No showings until due diligence

[Account Closed]

Looking for my first house hack and I found a 4-plex listed for $500,000. They only have pictures of the outside and, since all unites are currently occupied, they won't do showings until after my offer is accepted. That makes it difficult for me to know what to offer. I have no idea what the insides look like, so I don't know what kind of rehab budget to be prepared for. Should I offer a lower amount assuming there will be extensive rehab? Or should I offer higher, and then pending my own inspection of the property, request to come down in price? Also, how much time should I ask for due diligence? This is near Atlanta, where houses are selling crazy fast. My agent has told me I won't be able to get any offers accepted if I do more than 12 days on a single family home, and for this one thinks I should only go up to 20 days. What is the best way to go about this situation, since I don't really know what I'm buying?

[Brenden Mitchum]

Hey @Account Closed, welcome to the BP community!

A 4-plex on the market, in the Atlanta area, is quite a rare thing. If it is in a decent area, this one will go quick and likely be a bidding war. No way you will get it with 20-day DD (maybe you meant 20-day close?). Any offer over 7-days DD is likely not going to be looked at. In fact, this one will probably end up going to someone with a very strong offer - near purchase price, maybe cash, 1%+ earnest money, less than 5 days DD. 

Really, you should not need more than 7-days due diligence on the offer. This is enough time to get an inspector and perhaps a contractor in there and decide if you can move forward or need to renegotiate. If a bunch of items come up in the inspection and you cannot get your contractor out there in time to give a bid, then you can always try to negotiate a DD extension. This is much easier to do once you're under contract than on the initial offer. 

Now, when it comes to running your numbers without photos or viewing, there really is no way to get a very accurate picture. As already suggested, definitely have your agent see how much info they can get from the listing agent. Aside from that, you'll really just have to fill in a best guess here for now and reanalyze when you have more info. Keep in mind, if the units are already rented long-term, you will have some time to build a bit of reserves from the property. Then you can rehab each unit as it becomes available. 

Hope this helps a bit! Please, feel free to reach out anytime if you have other questions or just want to chat!