All Forum Posts by: Matthew Drouin

@Adam Berlinberg

This seems like a great opportunity.

I reviewed all the comments here and I think there’s a lot of great advice!

However, the advice given here is not going to give you nearly enough support on all the nuances that you need to understand to make a decision.

That being said, I would be open to getting on a zoom with you and showing you how I would underwrite this deal and look at all the scenarios.

After that, I think it will at least put you in a position to impress your father in law.

That’s my only new advice that hasn’t been shared on this thread. You mentioned, you wanted to try and stay independent on this one. Your father in law is in commercial real estate!

Obviously I don’t know your relationship with him: good bad or ugly, but I say it all the time. Never be afraid to ask for help. And I say all the time, “use your privilege dammit!”

There’s a lot people out there with no connections whatsoever in commercial real estate and you got one in your back pocket, your spouses Dad, the current or potential grandpa to your kids or fur babies!

In all seriousness, DM me if you want to take me up on a one on one to help underwrite this thing!

@Alon Attias

I'm a BRRRR investor that uses this method on larger commercial deals.

I’ve done both scenarios.

I would leave that “extra” cash into the deal and cashflow.

The reason why, is you want to think long term. If you are looking to scale, banks are going to want to see properties you own with positive cash flow to evaluate your strength as a borrower.

If you have properties that cash flow negatively, this could hurt you. It’s hurt me.

I would just take the win and then use your original investment capital and do your next deal and recycle that capital over and over again.

Or better yet. Because you’ve started a proven track record using this method, start raising capital from others to eliminate access to your own capital as a bottleneck to your growth.

So you can go after larger deals. If your goal is financial independence, then you can chunk into this goal faster by doing larger deals.

It took me 13 years to earn my financial independence doing smaller deals. And when I swam upstream into larger opportunities I was able to replace my wife’s income with just one larger deal.

Either way, congratulations!

@Zachary Caudill

Sell it me.

Also I love off market deals. I can get great pricing as a buyer and negotiate really advantageous terms directly with the seller.

When the seller does not have a broker representing them, they usually post on Craigslist, and FB marketplace and have a bunch of people that waste their time; make offers and then ghost the seller.

By the time I come along I am in a really great position as a buyer.

But seriously, all kidding aside, don’t get low bid syndrome; chase pennies while tripping over dollars.

A great agent is well worth the investment in paying them a commission. They should be able to get you more than you would on your own. Leverage their decades of experience in your favor in creating an environment around you property to get you the very best terms and price.

The only thing I'll say though is, it's definitely a "between" size. Commercial investors will be interested as well as residential investors looking to swim upstream so it should be posted in the MLS as well as LoopNet and crexi.

But seriously, send me the details. I buy deals like this!

@Cory Smith

If you are buying it as an LLC, all the roles and responsibilities can be ironed out in an operating agreement with the assistance of a real estate attorney. Make sure to go over all the worst case scenarios that you can think of in the agreement and what the resolution is.

If you are getting conventional owner occupant financing, you won't be able to apply as an LLC, but you can apply together personally and all be on the deed.

If you have concerns about this looking weird to a seller, you can have the primary users be as buyers on the purchase and sale agreement, they can have their name John Smith or Assigns and then when you hammer things out you can have title company of attorney assign the contract to whatever entity or group you decide.

I guess my final question here is why? Why are you doing this together? You could probably keep things a lot more simple by just gifting down payment money rather than being on the deed and responsible for the mortgage.

@Patrick Nickell welcome!

On a owner occupied multi, I really don’t care what the numbers are right now. Full disclosure, I know nothing about that market, however in my market, owner occupying a multi should cut your housing expense in half or more, sometimes all! However, my market is not an appreciation market so this is what I would expect. If your area has rapidly rising housing costs you might be able to make your money on the backend from an appreciation standpoint and lock in your living expenses by owning the asset and save a few hundred bucks a month in the process.

The question I ask myself is. Is it a great location? Would you love living here?

Based upon how much analysis you’ve done I think your biggest challenge is going to be pulling the trigger and actually doing a deal.

So just do a deal dammit! Lol Whatever mistakes you make in the process will be valuable lessons and you’ll be a in position that 90% of people never put themselves in which is actually owning a rental property and being penne who just THINKS about owning a rental property.

Hope this helps!

@Festus Emore

Long story short, since you owner occupy, you don’t need to worry about it right now.

Congrats on the purchase by the way!

Just make sure you are adequately covered insurance wise whether or not you own a property in your LLC or otherwise.

Too many investors go low bid on insurance. Just keep in mind, there are companies that like to insure rental properties, some don’t.

Get an independent agent that can shop around and get multiple quotes!

@Alvin Smith short answer is no. Only 1-4 family owner occupied.

This deal would best be financed with a community bank and will usually require 20-25% down.

Did you ask about FHA because of the lower down payment requirements?

@Adonna Villanueva @Daequan Carr and his team at Quickline Capital can help.

When’s the next you’ll be in Ithaca?

@William Hagedorn it would be great if this property came full circle in your life!

Yes I have cold called and mailed.

I usually start with mail. The piece is a personal letter where I simply tell a little about myself and that I own properties nearby. In your case I would reference that you used to live there. That will make you stand out.

Also reference that you know they might not be interested in selling. It might be the last thing on their mind.

You are trying to get them to think of you when they are considering selling.

After the mail goes out I’ll call a week or two later. With a simple, “did you get my letter?”

Instead of asking them would you be interested in selling: I ask them “Has anyone ever made you an offer on your property before?”

This is a great way to bring the conversation third party and reduce the relationship tension. If they say yes, then you can ask why didn’t it work for you?

This will reveal maybe some potential objections. To be honest, if an owner has a cash flowing apartment building that is running pretty well, there’s not much motivation. So regardless of the number on any offer involved, even if it was ridiculous, they still might not be motivated to sell.

If the lost income is an objection to selling, then seller financing would be a great way to preserve a stream of income post closing.

If taxes are a concern, seller financing can help them defer capital gains taxes.

Hope this helps!

@Alexander Carfora

Alexander we have our next meet up next Thursday July 13th at 5:30pm!

Check it out and grab a free guest pass on our website!

www.ffreia.com