All Forum Posts by: Jean Bolger

try www.rentometer.com and www.rentmetric.com

More units could be better, could be worse. If you can afford it and make a good buy, I think a larger property is a great idea

I would suggest reading Frank Gallinelli's book "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow... and 36 other key financial measures"

It will help you analyze and compare your options.

I'm not an agent, but all the Your Castle agents I've known are really into the company. It has a reputation as being investor friendly and having good analysis, systems, and education. I have no idea what their pricing structure is.

I don't consider myself to be someone with enough experience to give advice, and I don't know your market, but I am in the process of looking at multi-units (smaller than this one). So I'll tell you what I think (for what it's worth) and you can take it with a grain of salt.

1) I would not pay 73k-ish a door for units that rent for 650-ish. or even 675

2) If you are wrong about these expenses and they end up closer to the commonly quoted 50% (it's a 40yr old bldg, after all) then you are in the hole more than 20k/year

In other words, I think this price is drastically high

"Brick just seems so 70's looking to me"

haha! we oldsters call it "timeless"

I am not a flipper, but I am currently shopping for replacement rentals for an exchange and one of my criteria is brick, stone, or vinyl exterior. I have owned a lovely old stucco building with lots of classy wood trim and have learned my lesson. My first investment property: I personally painted every inch of the exterior the first summer I bought the place

well, once you've painted a brick house you lose one of the real advantages of having a brick house, i.e. never having to repaint. I bet you could get more bang for the buck with some good trim/shutter paint and landscaping.

I'd agree about the deposit. Shelter/rescue animals are not always very well socialized- that's why they get taken in to foster home, to help them learn how to behave. If they're going to be learning in your house, you want to be protected. You might also make sure you have a limit on the number of animals at any one time, just in case these animal lovers get a little too enthusiastic...

I'm looking at a multifamily property that has been put in receivership. Asking price 400k, 14 duplexes on one piece of land, each unit 1 bd 1ba, current rents 10,400/mo, potential gross (all units rented at current rates)11,200. The property needs some work but nothing that can't be easily handled by the income. I talked to the receiver today and he says the seller has already refused 2 full price offers because they were dependent on financing and they ONLY want a cash buyer. (He says there is no reason why the property would not be financeable, this is just what they want) He indicated that a cash offer of 330k might seal the deal.
I am looking at this as a possible 1031 exchange replacement property. So now I'm interested in trying to do a cash deal and then get a loan on the property.
I will have roughly 130k from the exchange and can come up with another 100k of my own. What are my options for the other 100k?
I am sure there are a million angles I haven't looked at or thought of with this, please help!

@Joel Owens - I am researching properties and lenders, looking at purchase prices between 400K-500K and the properties are around 12-24 units. I did have a local bank that was being really helpful, but the specific property we were looking at didn't hold up under analysis. Now I have a different property in my sights and it's out of their lending area. darn. Lender #1 has supposedly forwarded my info to someone else but they haven't gotten back w/ me...
@Ryan M. - I'm happy to go either way, I am just trying to understand what the expectations might be.

@Bill Gulley - I'm an Olivetti gal, myself

@Dawn Anastasi , I laughed @Aaron Mazzrillo 's quote because I interpreted it as "stay up front in the line for making deposits, don't go back into the loan officers' offices".
Seems like you're good at that!