All Forum Posts by: Matthew Rogers

I'm extremely excited to get my feet wet in the world of multi-family homes and apartment buildings. I'm searching for an investor in Arizona that does these types of deals and that may be open to letting me into their world to get some real experience. 

I've devoured every book around multi-family/ commercial real estate that I can get my hands on. I own a business in Tempe and have a very open flexible schedule. I'm skilled in carpentry and very handy (Flooring, Framing, Plumbing, Electrical, ect) I'd love the opportunity to help an investor fix up some units in exchange for practical knowledge and learning the business. I'm most interested in 10+ unit apartment buildings. I'm very willing to put in the time and effort to learn from someone and provide them value at the same time!

 Please let me know if you'd be interested in meeting with me or knowing someone that might!

I own a small business and use an ACH processing company for the majority of my customs payments. It works very well as every month I know for sure what I'll have coming in on the 1st. No waiting for paper checks, accepting cash or talking to the customers. Has anyone tried doing this with there tenants? It seems like a good way to reduce late payments and avoid some other wise wasted time. The company I use charges a flat fee of 12/month and 50 cents per transaction.

I also have been using my fax.com for the last year and it's great. Comes directly to my email as a PDF attachment. $10/month but hassle free. Sounds like you were actually getting a deal before at $60/year but it wasn't digital..

I understand the thinking of working the numbers backwards to come up with a purchase price but it may be unrealistic in your market. You may want to spend a day driving 20 apartment buildings in your area and run the numbers based on listing price for each one. This will give you a lot better idea of what units are selling for and what kind of inventory is out there. A

@Kenneth Garrett

I like the idea of asking the tenant about repairs or improvements. I wouldn't have thought of that.

Thanks!

This questions is hard to answer because we don't have any context. It really comes down to your individual goals. What are you trying to accomplish? Do you want to become a real estate investor or just purchase a home to live in. You need to ask yourself what your short term and long term plans are. 

Once you've set your goals, real estate makes it very easy to work backwards to achieve them. Let's say you want to become a real-estate investor and your goal is to own 10 units in 5 years; now you know to achieve this goal you must buy 2 units per year. Now you can ask yourself will renting to own a property set me on track to reach my goal.

Most of the time renting to own a property implies you have the option to purchase the property after your lease. But it could also mean you sign a contract to have the owner carry the loan from the start. This could be a good option if you don't have any money for a down payment, bad credit or a shaky employment history. However in most cases you'll end up paying more for this property than it's worth because your options of inventory are limited to sellers willing to carry the loan. So it may make sense in your situation but if you can qualify for a normal loan, you're most likely better off going that route.

You should pick up a couple real estate books and checkout this free kindle book Here. The more information you take in about all things real estate the more you'll start to understand. Be patient and take the time to learn before jumping into something you don't fully understand.

I'm in the process of searching for my first 4 unit. I'm the type of person that likes too know as much information as possible so I can make the best decision possible. 

When you guys purchase investment deals do you typically try to speak to the current property owner or property manager to get a better feeling of how the property has been managed and preformed since ownership? I don't want too go over the listing agents head but at the same time the owner or property manager will have the best information from my view point.

Hey Dain!

You should pick up @Brandon Turner's book "The Book on Rental Property Investing"

It will walk you through, in detail the different buying options, how they work and what to look for.

You'll want to confirm zoning to start off. If in a commercial district you'll want to make sure all necessary permits were obtained for any add-ons or renovations needed to convert the top to an apartment. If all seems good, try to talk to as many people as possible and see what they recommend the monthly rent to be. Ask agents, current owner, prior owner and local shop owners nearby.

That should help you get an idea of where it should be priced and if it's a good enough deal to move forward.

I really like @Natalie Schanne's Idea!

If they own lots of property there may be potential to get an even better deal. No matter what you'll want to move quick and keep in mind you have the leverage. You're there to get the best deal possible, if settling on a lower purchase price start with a high discount of 10% or more and see what happens. You can always come down!