All Forum Posts by: Susan Tan

@Uwe G  @James Dishongh How do I find out if a neighborhood or property is properly zoned to potentially have an ADU to be built on it?

me too.

@Chris Williams I'm working w/ Ricki Anaya.  Just a quick browse on realtor.com yields results like 2714 Falk Rd, Vancouver, WA 98661 but no idea how this neighborhood is really like! I can't drive and I don't have a strong desire to disobey shelter in place to visit Vancouver so I need to rely on internet data.

For those who live in Vancouver, WA: I've been eyeing potential primary multifamily residences or ADU properties there as a way to save on income state taxes. What class B+ neighborhoods do you recommend that I narrow my search? My max purchase limit is $400k; I prefer to have my own kitchen and my own unit in either a multifamily or ADU property. Feel free to DM me. I already am working w/ a buyer's realtor licensed in Vancouver, WA.

We know that HCOL cities have high rent, high property taxes, and high prices for everything. This year, my Slack acquaintance couple purchased a $2.6 million 3bedroom condo apartment in Greenwich Village, Manhattan with intention to rent it out in a few years to pay off their $4k/month mortgage. I'm skeptical if this HCOL apartment will even cash flow. If you're an investor in a HCOL major city, are you seeing any cap rates at today's prices in the HCOL cities where your properties are located?

https://datausa.io/profile/geo/columbus-oh#economy has an interactive embeddable map of the income level & location.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Cincinnati.

Purchase price: $99,910
Cash invested: $56,000

A fixer upper 1,666 square feet duplex: 2bed/1bath and a 1bed/1bath built in 1950s. Needs $27k of renovation work: electrical, plumbing, painting interiors & cabinets, fix external rails, add roof cap. It's on a quiet dead end street in a B/C+ neighborhood.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I really like multifamily properties of 2 to 4 units for higher cash flow. Cap rate is 7- 8% a year depending on how much this rents for.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Realtor found this property on MLS on my first day visiting Cincinnati in-person. We toured this property out of over 10+ properties and made 2 offers on my Ohio trip. I lowered the price by $6k by agreeing to pay both buyer & seller's realtor fees. It was on market for over 150+ days since Nov 2019 so the price was reduced from its original $115k.

How did you finance this deal?

I placed a conventional 20% downpayment for a 15-year mortgage at 4.5% interest and I decided to pay an additional $200 per month towards principal in mortgage so mortgage total is $1,000/month in order to pay off the 15-year mortgage faster.

How did you add value to the deal?

This is a moderate sized rehab project that needs repairs to make it safe to live and cosmetic updating in all the rooms.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Closing date was delayed by a month due not having adequate insurance, waiting on title company, and waiting on cash refi to complete on my rental property #1. I wouldn't do a cash refi on another property at same time as getting a mortgage because both banks would be waiting for the other one to complete the closing process in order to calculate LTV accurately.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I worked w/ a realtor from Plum Tree Realty and the title company is Aspen Land Title Agency in Beavercreek, OH. Lenders & underwriters work at Wells Fargo.

@Andy Mirza I called the local Wells Fargo bank and scheduled an afternoon appointment w/ their notary in the bank, a 6 minute walk and a free service. I don't think that paying over $100+ for a mobile notary is worth the money if you can find a big national bank w/ a notary.

I received my full rent from my first and only C+ class condo rental in April.

I'm a SF Bay Area-based beginner real estate investor who invests in Ohio. This is my experience on closing a rental duplex.

I was in a N95 mask for 2.5 hours this afternoon. I signed docs w/ a notary in-person at the Wells Fargo bank and then walked to UPS store 1 mile away, waited in a long line keeping 6 feet away from everyone, and finally walked back home up a giant hill. The notary was confused about which form of acknowledgement to use because the Ohio mortgage docs are different than CA mortgage docs so I had to call title company, which is when they were about to close office in Ohio time, for help. Luckily, the title company manager picked up the phone to answer the notary's question. A giant pane of glass separated the notary and I at the bank. There were Lysol wipes for my hands before I entered my thumb print on the notary book.

With my package of mortgage docs, I had to walk past the first UPS store that was closest to my home because the line was a street block long and the 2nd UPS store had 3 people in front of me.

Rental property number 2 has closed today, the downpayment is wired, and it is now time to get my first major rehab project moving forward in Ohio w/ contractors scheduled to work on fixer upper property to make this rent ready for new tenants. This entire process of getting a mortgage took 2.5 months with lots of back-and-forth between the bank underwriters and title company and I. Now, the hard work of renovations is about to begin 2,000+ miles away in Ohio.

I feel very grateful for banks & UPS & other postal stores being open during a pandemic and all the bank & shipping employees are taking precautions to limit max number of people in the stores. The Wells Fargo bank in Oakland, CA even has motion-activated hand sanitizer.  I'm also grateful that I live in a walkable neighborhood where the bank, postal stores, grocery stores are 10 minutes walk away because I do not know how to drive.