Under contract on my first duplex! What comes next?

[Justin Bearce]

As the title suggests I am under contract for my first duplex scheduled to close next month.  It will be a house hack as I will be occupying the downstairs apartment while renting the second floor. It's currently occupied with rents well below others in the area. For a 2 bedroom in the area with heat and hot water included I see $950 a lot and this is going for $700 currently. What is the best strategy for raising the rent? I plan on doing some work to the first floor unit when I move in so i would like to not worry about finding a new tenant for a while. To make the numbers start to work I need at least $800 for the unit.  Preferably $900 but I figure it will need some work before I jump to that. So any suggestions on that front?

Secondly, I want to build a portfolio as fast as is reasonable. After this deal I will have between 2-3k to put into savings each month. I like the idea of the BRRRR strategy but with the turmoil in the market atm is that a good idea for a newbie atm? I also like the idea of small multi family properties which I figure are a little safer because if the numbers work out now they should still work out a year from now regardless right? It will just be slower going buying new properties.

any thoughts on these topics are greatly appreciated!  I am super excited to be buying my first rental property!

[Michael Henry]

Originally posted by @Justin Bearce:

As the title suggests I am under contract for my first duplex scheduled to close next month.  It will be a house hack as I will be occupying the downstairs apartment while renting the second floor. It's currently occupied with rents well below others in the area. For a 2 bedroom in the area with heat and hot water included I see $950 a lot and this is going for $700 currently. What is the best strategy for raising the rent? I plan on doing some work to the first floor unit when I move in so i would like to not worry about finding a new tenant for a while. To make the numbers start to work I need at least $800 for the unit.  Preferably $900 but I figure it will need some work before I jump to that. So any suggestions on that front?

Secondly, I want to build a portfolio as fast as is reasonable. After this deal I will have between 2-3k to put into savings each month. I like the idea of the BRRRR strategy but with the turmoil in the market atm is that a good idea for a newbie atm? I also like the idea of small multi family properties which I figure are a little safer because if the numbers work out now they should still work out a year from now regardless right? It will just be slower going buying new properties.

any thoughts on these topics are greatly appreciated!  I am super excited to be buying my first rental property! 

In terms of raising rents, this needs to be done carefully especially if you don't want the tenant to move out in the short term.  I would talk to the tenants about increasing the rents once the lease is up and let them know that you will be making improvements. 

You make money on the buy, not the sell (refinance). If the numbers work it doesn't matter if it is a duplex or a multi-family.