First deal - 3 units in PA - feedback welcome (show your stuff!)

[Steve Lundy]

New guy here. Thanks in advance for any help or guidance you can provide. I am looking to purchase a 2-4 unit MFR as my first foray into real estate investing. My goal is to have a property management company manage the property. I have a realtor, I've been pre-approved for a loan, and I've been watching the MLS.

A 3-unit property became available recently, which intrigued me primarily because of its location (highway accessible, proximity to major city, and proximity to new 500-employee office building).

Projected Purchase price:  $150,000 

Initial costs
Down payment: $37,500
Closing costs: $7,500
Initial renovations: $2,000
$47,000 = Total Initial investment

Monthly rent: $2,025 (total from 3 units)

Expenses

Monthly taxes: $186
Monthly insurance: $63
Monthly utilities: $255 (sewer, water trash)
Monthly management: $203 (10%)
Monthly maintenance: $203 (10%)
Monthly vacancy: $169 (1 month of rent)

$1,078 = Total Monthly Operating Expenses

I am planning on using a HELOC entirely to fund the purchase of this property (down payment, closing costs, initial renovations).

Debt service
Monthly P&I - Primary: $586
Monthly P&I - HELOC: $285

$871 = Total debt repayment

$1,949 = Total Monthly Expenses

My thoughts/questions:

• In this scenario, the cash flow is next to nothing ($76/month). Is it absolutely silly to do this deal? Any upsides you can see? 
• If I do the property management myself (increasing cash flow to $279/month), does its outlook improve? I noted in the beginning of the post that the property is in what I perceive to be a great area to keep it rented regularly. 
• To what extent should I be considering or not considering the debt repayment expenses in my analysis of this purchase? 
• If for some reason you think I should proceed, how would you envision paying off / paying down the HELOC so that I can free it up for another property's purchase? How to move forward after a purchase like this seems difficult, since all my cash would be tied up.
• What would need to change for this deal to be worth it (e.g. how much lower would purchase price need to be, or any other ideas)?

As an aside, I have studied various "rules of thumb" and "real estate investment guidelines" calculations, picked some target thresholds, and plugged this deal in. Most thresholds say I'm not meeting the mark, but some do. How to best navigate and prioritize these?

Return on Investment	1.95%	Target above 6%
Cap Rate (Net Rental Yield)	7.58%	Target above 10%
Gross Rental Yield	16.21%	Target above 10%
One Percent Rule	1.35%	Target as close to 2% as possible
8 Times Yearly Rent Rule	6.2	Target below 8
15 Year Mortgage Rule	$1,321	Target below rent
50% Rule	47%	Target above 50%

Interested in any feedback or insights you have! Thank you very much.

[James C.]

Steve,

At 150K and 100% financed, it's silly, really, really, really silly. Upsides: If and only if you can get it at a price that makes the cash flow worth it. Don't shortcut yourself on property management, you wouldn't manage property for a customer for free. You are correct in considering your debt repayment, paying it back is a required part of having debt. If you proceed, make sure you get your price down to something where you get enough of a profit. I usually consider 10% on my money, and 10% of my money to be "enough", less than that, no deal, more is better. You move forward by buying at reasonable prices relative to cash flow. You are doing 100% financing of your deal, so your price probably has to be 90K to get it to work. Trying for 100% financing (HELOC/Loan) is rough on numbers.

Generally, you should have a spreadsheet where you can plug in values and have the numbers update automatically. Doing a "Goal Seek" operation in Excel can get you to a price that makes sense for your business model. You would set your monthly "profit" and the computer does the math to calculate a purchase price that gives you that monthly "profit".

Keep looking for a deal that fits your model (or change your model).

Good Luck!

Jim