All Forum Posts by: Jon A.

The only way to find that out is to look at the market rents . It is a military town so I assume lots of people come and go. Maybe find an agent in the area that can answer your questions about vacancy rates. Are they building lots of apartment there? What is the inventory like, etc?

A good RE agent should be able to answer those questions for you but you need to visit Fayetteville and look around for yourself. Call some landlords from their rental ads and ask them. If I remember correctly, they had some flooding this year which may be why I am seeing several properties for sale there.

There is a fb nc real estate investors page that you should join if you aren't already on it. I have seen lots of properties come up for sale in fayetteville recently. Other than that, you statement is extremely vague. 

I don't let my tenants repair anything at all. Everyone thinks they know how to repair things but they don't . What if your tenant cross threads the sprinkler on and makes the repair more costly? That is just one example that I can think of. 

@Dan H. From what I understand , your mortgage payments cannot exceed 70% of the rents collected either, so that could be another limiting factor on LTV on a cash out refi on a duplex.

Your agent should be able to get you a copy of the leases and you also want to see a history of the rents being paid. Just because the seller says they are renting for "x" amount doesn't mean that they are. You would be inheriting these tenants and the leases that they signed, so you need to look at the leases and read them carefully. For all you know, they could all be 6 months behind and all on verbal leases with no written agreements. You want to look at the rents and compare them to the current market. Are they under performing? Can you increase the rents? How long are the leases for? Did the landlord take deposits? If so , then those are transferred to you at closing also.

@Amy H., if they pull it from the closet they shouldn't need to do any sanding or staining. At least, not in my opinion.

You should really find a real estate attorney to answer this question. If all 3 of you were experienced investors and had developed a relationship with on another it might be a different story but even then I would want an attorney involved. Things can change quickly when money gets involved.

I would let the deal you find dictate what it is good for. Keep an open mind let it tell you what it can do for you. Good deals are not that easy to come by. 

Some of the topics have been discussed many times on here so the info may not be repeated for the sake of not being redundant. Listen to all the podcasts you can when driving to work, cooking dinner. etc. There is a lot of info on this website. I would also recommend buying some books. There are plenty of them around. The "Rich Dad.poor Dad" books by Robert Kiyosaki (sp?) are great motivational books to start with to get you into an investors mindset. Wholesaling and flipping would not be an area I would start in. I think there are many caveats to those processes that you will find limiting as a beginning investor. 

It sounds like a great deal at those numbers but I would definitely negotiate those repairs into it. Sideways rain is pretty rare in my opinion. There is probably a nail pop in that roof letting some water in. 10 years isn't that long for a new roof to start leaking. I would reach out to the installer . 

I would also ask to see the leases and make sure that all units are legally allowed in that area. You may really be buying a duplex with an illegal third unit attached, which could be an issue with insurance if there was ever a claim.