All Forum Posts by: Marcus Nielson

I own a town house in Mesa, AZ that I remodeled. My wife and I have been living in it for the past few years. We bought it with the intention of one day renting it out (we are new to land lording). It is technically a 4BR/3Bath but one of the bedrooms is on the small size and is more like an office. It would work great as a kids BR though. Anyway, I have been doing some research online in my area to get an idea for how much I could get for rent and I am having a hard time determining a fair price. Anyone have any advice on how I could get a fairly accurate estimate?

Comparable rents found online ranged from: $950-$2250 (couldn't find comps with 4BR though; all were 3/3)

Property details:

Bedrooms: 4 (one is small and probably more useful as an office)

Baths: 3 full

Lot Sq. Ft: 1,951

Built: 1967

Cooling: Central

Heating: Forced Air

Mortgage Payment: $277/month

HOA: $219/month (high I know) -Covers water, Roof/Exterior wall insurance, landscaping

Parking: 2 covered car port

Features: Basketball/tennis court, pool, patio, separate storage closet

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I have been unable to find any threads on this so I thought I would start one. 

A relative of mine owns a couple single family homes in the Phoenix area that he has divided into their own units with their own kitchens and bathrooms. They also each have their own entrances. He has 3-4 low income families living in the same building. Is it legal to do what he is doing?

@Dana R. I have been looking as well and have run into the same thing. None of the properties I have found seem to really cash flow very well and none even come close when using the 50% rule. To clarify though, we don't really wan to live IN Seattle. We would like to live in an outlying area about 30-45 min from the city at most so we can have more property. That is a long term goal though -- for now we would be interested in anything in the area as long as it cash flows. :)

@Michele Fischer  we don't know if we like Seattle but I have visited a few times and have loved it. Im sure it is different living there though. My brother and his family live in Samammish and we have a vacation planned to go visit them in a month or so. They love it there. Hopefully the visit will give us a better idea about if we want to really make the move. As far as being in a large city, long term we don't want to be in the city but would like to be outside the city where we can have a nice size yard. We would like to be within 20-30 min. or so of the city. That is a more long term goal though.

@Zach Schwarzmiller  that is exactly what I would like to do. May I ask when you bought and for how much? Im trying to get an idea for how much I should expect to pay in that area.

@Curt Davis I'm sure we could deal with a close neighbor for a year or two if we needed to. For a FHA loan, do you know how long you have to live at the property before you can move and use it as a rental? I think I have heard 1-2 years.

Hey @Alex Pereira I am also in Mesa. Im new to REI so I don't know how much help I can be to you other than maybe some advice on rehabbing but I too have gotten hooked on the podcasts. I listen to them every day on my commute to work and I've learned a lot already.

This is my first forum post other than my initial introduction so I'm looking forward to reading the comments!

My wife and I currently own a town house in Mesa, AZ. We bought it at the bottom of the market and our plan when we bought it was to someday use it as a rental after we have lived in it for a few years. Well it has been a few years and we want to move out of state, hopefully to the Seattle area to get away from the heat and dryness. There are two major problems I see with this though. First is that housing prices are significantly higher in Seattle than where we currently live so we won't have many options. Secondly, we both are from Arizona and our families are very established here. This has led me to believe that the smartest thing to do from an investing stand point would be to stay in AZ because I know the area and making business connections would be easier. 

However, a strategy I thought of recently would be to buy a multi-family in the Seattle area using FHA financing (we don't have a lot of money saved for a down payment) and then rent out our town house in AZ as well as the other part(s) of the multi-family. This would give us at least 2 rentals right off the bat. It seems to me like a good way to kick off my investing and create some cash-flow while at the same time subsidizing the cost of living in Seattle. Anyone see any problems I might not be realizing with this plan? Does it sound like a smart way to get started? Would love to hear your thoughts! Thanks!

@Patrick O'Sullivan I'm actually interested in Mesa, Gilbert, Phoenix and Scottsdale. I'm most familiar with Mesa though so I'll probably be more focused there. Specifically I'm interested in any historic neighborhood. For example the neighborhood north of University between Country Club and Center. 

Thank you Deborah. How far along are you in the process of the flip?