All Forum Posts by: Laura Janosko

Hi Lauren,

When I was starting out (using the BP calculators) it took me around 30 minutes to analyze a deal because I was searching the assessor's website for information such as taxes and market values. After I had done about 30 analyses, I started recognizing what criteria was needed to get the cash flow to meet my requirements. Now I can tell if a property is even worth analyzing further in less than a minute.

Hope that helps!

Hi Evan,

To add to Sam's awesome response, you can also use the sales comparison approach, where you find similar properties in the market and look at what they sold for on a per unit basis, fand use that to estimate value. For example, if multifamily properties in your area are selling for $10,000 per unit and the property you're looking at is 10 units, then the value is $100,000. Because so many things can affect a sales price, the income capitalization approach (outlined in Sam's comment) is often the most reliable. You can ask to see three years of income and operating expenses from the current owner to get an idea of vacancy, income and expenses and can estimate a post-renovation ARV by looking at what expenses can be decreased and seeing where you can add income.

Thanks so much for the responses. I am in the process of looking for a CPA. I have been keeping track of all expenses that will be deductible and just realized I haven't kept track of mileage. Starting now, I'll begin tracking trips to the property or hardware store that are solely for business purposes. As of now, the property is not in an LLC, so that will be another discussion with the CPA. Thanks again!

Hi BP Community,

Does anyone know if you can get a tax deduction for the miles spent travelling to and from an owner ooccupied property?

Hi Aaron,

Zestimates are automatically computed daily based on millions of public and user-submitted data points. I work in valuation, and they hold no value in the appraisal world. Rather we rely on the cost, sales and income approach. All approaches are fairly tedious, and only really necessary when actually writing an appraisal (in my opinion).

What I would suggest is using the Bigger Pockets Rental Property Calculator. It makes the whole process much easier, and does a cash flow and cap rate analysis. It allows you to account for all operating costs. Additionally, you can enter the income you expect to receive post-renovation, if you're going to rehab the property. It can be challenging to fill out the first few times, so if you have any questions feel free to reach out.

@Mikael Winkler I'm in the same boat, except I just purchased a triplex in Lakewood, Ohio. Would you mind keeping me posted about which company you decide on? 

So it sounds like SoFi won't loan on a small multi, even if you're going to live in one of the units?

Oh, I understand. Thank you all for clarifying. Can you only do the 121 exchange after you have owned the property for 5 years?

Would you be able to do a 1031 exchange on an owner occupied apartment into another owner occupied apartment? I'm assuming you would need separate appraisals, and the exchange would only apply to the non occupied units.

Also, if you have lived in each of the units in order to rehab them, does that eliminate the possibility of doing an exchange?

Is this still available? My fiance and I are looking for a tri or quad in Lakewood to house hack.