All Forum Posts by: Zachary Coombs

Happy to talk! I don’t have a strong circle of like minded peers nearby. This community has been immensely valuable. Financed 25% down conventional. I bought my first one (duplex in chambersburg) December of 2019 by taking a 20k loan against my paid off truck. I’ve been fortunate to have massive success with creative funding for Downpayments/reserves. Did a cash purchase using business credit cards utilizing “fund and grow” method. No remodels, only purchase turnkey, cash flowing, fully occupied. Waiting for vacancies to do turnover remodels. My absolute pleasure to talk. I have deep dives of each of my deals on my profile.

I currently own 3 and will close on my 4th  on March 5th. I will then have 3 duplexes and one triplex in York city. Southern management rentals manages all of the York properties. And I bought all of them sight unseen at 20-30% below asking price with my realtor based out of chambersburg, Nancy Allison with Coldwell banker. In addition, I have a duplex in chambersburg, a duplex and triplex in Harrisburg, a sfh in waynesboro and just had an offer accepted on a duplex there as well. I am an automotive mechanic and I live in Gaithersburg, MD.

I love Main Street America towns and sub markets of major metro areas. The amount of blue collar industry and essential workers who demand housing paired with the low cost of ownership and high rent rates lead to great cash flow and low vacancy. I've been able to find 2% deals right off the MLS. Good luck fellows! Let me know how I could help.

Thanks for this @Bob Chang. I’d be interested in exploring opportunities in frostburg. In my experience rural sub markets can offer more tenant stability and more cash flow than than places like Frederick and Hagerstown. Waynesboro, PA is one I’m finding continued success in. Would you mind sharing your property manager and contractors info? I’ve used “home duty” out of Frederick for a few things in chambersburg PA. They were honest, fast, and good.

@Gary Swank great question! I'm happy to share I've been able to find 2% properties in York, Harrisburg, Chambersburg, and Waynesboro right off the MLS. I'm a buy and hold investor and have gone from 0-17 units in fifteen months in these markets, clean cash flowing (at least) 100$ per door. Like @Elise Bickel Tauber said earlier, the larger metropolitan and surrounding markets are being sifted through pretty heavily. I’ve found some pretty simple success in sub-markets with blue collar “essential” employment opportunities and surrounding “Main Street America” towns. I remember hearing in a BP podcast that someone once said it was safe to invest anywhere there was a “chick fil a” restaurant because of how deep their market analysis was before they opened a location. Curious to hear what you find. Good luck!

@Benjamin Seibert Great question, thanks for asking. I have not had any issues whatsoever with the borough, inspections, licenses, or anything else. Antietam Realty is a long time management company familiar with the area and strong relationships and understanding of the intricacies of that market. I've had borough employees tell me that my properties are on the nicer side of the scale for the area. I recently bought a duplex in York, PA that is zoned as SFH but has been used as a duplex for 10 years. That is the first I'm having "trouble" with a municipality. It will be resolved with time, money, and creativity I'm sure. I see you're in Frederick, MD. Where do you invest primarily? What types of properties do you invest in? How long have you been investing in real estate? What are you working on now? I'm reading "the richest man in Babylon" currently and enjoying it immensely. Thanks for your post!

@Will Fraser Thanks so much for your question. I’d be happy to do a deep dive into the financials. I had to use a total of 5 credit cards because of the low initial balances. I used Plastiq.com to wire the funds to the title company. (Note on plastiq.com: they are not able to convert American Express to cash transfers). I have used the income from the property to make more than minimum payments on the cards until I finish the cash out refinance (6 months of seasoning required). All but one of the cards had 6-9 months of no interest. The only costs of using this method was five wire transfers (125), plastiq’s 3% fee (1500), and any interest incurred before refinance.

Looking back, it was a great lesson. I would figure out how to get those business cards on my own, rather than pay fund and grows fee. I would begin the refinance process after 3-4 months to close on the six month mark. it took a bit more organization and hands on than I expected to manage the cards and process, but our credit scores have fully recovered and a majority of the inquiries were removed. Likely won’t renew with fund and grow, but we will still have the cards for use and will be able to request a balance increase once payed down some.

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $69,360
Cash invested: $21,000

Fully occupied duplex.

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

ROI and fully occupied

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

MLS through realtor

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional mortgage

How did you add value to the deal?

N/A

What was the outcome?

Holding

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Have management in place by closing date get a better idea of zoning limitations. This is being used as a multifamily but is zoned as single family and will likely take some time, effort, and money to legally convert in order to finance out of seller financing.

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

Nancy Allison Coldwell Banker in Chambersburg, PA
Charlie Miller with Freedom Mortgage
Keystone Real Estate Services Chambersburg, PA
Southern Management Rentals Glen Rock, PA

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $106,180
Cash invested: $32,000

Triplex fully occupied.

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

Fully occupied and strong ROI

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

MLS through realtor

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional mortgage.

How did you add value to the deal?

N/A

What was the outcome?

Holding

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Have management ready for closing date.

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

Nancy Allison Coldwell Banker in Chambersburg, PA
Charlie Miller with Freedom Mortgage
Keystone Real Estate Services Chambersburg, PA
Southern Management Rentals Glen Rock, PA

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $69,360
Cash invested: $21,000

Part 2 of 3 of three building (7 unit) portfolio deal. Duplex fully occupied.

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

ROI and fully occupied.

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

MLS through realtor.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional mortgage.

How did you add value to the deal?

N/A

What was the outcome?

Holding

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Have management ready for closing date.

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

Nancy Allison Coldwell Banker in Chambersburg, PA
Charlie Miller with Freedom Mortgage
Keystone Real Estate Services Chambersburg, PA
Southern Management Rentals Glen Rock, PA

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $87,000
Cash invested: $21,750

Duplex with two 1br units. Tenants pay all utilities. Each rented for 650$ month. Total income 1300$ Monthly.

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

High income with low cost.

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

MLS through real estate agent.

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional mortgage.

How did you add value to the deal?

Added some appliances, Replaced some broken appliances, fixed a few small things, and replaced outdoor flight of steps.

What was the outcome?

Holding

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Don't buy vacant properties.

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

Nancy Allison Coldwell Banker in Chambersburg, PA
Charlie Miller with Freedom Mortgage
Keystone Real Estate Services Chambersburg, PA
Management - Antietam Realty Waynesboro, PA