Duplex: Keep Coming Back To This.... Is it good, though?

Duplex: Keep Coming Back To This.... Is it good, though?

Member since 2020 · 24 posts · 12 votes

I'm looking at a duplex in a small college-town (enrollment ~1,000) in a smaller town (~4,000) outside Atlanta. The duplex is a 3-minute walk from the campus, and several other properties on the street have been purchased and rehabbed by investment groups. 

  • Purchase price: $160k (list: $190k, comps $160k on same street purchased <2 mos ago)
  • Financing: Traditional, bank financing: 20% down, 4% interest on 30-year loan
  • Rehab: $8,000 est - paint walls, counters in kitchen; ARV: $200k
  • Rents: $1,000/unit after light rehab
  • Expenses: $1,237/mo (inc taxes, ins, 5% R&M, 5% CapEx, 5% vacancy, 8% mgmt, and $611/mo mortgage)
  • Cash Flow/CoC: $762/month, 20% CoC return

Numbers look good... here is the dilemma: Smaller population in the area and I'm really relying on the growth of the on-campus student population to drive the return here. Plus as a first-time investor, I'd be competing with larger investment companies on the same street for a limited college population (they have a similar, rehabbed duplex that's listed for rent online - so 2 units). Also, wouldn't the same investment group that purchased the other 3 properties want to buy this one as well - if they passed, do they know something I don't?

Am I overthinking this deal, or is there really a higher-risk than the numbers show? 

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  • Real Estate Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2014 · 19 posts · 8 votes
    5y

    Love your analysis here.  Did you decide to move forward?  If not, did you research what happened to the property?  

  • Member since 2020 · 24 posts · 12 votes
    5y

    Hey @Mike Mosby - Thank you! I did decide to pass on this property after driving out to the area and doing more research. While the house ended up closing for $140k in May, I did notice that there's a huge on-campus apartment building that was nearing completion. This on-campus apartment building was boasting similar rents to the $1k/month I'd modeled in an older house off-campus for the same bed/bath/sq footage. My plan all along was to use this for college students, and the long-term strategy there seemed less viable. 

    Your question piqued my curiosity and I decided to check in on any active listings on that street.... looks like 3 more duplexes have popped up for sale with many more selling since I last looked over that way. Appears some investors are getting smart to offload properties there!

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