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All Forum Posts by: Joel Florek

Joel Florek has started 35 posts and replied 521 times.

Post: 22 Years Old with 20 Units in 10 Months!

Joel FlorekPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Michigan City, IN
  • Posts 530
  • Votes 741

@Mitchlyn D.I utilized a commercial loan for my first 4 unit. I wanted to be sure I established a relationship with the commercial lending side of the bank so accepted reduced profit but it clearly paid off when I went to apply for my second loan. 

Post: 22 Years Old with 20 Units in 10 Months!

Joel FlorekPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Michigan City, IN
  • Posts 530
  • Votes 741

@Johnathan Alesso I do plan to continue to invest in Michigan but am looking at Wisconsin and Indianapolis as other markets of interest. I do have an LLC for my business.

Post: foundation repair $

Joel FlorekPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Michigan City, IN
  • Posts 530
  • Votes 741
Tim Olsen a big issue as you go north of Milwaukee is high water tables. This makes for changes in the underlying ground over time affecting the foundation. Not saying this is the only issue but it is common.

Post: Fixed vs. Variable expenses - Property taxes

Joel FlorekPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Michigan City, IN
  • Posts 530
  • Votes 741

@Patrick Roob Thanks! I started out my research before buying properties to think about what type of lifestyle I wanted. That included traveling, not fixing toilets(although in the beginning it is necessary sometimes), and building wealth of +$5m. I then turned to look at investors who were out in the world and looked at their lifestyles. The ones who were living the lifestyle I wanted for myself and achieving the financial goals that I want to achieve all owned multi family real estate. I also noted that they didn't own small duplexes, or triplexes. Typically they owned 8+ unit properties and the ones who I really idolized owned 20+ unit properties. 

Needless to say I took that as my lesson to focus on multi family real estate and scaling up to own larger properties. I started out with a 4 and then bought a 16 unit property. I am trying to find a 20+ unit property next and have a goal of 150 units to achieve the +$5m goal. As of now I am 13.3% of the way towards my goal from a unit standpoint and 17.5% of the way towards the goal for the value of my portfolio. 

Needless to say I am learning lots as I go still and you can never get away from learning by experience but I feel like I avoided potential 3 to 10 years of investing on the wrong path. 

Post: Ejector Pump help on 16 Unit

Joel FlorekPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Michigan City, IN
  • Posts 530
  • Votes 741

I am hoping to get some help. I have a 16 unit building that utilizes an ejector pump to pull the sewer from the property to the cities pipes. Its about a 6 foot rise. Needless to say I have been fighting with bill after bill for the pump getting clogged(probably $1200 this year between 7 repairs). Even putting in a second pump as a backup hasn't helped the problem and resulted in burning out the primary when it clogged. 

I am hoping for some suggestions on a proven system that works to deal with the waste of 16 units and doesn't result in the amount of clogs I have been dealing with. 

Any suggestions would be extremely helpful! 

As a note, I am located in Iron Mountain MI so I deal with all ranges of seasons. 

Post: Fixed vs. Variable expenses - Property taxes

Joel FlorekPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Michigan City, IN
  • Posts 530
  • Votes 741

@Masroor Ahmed I own 20 units in Michigan but have a goal of reaching 150 as I grow my business. My objective is to own in 3 different markets. Preferably those are also located in different states. This way my portfolio has economic risk mitigated(downturn), and political risk(property taxes, tenant rights, etc.). The states that make sense for me right now are Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Indiana has the lowest property taxes of all the states. Its amazing the difference this makes. One thing I love about low property taxes is you have the opportunity to increase the price of a property much higher when you do a value add. As you said this is due to a smaller percentage of your value add getting taken away from the fixed cost of taxes. 

But don't just run to other markets for that one reason. I have identified my target areas based on personal goals, economic, political, and geographical reasons. All must be considered. 

Good luck! 

Post: Cost to touch up a 800sq ft unit?

Joel FlorekPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Michigan City, IN
  • Posts 530
  • Votes 741
All depends what "touch up" means. Figure out a task list, determine material cost, and estimate labor to determine what is fair or not. If you have pics and can walk us through what your thinking we can help you better.

Post: 22 Years Old with 20 Units in 10 Months!

Joel FlorekPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Michigan City, IN
  • Posts 530
  • Votes 741

@Logan Allec The bank wanted to be at 75% LTV based on appraised value. Since I bought under value this worked out for me. My down payment was only 20% borrowed from family.

On the 16 unit it was the same lending requirements but instead of family money I did a seller 2nd mortgage and I got a personal loan through wells fargo based on my income to combine together for the needed 20% based on purchase price.

Post: Broker Putting Up Roadblocks.... HELP!

Joel FlorekPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Michigan City, IN
  • Posts 530
  • Votes 741

@Account Closed Asking is $920k, unit mix is 8 one bed, 8 ranch 2 bed, and 15 two bed townhouses although information on the different parts of the MLS listing conflicts this information so I need to confirm. Rents are $450, $550, and $650 respectively per MLS. Market vacancy rates for the large neighboring complexes in the area are 5% to 7%(pulled from listings on a few nearby large complexes listed on loopnet for sale). Rent increases in the sub market where this is located are 1.5% to 2% annually over the past 3 years. Comparable rents show these units are $50 to $100 under market value but there are no pictures of the units so I have nothing to compare quality.

Gross potential rent would be just north of $213k with the numbers pulled off of the MLS. Typically you see NOI range between 40% and 60% of GPR so I could guess NOI would range from $85k to $127k.

However, its easy to say units rent for "x" and "y" but if I don't see a historical trailing twelve month income statement or past 3 years which is standard to provide for a 31 unit complex I can't identify what the major issues are. 

Post: Broker Putting Up Roadblocks.... HELP!

Joel FlorekPosted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Michigan City, IN
  • Posts 530
  • Votes 741

@Account Closed She hasn't given me any information, all I know is what I have gotten from research in the market and the info on the MLS listing that I got from another realtor.