Newbie - need advice on mulitple rent house portfolio purchase.

[Jason Andrews]

I need some advice on a multiple rent house portfolio purchase. These houses are located in low income areas. They are older 2/1 and 3/1 units. Most of them will probably need renovations in the future. Four units are rented with long time renters. One is vacant and seriously need of renovation. Based on his complaints all the time about his rentals I am assuming all them will need some renovations in the future. I will be looking at them next week possibly to get further information on them. Average rents are $620. The market in our area is strong on rental properties. Housing prices are high do to the oil field in our South Texas area. Even though oil field is slow demand for family rentals is strong. Asking price for portfolio is $250,000. The seller is motivated due to needing cash to build a new commercial building for his new business.

This seems to be a good price in our area ($50,000/unit) but how do I really get a good estimate on property value as a whole in making a good decision on this deal?

My son is an attorney and is going to be my partner in the deal and will be able to do all the paperwork. How do I figure my son's value in making the deal as he will be doing all the legal work?

Also, my son has a good friend that will possibly do our financing of the deal. What kind of terms on a loan should I expect or should I present to him on doing a multi-unit purchase? Finance each rental or all as a whole? At some time in the future I would like to pull out some equity for further investment and renovations.

As of now I am trying to get all the financials from the proposed purchase so I don't have any definite numbers on all operating expenses and etc.. I am just trying get inputs from you guys on how to do a multi-unit deal.

I have been studying everything on Bigger Pockets for the last few years and its time to make my first deal. I am still a newbie but it’s time to jump in if the deal is right. To many deals have past me by in the past because I didn’t think I was ready. I am ready now!!

[Michele Fischer]

Jason, I suggest you also explore low income landlording and decide if that is a path you really want to take.  It's been good for us, but very trying at times, and if we didn't have an element of trying to make the world a better place, probably not our best path.

Agree with others that you should do your due diligence to look at surrounding sales prices and rents independently, and also see his books/tax returns.  When you walk through them, list everything that needs to be done, and try to price it out afterwards.  The hard part of low income investing is deciphering what really should be done and what will be immediately trashed anyway.  Run down properties do not always mean a negligent landlord.

If you get a chance to talk to the long term tenants, ask them what they like about living there.  Try to figure out what motivates them; long term tenants are worth their weight in gold.

Is the seller offering financing?  Traditional financing is harder with low income properties; each has such a low price that it's not worth the banks time.  Not sure if portfolio loan would work.  For investment properties expect a rate 1-2% above what you could get for your primary residence mortgage.