All Forum Posts by: Sam W.

Brandon Eleazer

As J Scott said, the 50% rule (of thumb) covers taxes, insurance, repairs (averaged over the long term), etc.

So, in your case, $1000/month in rent is reduced to $500 available for utilities (if you pay any), and debt service (PI only).

I've had good luck with Foremost. No nonsense coverage and they are very familiar with landlords.

I'm sure prices will fluctuate wildly based on where your property is located, property age, the deductable you choose, amount of liability, and other endorsements (loss of rent, personal property coverage, etc) but for a 3-family in NE Ohio with $150K ACV the premium is about $980/year.

Thomas Cooper,

How well do 1BR units rent there? Do you have a good feel for that? Up here in Medina County they're my toughest to fill.

Adam Craig,

Based on my experience in NE Ohio, if there is nothing wrong behind the walls or under the basement floor (sewer), will be less than $500 depending on the plumber. Figure new guts to the toilet, new cartridges for all faucets, gaskets for drains, snaking everything, and the pressure test. If work has to be done behind walls of course that is more.

Shawn Thom,

If you're not able to discover the source of the leak by sound (listening for the 'hissing' of the escaping pressure) the plumber will begin to isolate the area by moving up the line. More time consuming (and therefore expensive) but still doable.

By the way, in a house that has been empty with the water off for 2 years there are going to be muliple leaks at every faucet, toilet and drain. All of the rubber gaskets/washers/cartridges will be dry-rotted and useless...so it is best just to plan on replacing them all. There will also be drain problems (no water down the drains for 2 years so some really nasty hard deposits will have formed). Plan on having every drain snaked as well.

Sam

Steve Babiak is spot-on...a pressure test (dry test) is actually better than simply turning the water on and waiting for a flood. Plumbers can do it right at the spot of the missing meter.

Nuhan Demirkan

Agree with Ryan M. In my area muli-families are the way to cashflow.

I'm getting $2174 on a $112K 4-family.

Similar ratios with duplexs and 3-family properties.

Maher Bateh,

Was this for a vacant property (sorry, it's a long thread and wasn't sure if things changed)?

Joffrey Long / Tevis Verrett

I would imagine that different geographic areas (and different demographics as Fran Flanagan points out) would rely on different tools to help them find properties for rent.

As I said in my earlier post, I have been pleased with Craigslist as it has provided good exposure for me. Most of my properties rent in the $500-700 range. That said, the only "higher end" property I own rents for $1500/month and I found a renter for this property through Craiglist as well. Interestingly enough, the family was relocating from S. Carolina to my area and searched Craigslist for properties that met their needs.

The challenge with Craigslist in bigger cities, it would seem to me, is separating the wheat from the chaff. So many posts (and so much rubbish as well). Sometimes it seems that your post can get lost in the noise (as Joffery pointed out).

Thomas Cooper,

Just my opinion, but in our area, multi-family properties provide a better economy of scale vice SFHs. Each dollar invested in MFH does (in general in our area), provide substantially more cashflow than each dollar invested in SFHs.

I own SFHs and MFHs and would not shy away from MFHs as a first investment. In my experience, a duplex is not twice as much work as two SFHs...a 4-plex is not 4x the work of 4 SFHs...etc.