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All Forum Posts by: Stephen McDonald

Stephen McDonald has started 5 posts and replied 14 times.

Post: What do investors say about Central Ohio areas?

Stephen McDonaldPosted
  • New to Real Estate
  • Lewis Center, OH
  • Posts 17
  • Votes 19

Specifically, I'm thinking about Plain City, Dublin, Powell, Westerville, New Albany, Powell, Lewis Center, Delaware and Sunbury.

Are they in the path of progress? What kind of cap rates can be expected when analyzing? What capital expenditures should be considered, how long do they last, and generally how much do they cost? What affects taxes, how do I estimate those? What regulations do I need to be aware of? Are property management companies around here good or bad? What things should I look for in local news?

I'm not quite sure what I'm trying to ask, but I'm looking for the personality of these places as seen by investors, or also agents, brokers and property managers. I'm looking for context to help in analyzing deals in these areas. It seems like people here like to mingle with each other in the comments, and I'll be reading anything I see there.

Post: Attempt to Analyze a Toledo Fourplex

Stephen McDonaldPosted
  • New to Real Estate
  • Lewis Center, OH
  • Posts 17
  • Votes 19

This isn't going to be a perfect analysis, probably far from it, but it may be a chance to get some feedback to improve the skill.
I looked on loopnet for a good Fourplex to analyze. I found this one; It's located in Toledo.
[

] [https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/5544-Cresthaven-Ln-Toledo-OH/17059504/]
Looking through the page for useful information that I can put into a calculator, I find that they ask $230,000 for it. It has 4 units with $600 rent and no sign of vending machines or laundry, so $2,400 Gross Monthly Income, $28,800 Gross Annual Income. Need to account for Vacancy, though. Estimating 10%, the Effective Gross Income is $25,920. Now on to expenses; there doesn't appear to be any info on that on the page, but there is a Brochure PDF. 50% rule suggests they should be around $14,400
[

] [

]

The first page says it's fully occupied, well maintained, easy to manage, with opportunities to raise rents and lower assessment value. Sounds like standard salesy stuff. Second page is a Wall of Text disclaimer. Page 3 and 4 have more information, and page 5 looks like a NOI analysis, that should be useful for finding the expenses.
[

]
Looks like the total expenses are… $15,801. That's actually more than the $14,400 estimate, and it doesn't account for everything on my calculator. Also they put 3% for their vacancy. But that's okay, I'll plug these numbers into my calculator, keeping the 10% vacancy. That brings our NOI to $11,119. Now Let's move on to the debt.
[

]
If I were to pay it in full upfront, the cash flow would be the same as the NOI. But I don't have $230,000 lying around anywhere, so I'd need to get a loan. The standard loan has a 20% Down Payment, so mine would be $46,000 for a loan of $184,000. According to bankrate.com, assuming a 30 year at 4% interest (good assumption?), The monthly payment would be $1,249. That would make the Debt Service $14,988, and the cash flow at -$3,869. Yikes. Looks like the property could support itself, but not the loan. The maximum monthly payment it could support and still have $100 positive cash flow is $918.
So is it a good deal? From this analysis, not unless you can afford a 50% Down Payment. I think the real question is how could it work? Definitely would need to find ways to increase income and reduce expenses. Maybe I'm looking at the wrong exit strategy for this property. I doubt anyone would want to partner 5050 on the 50% DP for that kind of cash flow. It just doesn't sound like a good deal.
Okay well that's my attempt. It's probably really rough on the edges, maybe even cringy or stupid, but it's not here to be good. I hope to get some feedback and constructive criticism on it. Were there parts I missed? Things I didn't consider? Too wordy? Any advice for my next analysis? I don't really know how to end this either, so thanks for reading this. Have a great day!

P.S. Also I guess I'm kinda scared of networking. Not scared of meeting new people, but of not having anything to talk about. If I had lunch with someone I connect with here on BP, is this something I could talk about?

Post: Introducing Myself on Bigger Pockets

Stephen McDonaldPosted
  • New to Real Estate
  • Lewis Center, OH
  • Posts 17
  • Votes 19

Hi @Remington Lyman , Thanks for the advice. It's nice to meet you.

I've heard of Analysis Paralysis. It's an easy thing to slip into and can lead to many missed opportunities.

Hi @Kevin Miller , nice to meet you. I want to someday get into Commercial Apartments, maybe Office Buildings too. Someone I know who also invests in Real Estate recommends I start with a owner occupied duplex. Great job getting your credit score up and good skill in getting your first property!

Thanks for the recommendation, @Harvey Yergin IV . The book I read suggested looking at Nationalreia, but the closest Reia I found there was in Dayton. I recently google searched for ones in this area and found COREE, but they seem to meet on Wednesdays and I'm not generally free on Wednesday. I'll start looking for other meetups like the ones you listed. And of course meet other investors!

Hello @Bryan Blankenship ! Nice to meet you, thanks for speaking up!

Hi @Joshua Hively , It's nice to meet you too. Yeah Harvey was talking about those. He said you go to almost all of them. I can't wait to attend one to see who is there. Do you know if there's any on Mondays or Tuesdays? Those are my usual days off.

Also, what's BP parole?

Post: Introducing Myself on Bigger Pockets

Stephen McDonaldPosted
  • New to Real Estate
  • Lewis Center, OH
  • Posts 17
  • Votes 19

Hello, my name is Stephen. I've been a member for a few months, but haven't really done anything here beyond reading some blogs and forums. I guess I should say something…

I live in Central Ohio, Graduated High School in 2012 and have been working at my Local Walmart for almost 5 years (That'll be a milestone). But I've had a feeling that continuing here for 20 years isn't going to bring me where I want to be, and while I am thankfully in a good place in life right now, I know that change is inevitable and I want to be prepared. I think investing in Real Estate would be a step in the right direction.

A couple years ago I had the bright idea that it would be cool to be a landlord someday, so I searched on Google "How to be a landlord" and I found Peter Harris's videos. I watched them all, then found the book he co-authored, Commercial Real Estate for Dummies, online, so I bought it and read it. Now that book is the foundation for my understanding of Real Estate; everything I learn stacks onto that information.

Hungry for more, I searched for more real estate videos and found Bigger Pockets on YouTube. After watching several of their videos, I found out they have this social networking website, and figured I could try it. So that's how I got here. My New Year's Resolution was to do at least one deal by next year. It doesn't seem like that's going to happen, but I have made a lot of progress since then. Surely I'll do one by 2021.

I hope to meet new people here, maybe some other investors in Central Ohio. Start networking, have good conversations, stuff like that. Well, I think that pretty much sums it up. I can't wait to see if anyone comments. Have a great day!