Local Investment Loan Advice

[Amir B.]

Hello BP Community,

I have decided to give up on house hacking using a FHA loan. Negative cash flow is never a good start to a RE career. That being said, this opens more doors for me using a conventional investment loan using 20% down payment. I wanted to still invest in Sacramento because of the inventory of MFH's. I am still interested in MFH.

So, I have decided to take a chance. My friend made a good point today. He said, if you take a chance and have your savings make more money for you, it will be better than having it lay in the bank. 

My question is about positive cash flow or profits. Here is an example of a deal that I saw.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/7...

This is a duplex with 2/1 on each unit. Each unit is being rented for $800 monthly. The tenant only pay rent, so I need to find out what I am responsible for. However, I can change that once I buy.

If I bought at asking $189,000, my PIMI is $886 with 3.00% interest rate. If I add water/trash/sewer at $90 each unit. Is my positive cash flow at $534 per month?

Please let me know if I am forgetting other things. I know I didn't calculate repairs and vacancy. Property management will be done by me.

Thank you. 

[Kelli D.]

Hi Amir: stay positive (in both ways). Looks like you're just figuring your cap rate to see if it's a good deal. Maintenance (including lawn), management (if you want that), property taxes, landlord insurance, utilities, and capital expenses are all figured in to a cap rate. Capital expenses are things that are bigger ticket items like a water heater or HVAC for example. Always consider a vacancy rate too. So take your gross rent x a year and divide by the price of the property minus all those things mentioned to see what your cap rate is. If you're above .8 that's pretty good, you want to be higher when ever possible of course. Consider everything involved. Good luck to you at least you're out there getting your feet wet. Hope I didn't state that wrong it's after 11pm on a Sunday :)