All Forum Posts by: Marc Rice

Folks, I was talking to a turnkey company to buy an investment property, and looking at a few properties. Their pro forma sheet doesn't take into account ANY vacancy or repairs when calculating cash flow, and the rent comps are...ambitious. 

1. The way their cash flow calculations are presented is IMO sketchy: while the form is not a spreadsheet, it is made to look like vacancy/repairs are included in cash flow calcs (stacked together with other numbers impacting cash flow, and right above the final cash flow amount) 

2. When asked about vacancy/repairs, their answer is: that's why why they separately have $5,000-10,000 as "account reserves" in their pro forma. Or "simply cost of doing business", they keep repeating - (an unprofitable business, it seems to me, but maybe I am just inexperienced?). Furthermore, they add something along the lines of "this property is working for you, cash flow is here to cover this type of stuff while the property is appreciating -- so what if you have that 5K HVAC unit replacement " (FYI, even when optimistically calculated, cash flow does NOT cover a 5K HVAC unit within the first few years) 

3. When asked why their properties don't cash flow in any rental calculator, the answer is: "people who use these rental calculators don't get the kind of deals we give you" 

4, Re rent comps...I looked at Zillow, and another tool, and if I simply rely on Zillow, rents are typically lower and there are properties in the same few blocks on the market for 40+ days. THe turnkey company's answer: our property mgmt company is doing daily complex algorithms and they have the best information here. My reply: "but these properties realistically are for rent, so your comps should not be that much off, correct?" No reply, just that their PM knows best. P,S. PM has bad reviews for the most part 


Am I crazy here? Should I at least see NEUTRAL cash flow if I account for vacancy and repairs (and am optimistically counting on this to appreciate)?...Not to mention that all their ROI calcs depend on cash flow of course so long term return calculations also fall apart.

I do want to give them benefit of the doubt but I also want your smart opinions. Thank you very much! 

Hello everyone, I am a new user on this platform and joined because I am interesting in investing in multifamily and connecting with experienced investors. I have been doing research for a couple months now and I feel a lot more educated than I did before. If anyone has advice or personal experiences they could share I would really appreciate it. I am still unsure of a location where I should buy, so any advice on that would be awesome too. 

I look forward to hearing your suggestions!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $127,000
Cash invested: $80,000
Sale price: $270,000

Rehabbed house for BRRR. Did a cash out refi.

Hello everyone,

New to the forum.  I am a 45 year old teacher looking to invest in section 8 housing in states that have a high demand.  What are some states that i can start in?

Hey All,

My partner and I are looking for distressed SF or Duplex properties around the Columbus area. Our main focus is Columbus, Lancaster, and Newark but are open to deals within an hour. If you know anyone we could get in contact with or have any advice let us know! We already have financing and are looking to get going in the next couple weeks or so.

I'm working on building mine with the hopes of eventually dumping my current property manager and curious to hear from others:

1. Did you use traditional marketplaces like yelp, thumbtack, angi?

2. Is it common to protect your list or are you open to sharing with fellow investors your know?

3. How do you store it? Google sheet? Do you use software?

4. Do you have multiple for vendors per trade?

5. How or where have you typically found the best contractors? Online forums? Referrals? FB Community Pages? Nextdoor? etc.

6. Do you perform regular preventative maintenance to avoid emergencies or are you more reactive?

Hey BP Community,

Excited to be here! I’m a first time investor and eager to just connect and hear about how you got started.

Background: full time remote employee in the advertising industry. Working for DraftKings. I’m based in CA, but lived in Boston for many year! 

Goal: I’d like to buy my first rental income property in the next year. Open to anywhere in the United States. Have some markets in mind but would like to hear your thoughts. 

If you’re a female investor, let’s chat! 

Cheers, 

 It definitely increases occupancy! There's a lot of demand and low supply for pet friendly.

Hey everyone,

I'm Ricardo from the Netherlands and starting my first investment adventure. Since my wife is American we're looking into the options to possibly start investing in the USA instead of here in Europe. (also to start building something in the USA in case we would like to move there one day)

She grew up in Dayton(centerville) Ohio and still has family there. It would make sense for us to start exploring in that area. The question that I have is what would be possible for lets say 150-200k dollars to get started? What would a good first step assuming we can't/won't use any financing since we don't have US incomes, or are there still ways for financing? 

And what would be the things needed and take into account to buy a first rental property?

I have been doing research(and will do a lot more here on biggerpocket now) but since I'm not familiar with US real estate and the ways to go I Thought I would ask you experienced guys for some thoughts and advice. Anything is welcome to get a better idea. Thanks!

 I own 2 units and manage another 2, we're seeing 5-15% vacancy across the units over the past 18 months. Biggest driver for vacancy for us is being pet friendly.