All Forum Posts by: Thomas J Petracca

Have been a Professional Engineer for 35 years doing building structural and mechanical engineering and design.  Have one multifamily...looking for another!

Mike P:  Thank you.  Southern end of the city.  There are opportunities on the north and south ends.  I'd stay away from the middle area except where you're real close to Marist College and if you want to provide student housing.

Joseph Rivera: Thanks Joseph.. It's a done deal at this point. Just maintenance. If you're going to be investing there I'd try to stay closer to the better side.. there's too many D area homes sitting empty with frustrated owners that are afraid to put money into them.

Samir Goel: Thank you Samir. Again, this is a C area stuck between a B+ area and a D area. There are values still there. Bottom line since I'm 2+ hours away you need a good property manager to run. Would not have been able to do it on my own. Rents are, comparably, relatively good at 1500 for a 2-bedroom and in my case, a combined 2nd and 3rd floor (as shown in the pics) bringing in 2400. Do I expect it to appreciate as fast as other areas.. NO. This is not an appreciation deal, albeit it might. This is net income deal and hopefully within 3 to 5 years, fully paid off and simply providing monthly cash flow.

Melba Chambers:  Thanks for asking.  Would love to.  See below.

@Henry Guo:  Poughkeepsie is north of NYC.. about 1 1/2 hours.

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $64,000
Cash invested: $100,000

100 year old brick 2-1/2 story home, "railroad-flat" style, and in very poor condition. Gutted interior walls, removed bearing walls in areas to open up the design to connect the front parlor to a new kitchen in the center of the home. Did same mod to second floor.
New bathrooms each level. Refinished "attic" into an additional level for the second story apartment.

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

Cash flow calculation!

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

House was listed on "Homes.com" Originally posted at $42K. Had to resubmit my best and final offer at $64K in bidding war. Originally lost out when higher bidder could not come up with cash for building.

How did you finance this deal?

Cash on hand and equity loan on primary residence

How did you add value to the deal?

By changing the layout to an open layout it provides a startling and beautiful view that everyone who sees it.. loves it. Had MANY people coming up to us to rent it out during construction.

What was the outcome?

Still chugging along...

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Probably used too high quality of finishes... could have saved 10K easily.

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

No.

Dardine, I'm the same age and same concern about not having much time to make this work.  Infact I'm  hoping to  scale to 15K monthly cash flow within  the next 2 years.   

Have my first multi under my belt and made many mistakes including investing too much on improvements, not contacting a management company earlier enough and not getting it rented fast enough. 

I'm still green.  I want to go big but I want to have some wisdom with me.  

Soo thankful for this site and the ability to connect with others.  Wish I had found this years ago!

Keep posting and getting good feedback!

Tom