@Megan Heffernan It's good to be practicing your analysis on some deals. I'll try to answer a few of your questions, but I am speaking from book knowledge (and evaluating a LOT of deals), not experience from operating them. Anyways, to your questions:
Raise rent? - be very careful to assume you will be able to raise rents. Many of the websites that give rental estimates are just averaging what is listed but don't look at amenities or property types. I have gotten rental estimates from Rentometer that were WAY off for a duplex, because it was averaging the rental rates for some very nice single family homes in the area (SFRs can rent for much more than a duplex in some areas) I would call your local property management company and ask them about the specific property you are evaluating. Usually they are extremely helpful and have a very good idea of what market rent would be for that place within $25 or so.
Lower down payment - this will almost never make a deal better. It will cashflow less and get you worse financing terms (typically). Remember, the bank is a partner in this investment and they are getting interest paid to them on whatever part they contribute (loan) to the deal. The more they put in, the more of the pie they get. The more you put in, the more you keep.
Lowering offer price? You nailed it. This is how you make most deals work. HOWEVER, at this point in time and in this market, most sellers won't accept ANY low-ball offers unless they are simply nuts, uneducated, or in a really distressed situation. They have a real estate agent (whose job it is to know what the property is worth) telling them to list it for a certain amount because they honestly think that is what the property is worth. There is the very rare case when a seller doesn't listen to the agent and lists it for WAY over what it is worth, but this doesn't happen often. Low-ball offers can be effective in limited circumstances - Off market ( which are typically uneducated/distressed), bank owned, and really weird properties. But, a 1979 4-plex in Tacoma probably doesn't meet any of these standards.
Other variables? This is where you need to look. Unfortunately, your cash-on-cash and cashflow are closely linked, so it's hard to raise or lower one independently of the other. However, there are sometimes ways to find things that can be done to increase rents like restructuring a 2/1 into a 3/1 if there is room. 3/1s rent out for considerably more than 2 bedrooms. But, it is usually not easy to convert a 2 into a 3. There is also the chance of offering covered parking at additional cost to tenants, storage, charging utilities back to them if they are not currently, etc.
Bottom line: You are looking for a diamond in the rough here in WA, AND you have have about 1000 other investors in the NW doing the exact same thing right now. Everyone (ok, not everyone, but a LOT of people) is looking for small multi-unit properties south of Seattle. You are going to have a very hard time finding a property in decent shape on the MLS that will cashflow between Centralia and Canada on I5. It can be done, but it's not easy!
Keep looking, keep running numbers, (and if you really plan to do much of this, you might want to use the BP calculators by becoming a pro member) I made my own spreadsheets for a long time, but the BP ones are so simple and fast.
If you do spot one that you would like to go look at, or are interested in making an offer on, let me know and I'd be happy to help you out. I have no problem putting in lots of low-ball offers, but I will be honest with you about the chances of them getting accepted. But remember, if there is a 95% chance a low-ball offer won't be accepted, that means that 1 in 20 sellers just might take it!
Good luck and let me know if there is anything I can help with!
Justin Koehn
