All Forum Posts by: Nicholas B.

The laundry companies that supply machines, at least in my area, are notoriously shady. I have installed me own machines in some of my multifamily and am taking delivery of 16 more machines next week that will be spread out to 6 different properties I own/manage.

If you buy machines from a brand like Speed Queen you will most likely find almost no maintenance. I installed some in a 17 unit complex almost four years ago and have had zero repairs since installation. That is absolutely incredible, though the machines are not cheap they are worth it.

For coin collecting, with the machines I am ordering now, I am installing Pay Range which will allow my tenants to make payments with their smart phone and the funds will get deposited directly into my bank account. They take approximately 5% of the gross and a small weekly fee. 

Whatever it is, it is better than having a company supply the machines! Not only do they pay you next to nothing but their contracts are usually very one sided. I've seen 10 year contracts with automatic 10 year extensions with no way to cancel.

I went from roughly 30 units previously to 60 in the past year and expect to hit 100-150 by the end of 2019. Most of the new acquisitions are rehab projects, moving out old tenants, good quality renovation, and raising rents to the top of the market. 

I hired a full time handyman as I started acquiring new multifamily to help with finish work on the renovations and also tenant repairs, move-in/outs, etc. I expect to have a full time and possibly a 2nd full time to cover all tenant maintenance issues once stabilized. My rentals are all in the $1000 range.

I would say at 85 units you are around what I have and factoring in the convenience and tenant satisfaction it makes sense. Not sure what your units are like of course so am just giving my opinion. 

I have 16 laundry rooms throughout various smaller multifamily properties. I am not concerned about the risk of theft from the machines and am not concerned about much of a drop in income from changing to a system like Payrange - primarily because tenants are a bit more of a captive audience than someone who is going to a laundromat. Secondly, there is the easy option of leaving coins as a 2nd payment method until everyone is familiar with the new system.

That said, I'm also looking for feedback from people that have installed it. I'm getting ready to test out their system, have also considered Speed Queen's proprietary system that they just introduced but the iPhone app reviews seem pretty terrible...

Looks good to me. I buy MF in Vegas but your numbers are mostly close to the ballpark, maybe a bit more for things like exterminating and general repairs/maintenance. A fourplex with those numbers here would be closer to 280k-350k though. My strategy/advice would be to take one vacant unit and renovate it with a light-colored luxury vinyl (waterproof so it can go in kitchens and bathrooms), repaint and do a few small improvements in the unit and try to get a substantial rent increase. I'm always surprised at what little is needed to get much higher rents, at least where I've invested.

I'm an investor and use Costar to find deals in Las Vegas area. It's probably the best out there but it is hardly on top of things with updating data. I've tried for most of this year to get them to update details on multifamily property I own, sending them rent rolls, photos, and ownership info. Each time I do, they promise to update it but never do. My last email to them was last week when they responded that they had lost my old email with the photos but they'd update the rest of the listing "within the hour". Needless to say nothing happened.

I purchased some fourplexes back in June which still show the old owner. I've emailed them multiple times to update that information too with the same empty promises. 

However it seems to be the best source for finding commercial listings for sale so it's more than worth the relatively small cost.

I have used Buildium for the past 3 years and just made the switch over to Appfolio last month due to a few features that Appfolio has that Buildium doesn't. 

Ironically, recently they've introduced several of those features that I was unaware of. They now allow tenants to pay with cash through PayNearMe, they have a vastly improved website design services, a new showings coordinator, and they have text messaging within the site.

I'm a one person management office and own what I manage, so anything that helps streamline things is well worth the cost to me.

Appfolio has a built in collections which I think will easily cover the monthly cost of the software and Buildium does not have that (yet at least). They also have a work order workflow which I think will be a big help, and you can have vendors submit their invoices into Appfolio directly which is potentially a big time savings.

They're both easy to use, both seem very powerful. If I had to make the decision right now based on what I know about both programs, the choice would be tougher. 

I own just over 50 units and am expanding to around 150 units over the next year. At under 50 units or if I was not planning on expanding, Buildium would be an incredible choice. At 150 units Buildium would still be great and they seem to be catching up quickly. 

The only issue I can think of with Buildium the new basic subscription package - you can't automatically run credit checks. The tenants have to log in to Buildium and run it themselves. This is a big issue for me as when I had it set up like that briefly, it was not intuitive and I spent some time trying to show applicants the process. Maybe they've improved that by now though.

I haven't played around with the automated leasing side of Appfolio yet but have not been hearing great things about it, they have the ability to link into Blue Moon Forms so I will explore that as an option.

I'm making the switch from Buildium to Appfolio and am considering the option of outsourcing the website design vs Appfolio designing in-house.

Appfolio seems to be on the more reasonable side of costs (2k + $50/month) from the few places I've looked at so far, though their sites seem to be on the simpler side from what I've seen.

Does anyone have any advice on options and costs that I can expect to get something a bit more advanced and better looking than what they provide? I don't think I can justify much more than the Appfolio charge but want to explore the options before deciding. 

Since I mentioned I'm moving from Buildium, I want to say that I love Buildium and have had no issues with their software. They have excellent support, a very powerful and user-friendly system. 

The reasons for the change are that I'm expanding the number of units I own/manage from roughly 30 to 150 over the next year and there are some things in Appfolio that seem to be better suited for me and will make self-managing a larger portfolio simpler. Tenant having the ability to pay rent in cash at 7-11 is a big one (though Buildium is planning on adding that in the near future), as is being able to text tenants from within the app.

Is this post better for the development forum?

I have a 2.2 acre lot that is zoned for as much as many as 115 units when factoring in senior housing bonuses.

I'm considering micro-apartments,  a mix of mostly 500 square foot junior one bedrooms. I have some very small existing units on the lot that work well.

Questions:

The typical general estimate on build-outs for something basic is 75/ft hard costs. However those numbers are going to be for more normal sizes units, around 1000 sq ft each. Any rough idea of the additional $/ft for smaller units? 

Building larger units averages in the higher costs of kitchens and bathrooms into the cheaper cost to build square footage of a bedroom or living room. On the other hand, kitchens in the micro-units will be smaller - only 12' of kitchen per unit.

Any online site that gives examples of 2-3 story multi-family lot layouts that comes close to 50 du/ac? Or any online source for multifamily on smaller lots? I've seen very little that comes close to this number of units per acre without going to mid rise and that's not an option.

@Brian Burke That was my assumption too, it's a wash until you get to more than 3 floors. Enough SFRs have 3 floors including townhomes that are built economically that I'm guessing 3 floors may even end up being slightly cheaper.

In my site, 3 floors may end up being mandatory. I have very high density zoning for my neighborhood. See my next post..

It reminds me of trying to price out flat roofs vs pitched/A-frame roofs. Googling it shows an equal mix of people saying flat roofs and A-frames are more expensive.

Good idea on the rentals, I'll email a few complexes and ask and follow up here for anyone else that may be interested.

Wonder if someone can give some guidance on the cost per foot on a 2 vs 3 story apartment complex? If it's $100/ft to do 2 stories, does the 3rd story increase that cost or decrease it due to not needing foundation work? Location is Vegas, flat land.

What about rental values? Do 3rd floor walkup apartments carry a lower value for typical renters? I did some brief research online but not enough to come up with a definitive answer. No real view to speak of, though I'm assuming top floor has the benefit of no noise from above. Real world experience answer anyone?