What are good Estimates For OPEX in Boston areas

[Munir Hassan]

Hi All,

I am new to BP and just getting into real estate investing. I live in the Boston area and have been looking to purchase a 2-3 family. The goal is to house hack for a year, save up additional capital and either keep the property for the long term or do a 1031 exchange to a better property. We would ultimately like to have about 5-10 rental properties that cash flow.

The challenge in getting started is we don’t have a good sense of typical repair, capex and vacancy expenses in the area (since I’m new) to confidently estimate OPEX.

My questions is

What is a good estimate for repair, capex and vacancy for this area? I’ve been using 10% of rent for capex and repairs and 5% vacancies. 

[Ann Bellamy]

Repairs will vary widely and depend largely on the amount of deferred maintenance and the quality of your tenants.  I would not lump capex and repairs together, either.  Consider a dollar amount per unit, and don't skimp.  Whatever you think it might be, double it.