I am brand new on BP and I hope ya’ll are not laughing me out. While I am not brand new to real estate I now want to start really making it a business. To be very honest, besides listening to the podcasts for a few months I don’t have a ton of actual knowledge. The question I have is a bit extensive but concerning an actual property and I hope y’all are not kicking me out for asking (a) stupid question(s).

I have house hacked before, a small single family in FL, I owned 3 condos at the time which made money but not a ton and because of yearly changing tenants (nothing to do with the condos) I decided to sell 2 to buy a farm and start an animal rescue (and tank a lot of money into that). So I am down to one condo in Florida, worth 200k and fully paid, rented for 1850/mo. Sold my farm and have $500k that I’d like to invest in multifamily in California which is where I have relocated to, currently WorkCamping in my Class A motorhome (work for free parking & utilities).

I found a former store front property which had been converted into 4 apartments and a shed in the back. The apartments are rented at currently $4700/mo total. The property apparently needs roof work, sewage re-connect to city and dry rot mitigation (individually quoted at roughly $90k total). I see huge potential in this property but would like to get pros and cons from people with more experience. I was thinking if I could get the price down to at least $400k cash, get the work done, and continue to rent the apartments, work on getting an ADU in place of the shed in the back (with a home equity loan). Then I could see if I could get the 4 apartments permitted (it might only be 3 that need permitting) though right now I have no idea what that could entail (probably $ for permitting, possibly new wiring? plumbing?) which is why I'd like to pick y'all's thoughts. My thinking is if they were permitted the property value would automatically go up. The ADU in the back would bring up the value. If I couldn't get the apartments permitted there is always the option to either keep it going as is or turn it into a really nice single family or try to make it a duplex, with an ADU in the back. The adjacent property is more or less the same deal, former store front, 2 bigger apartments and a shed and office / workshop in the back. The seller would like (though not a requirement) to sell them together, though I don't have the money and because I don't have a real income apart from my condo I don't typically qualify for loans (at least that's what I've heard twice before).

So, if that even makes sense what I was trying to bring across, what are your thoughts of pros and cons, concerns or encouragement? Yay or nay or get outta here?

Late to FIRE in my 50s with an idea & some stupid questions - pls don’t kick me out

Most Popular Reply