Lots of BRRRR questions

[Kim Forgione]

Hi! Complete newbie here. I'm interested in buying multi-families using the BRRRR method but have several questions:

1. From what I understand, the main perk of BRRRR is getting your initial investment back out to buy the next property. And you do this by buying a property that needs work so you can increase the value and then refinance. As someone with no experience, I'm wondering how to estimate the amount of money needed for repairs? Get an inspector and then bring his assessment to a contractor? Bring a contractor to the site with you?

2. Do you estimate the after-repair value by looking at comps? If a multi-family, would you compare to comps in a traditional sense (value of similar properties in area) or in a revenue-generating sense (cap rate of comps)?

3. What should be the max amount of time to spend on repairs before renting?

4. When refinancing, how do you get the new value appraised (esp if value is based on cap rate of comps)?

5. The risk is not being able to refinance because the value didn't increase as much as you projected? If so, the only negative effect is not being able to get your initial investment out?

6. Is it true that I can get up to 10 conventional loans at a time (and my husband can also get 10) before I have to start looking for alternate forms of financing? And as long as the properties are outside of a 50 mile radius from my home, I can get a conventional loan which only requires on avg 5-10% down?

Hope my questions aren't too obvious. Thanks in advance!!