I like how you saved 9% for vacancy, cap ex, and management though!  

It looks like the listing mentioned forced air. Are there two furnaces? If not, would you plan on billing it back to the tenants?

I'm working on my first duplex and the biggest thing I am facing is dealing with expenses ( snow, lawn, trash, water/sewer, and there's only one furnace so currently I'm covering heat)

Only a mile from the water though!

 I was thinking the same thing as Karen! If you take the actionable items in return for a reduced price they might be more willing to accept the offer.

Do you plan on covering the other utilities (lawn, snow, trash, etc.)? If you have taken those into account as well as specifying some percentages of the monthly rent to management (in case you ever want to relieve the responsibilities), capital expenses (roof, furnaces), and vacancy, and still have a good cash flow then it would be interesting to look into further. 

Personally I would be a little cautious of the roof and furnaces as they might be getting to the end of their lives and those are larger expenses. 

I am working on my first duplex as well, good luck with the process!

I just purchased a duplex and am looking to do the same thing! I'm finishing up the rehab in hopefully the next couple of weeks then looking to get it appraised but I am also worried I'll get stuck with a lot of money down. 

Depending on your financial situation, the ROI on you investment, even with cash, might be good enough to keep it as a duplex.

I use craigslist for almost all of my furnishings and appliances. Recently found a coin op washer and dryer listing which ended up coming from a tear down apartment building.  From the building we were also able to get a partially plumbed furnace and water heater for a tenth of it's worth! 

It's a quick way to save thousands getting the house ready. 

I'm fairly new to real estate investing and still getting the grasp of everything but I would say there are details you should figure out before making a decision, especially with a assessments being less than the current asking price. With it being in a rural area, it might also be a more difficult sell or to find renters. Would you be looking to flip, rent, or wholesale?