Frustrated about the property i saw today

[Arden Ballard]

I need to sign up for "pro" so I can share the numbers, but I'll give a cliffs notes version here until I do. 

I'm bummed. I planned my afternoon around seeing this property, saw the value numbers-wise, but my wife brought up a potentially fatal flaw with the deal. 

Here it is:

 2/1 Duplex (with a potential garage-turned-efficiency in the back) Shotgun style home 1/4 mile from the largest hospital in the area. I've always wanted to own RE here. I work for the hospital, and I know I could count on tons of tenants being available. 

HUD property, asking 89,000. It needs 60k in work. I had my guys look it over, and sales comps would put me about 190k arv, and renting at 850/side. I'd pay cash up front and refi with my private bank on the back end (~155k at 4.75%. They do 80% LTV)

So I said "let's offer 80k"

Then I saw that, while I'd get more than my investment back on refi, the property cash flows about $23 bucks a month. ouch. 

So THEN I saw that the asking price has dipped a few times, and the bank has owned it for a while... so I started playing with the numbers. 

I'm excited again. this MAY work... 

Meanwhile, my wife (the logical person in this business) still is like "no way" shouldn't do it. 

I've already showed her the pics of the property and the surrounding area. She knows it well too. 

She looks at me and says, Arden, if this house was two blocks over, it'd be a no-brainer. but this house sits across the street from a sleezy auto repair shop. it's down the street from another auto repair shop. No nurse in their right mind would want to come home from a shift and walk past those properties. 

So even my idea of offering 30k for the property was shot down. darn. 

I'm posting all this to 1) decompress and 2) see if you would have walked away too? At what point would you look back at this deal and say "let's do it"?

[Nathan Gesner]

Listen to your wife for two reasons:

1. Happy wife, happy life.

2. If you go against her advice, every little hiccup could result in you sleeping on the couch and walking on eggshells.

Hold on, wait for a property you are both happy with. If you're both on board, the joys are shared and the suffering is reduced.