All Forum Posts by: Andrew Boykins

No. I have two banks that I use for refinance. I start the process with both and each does there own appraisal. They are shockingly different sometimes. 

I think it's all relative.  I invest in Baltimore City and in spots some people would be uncomfortable.  I also use crime data from Trulia to find the lowest crime portions of Baltimore.  Those rankings are all relative and I bet a lot of folks would still be uncomfortable in the places deemed 'low' because it's just low for Baltimore.  You get higher returns but whatever benchmark or numbers you're using just won't be calibrated for what you're likely to deal with in some of these neighborhoods.  

I am a buy and hold investor in Baltimore. Always happy and partner with other investors so free to PM me. Regarding the deal you mentioned, I would be really careful about the tenant and neighborhood quality. I haven't seen many deals for the all-in price you've described that aren't in really bad areas.

Baltimore is really a block by block city and I wouldn't necessary focus on a specific zip code. This is especially true if you're optimizing for cash flow not appreciation. 

I think it depends on your investment strategy. I wouldn't put window units in a place that has granite and stainless obviously. Also, I use the BRRR strategy so I put A/C in all my homes because I get all my money back when I refinance.  On the first property I did I didn't have HVAC and actually could see what impact to the value was on the write-up.  If you know what it adds to the property value it's a pretty easy case.  If you get your money back then I would recommend doing it.

@Ned Carey I think you're point is correct in your overall point but you may have the numbers reversed.  @Lisa S. was saying ~$60k.  And while I spend ~$60k that's on lower end rowhomes and I would expect it to cost her more especially on her first deal.  I believe that Travis confirmed that based on his numbers.

@Travis Lauchman, 40k to 60k gets me a full gut/renovation.  Again that's not with high end stuff.  It's laminate flooring or refinishing floors.  A bulk of the money is new systems: HVAC, plumbing, electric.  And if the basement is already unfinished, I don't spend the extra money to finish it.  So it's only ~1.2k sq ft. of space to renovate.

I put in 40k to 60k for a full remodel. But that's with moderate finishes. I still do granite and all that but not high end floor, tile work,  appliances, etc. Another factor with some of the higher end home is the historic charm of the home. Leveraging the historic charm of the home can be a big value add but I don't know what the cost of that is. 

And what I mean by low on the rent is that it's too low for you to make money. Does 1.5k even cover the mortgage, taxes, and insurance. Much less the vacancies, repairs, and property management. I don't think you would even get a commercial loan for the full value based on that. For every 100k in property value you probably need almost 1k in rent. So I would want at least  2.5k in rent to be comfortable 

I invest in row homes in Baltimore doing the brrr strategy. Rehabs in Baltimore will range widely based on the level of finish. Based on the ARV you mentioned I would say 60k is probably low and extremely low if you don't have a fair contractor you could trust. The ARV seems very achievable and the rent actually sounds a little low to me.

There are definitely deals available on the Internet in Baltimore you just need a system or methodology to filter out the junk.