Commercial loan question in smaller multifamily portfolio.

[John Hickey]

I've been getting ready to take out a commercial loan. I wonder if anyone of you guys that have related or similar or even just commercial loan experience could chime in on this. I'm selling a property and doing a 1031 I'm in contract right now closing in about 60 days. I have that in process. I'm looking to reinvest all the net proceeds the sale is 1.7m my net is 800k. I want to purchase 1.7 or more in property using my 800k. I'll be close to 50% equity in the deal as long as the appraisal is in line with purchase price. My wife isn't going on the note, so her assets and half our equity in the house isn't on my balance sheet. My net worth is around 1.1 most of that is untouchable. Say 1.050 in home equity and retirement accounts. I have a retirement loan out now for 50k (that's the maximum amount I can take). I used it to renovate the property being sold. I have identified many properties that I'm interested in. I'm waiting to get closer to closing before I make any offers. I'm looking at purchasing 8-12 properties. Most of what I'm looking at is 2-4 family homes. A few mixed use like commercial ground floor residential above. I have several partnerships in other houses. This is also difficult to access because they are newly purchased for cash. I'm working on getting these into a portfolio loan but they are in process of renovation. I have a line of credit from a private lender for 250k. I was thinking of asking him if I could take this as a loan to satisfy the reserve requirement.

[Bruce Petersen]

In my part of the world I could get a 36 unit apartment complex for the 800k you have to work with.  

It would likely cashflow ~ $8000-$9000 per month. 

I would never do duplex, tri or four plex. It's a lot more work unless you hire third party and then they will dig into you profits. You are also capped on your back end profits as you will be selling these to other investors. In an apartment complex the value is driven by NOI and not comps so your upside is much higher and now you have all 36 units in one spot where you can hire a part time manager to handle it all or pay third party 4-5% to manage it for you.