Interesting opportunity has opened up, would love your thoughts

[Mark K.]

Hello,

I started out here in early 2015 and for about three months tried to learn everything I could about REI. Long story short, life happened and I felt very stifled and limited living in Manhattan as I was priced out of nearly everything.

Anyways, fast forward to today, the house across the street from my parents in Montgomery County, MD is for sale. It's been on the market for a couple months without an offer according to my parents and we know the owner is trying to sell quickly. 

Now I'm scrambling and trying to go back and read my old notes and read up on basic fundamentals again. In the back of mind, I keep remember read rule #1 is don't invest in something you don't understand. However, this opportunity seems perfect in terms of location. As far as numbers go, I was hoping you can help me on that. They don't seem to make sense to me but one of my good friends is a local realtor and I'm meeting with him tomorrow. I just think the house is too much. Below are the numbers I've crunched, please let me know if I'm missing something. Your feedback is appreciated!

[Eric Smith]

I know where I live in Silver Spring, you would most likely see $2200 - 2500 rents for SFH that will run you nowadays, 400-450K. My house was appraised for around $450K this Summer and Rentometer says I could get around $2200 in rent for it.

I'm no expert but I don't see the upside in this deal.  There's almost zero cash flow so you're betting on further appreciation in a market that has had a significant run up the past 2-3 years.  Could it continue?  Sure, but enough for you to recoup costs?  Not sure.

I don't know where this property is, but if it's been on the market for a while, chances are most investors have seen it and decided to pass. MOCO seems to have picked over for the most part (at least the part I see on a regular basis), Look for something better.