Small reno that ended up being a much bigger reno

[Amit Patel]

I wanted to post this Success story from a property we bought and then sold last year. I bought it as I was getting a discount of 50K from retail and figured at worst, we could flip it quickly without a realtor and make about 45K after closing costs (realty transfer fees from state and attorney fees mostly).

How we found it. Our super also managed this and the owner lived out of state and his dad maintained it but was tiring of it. He did not raise rents as needed. Total was $3600 a month ($900 a month as they weren't in great condition and small) but knew we could easily get $4,000 a month with maybe 12k in basic/needed updates (cosmetic). Took almost 7 months to negotiate a sale.  We got the 4-family for 450K, including closing costs (Jersey City, which was and is a hot market).  

After reviewing the property location and talking to neighbors, we did more analysis on rents. We found that even though each apartment was tiny (500 sq. feet), single people were looking for clean/renovated apartments and were willing to pay $1400 a month if it was on a quiet block (this was a quiet block and there was a school nearby but size wasn't proper for most families). Based on our thinking ,we were thinking due to the size,etc. we would only get $1,200 with more renovations but more research with people on the block showed we could get significantly more.

We decided on a 95K budget (but overshot it to 110K)  and did the following

1. Updated all kitchens with new cabinets/granite

2. Updated all bathrooms  

3. Upgraded floors ( went with a clean luxury vinyl for $2.25 /sq. foot)

4. Sand/Fix all walls , Replaced all doors, New Radiator covers

5. Update all common areas (they looked old and worn)

6. Stainless steel appliances

7. Misc. Leaks, fixed bad piping, some electrical issues, etc. (people at $1,400 won't put up with some of these longer term and we were possibly considering holding this long-term if we didn't get our price).

All in cost was 450+110=560K. At this price and with taxes management, etc. we were at a true 9 cap, which is excellent for Jersey City and if we refinanced, this would've been significantly higher.

 Reno was 2 months but 1 month was waiting on permits so took 3 months. We showed units when they were a week from being done and had all 4 rented 2 weeks after we were done.  We got an offer for 750K and immediately took it because at this price, the cap rate was 6.5 at this rate and we had other properties we could get 8-9 caps on after renovation. Also, since the place was small, we just didn't think we could do much better long-term in terms of appreciation. 

Finalized sale about six months after purchase, Our gross profit was 190K in 6 months. Due to taxes, we did a 1031.