17 - unit building, am I doing math correct? Too good to be true

[Scott Buckner]

Ok I am looking at a 17-unit complex in Texas.  

Total Cashflow $7870 per month 100% occupied

Monthly expenses including - loan, taxes, insurance, management fee, utilities, - $5200

Net return per month - $2670

This would be my first multi - unit complex.  Does this sound right?  Me and another investor are kicking the tires and wondering if the math was correct.  

I did the GRM and it was 12? and the cap rate was at at 12% if I understood that correctly. Seems too good to be true but wanted thoughts to see if I did everything right and good deal or not. Lower income area and rent is average for that particular area, It is 100% occupied right now but definitely could use some improvements but rent won't go much higher for the area that it is in. Repairs are minimal - maybe 15k worth.

Looking for advice and questions I need to be asking as I go through this process.  Getting past revenue records and utility cost as we speak to see what the history on complex is.  Have a few rent houses but trying to take leap into multi-family and kinda scary so want to make sure I try to think of everything.  

Thanks in advance,

SB

[Nick L.]

I'm not saying the price is too high or too low. I was just guessing the price from your statement of cap and GRM.

Here's how I would do the back of an envelope math on a C/D property.

Annual gross income: $94,440

Annual operating expenses: $56,664 (60% of gross rents - rule of thumb)

NOI: $37,776

Purchase price: $449,000 (assumes no capital improvements required)

Cap rate: 8.4%

GRM: 4.75

For the loan, I assume a commercial note at say 4.5% initial rate over 25yrs with 75% loan to value. Annual debt service = $22,452.

Annual cash flow = $15,324.

I saw that your expenses don't include vacancy, maintenance, capital expenses or landscaping. Also 7.5% management is likely to be low for a C/D property. Your total operating expenses might not reach 60% but for sure they will be a lot higher than your figures indicate.