Owner Occupied Duplex

[Joni F.]

Any advice would be appreciated.

I've been searing for multi-units in the Dallas area, and i found one that may be worth going after. This will be my first ever purchase, i'm a little nervous, so i'm looking for feedback. It's  a duplex about 40 miles outside of Dallas. It was built in 2006, has been on the market for 284 days, and is going for $185k. One side is currently renting for $1000 and the other $950 but could go for more. I would want to occupy one side of the duplex.  Does this sound like a sound deal worth going for, and should we low-ball our first offer being that it's been on the market for so long and the pricing has dropped from the original asking price of $200k? It's also on a huge corner lot, enough footage that another unit could possible be built in the future. Any advice on how i should proceed?

[Gene Livingston]

Nobody here can REALLY guide you on what to do, without knowing the full story. No idea if the price is right or not, needed repairs, stability of the tenant, etc. You risks are somewhat mitigated by living in the other unit, since you will be there to keep an eye on things and fix whatever needs fixing. I will assume the high DOM is due to an un-motivated seller. A reasonable price will get a house sold. Have you already sized-up the seller? Is he will to deal (yet)? Maybe he needs more pain before getting the price down...if so, move on. There are plenty of duplexes around. Bottom line though is the price sounds high, even for recent construction. Why is it not selling? That's the question :-) No reason to make somebody else's problem your problem. And don't get emotional...that will kill you. Lowballing--this sounds like an unreasonable seller, so I doubt low-balling him will accomplish much. I've been watching an in-fill lot for awhile now, the seller has it priced DOUBLE what it's worth. The seller is also a bit...eccentric, and possibly crazy. I have various people calling him about once a month to monitor his price (it's a FSBO). He seems to be dropping it about $5K a month. At this rate, some day it will be at a good price (LOL) but until then I am happy to let him pay his property taxes on his lot with a burned-out house on it...haha his problem, not mine, for now.