All Forum Posts by: Adam Johnson

I have not; there is a policy in place that the loan officer helped me to set up through a connection at his bank.  Insurance is running about $245 a month for the property.

You may be correct in assuming that the commercial level of the building may perform better if and when the current company moves out; unfortunately I've been struggling to keep up with everything on the property currently.  I feel like I may have taken on more than I can handle with my first purchase and am seriously considering selling the property and starting over with a single family home or two until I can establish a better foundation for myself.  I have been unsuccessful in getting a contractor out to the property to give me an estimate on renovating the lower level and the single electrician who did give me an estimate suggested that I may have to rewire the entire building to get individual metering.  If you have any suggestions or advice that might help me to turn this current endeavor in a more positive direction I am open to all possibilities but at the moment I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle!

Hello all,

I recently made the decision to move forward in my real estate investing journey by making my first purchase of a four plex located in Roebuck SC.  It's in the Spartanburg county area about thirty minutes from Greenville SC.  So far I am in the process of fixing up the property, it has three residential apartments on the second floor that are all currently occupied and one open area on the ground floor that is being leased by a commercial company.  Currently the building cash flows quite well; I am working on a few strategies to optimize the cash flow and am running into a bit of a problem with one idea that I've had.  

If the company that is renting the lower level of the building ever moves out, I would like to convert the downstairs floor into three additional two bedroom/ one bathroom apartments.  I have messaged several contractors so far but only one of them has replied.  Their estimate to complete the project was $75/sq. foot, which to complete two of the three apartment complexes at 930 square feet each would run me approximately $140k.  The ceiling on the lower level needs to be finished, but the exterior walls are in good order, there is plumbing already run and electrical wiring throughout the downstairs area.  There is already an existing kitchen and central air as well.

Has anyone in the Upstate SC area done any kind of renovations similar to what I am wanting to do?  And if so would you mind talking about the costs that were associated with that kind of work?

Hi Ian, welcome to the site and the start of you real estate adventure.  May I ask if you plan to invest in Texas or have you considered purchasing out of your own state?  I'm sure there are areas that are not too expensive to buy in, for myself I know several areas of Texas are out of my league as far as down payments go!

Hi Chase

I also am curious to know what made you decide to purchase another property over paying off the one you currently have.  For myself I would have to compare the cashflow that I could make off of the property that I currently own vs. the potential cashflow (within reason) that I could make off of an additional property given the amount of money that I would be willing to invest, which in this case would be the payoff amount of the current property or close to that amount.  This combined with the risk factors of losing potential rent on something that I would have to come out of pocket to pay the mortgage on and other factors would influence my overall decision but ultimately cash flow would determine my decision.

Thank you guys for all of your input, it's been a tough time getting through the loan process, but unless something drastic happens I'll be closing on the property next Friday.  After crunching all of the numbers I should be cash flowing pretty well with this purchase, and it's not a bad first property to start my investing journey.  Thanks again for all of your input!

Thank you guys; I will be going with Chase E. Furnas for my first property based on all of your recommendations; thanks again for the input!

If you haven't read it already, I'd recommend David Greene's book on long distance real estate investing.  I recently finished it and can say that it is slammed full of awesome tips for people looking to invest in zip codes outside of their own.  Good luck on your journey!

@Derek Awesome, I will definitely check them out; thanks for the reply!

Hi guys,

Today I stumbled upon an off market deal that has some really great potential, it's a 4 plex located about thirty minutes from my residence; the issue that I have is that the 4 plex is seperated out into both residential and commercial units...there are 3 units upstairs, all three of them are 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartments being rented out for $500/month each, and then a commercial unit downstairs that is being rented for $800/month.  I've been pre qualified for a loan that would let me purchase a property in this price range (130 K) for a residential unit; but because the bottom level of the 4 plex is being used for commercial purposes, the loan I need will have to be for a commercial property.  

From what the seller has told me all of the tenants are willing to renew their leases, and the commercial unit is still under lease for another 2 years.  I've briefly looked at the area that the property is in, it seems like a pretty quiet spot with low crime rates.  Because this is an off market deal, is there any advice that you guys can give me as far as what I need to look out for?  Do I need to see some kind of paperwork that verifies the rental rates are the same amounts that the seller says they are?  Should I find a real estate agent to help facilitate the deal and the closing?  I'm supposed to check out the property tomorrow; if everything goes well this has the potential to be a really great first deal; but it could also be a money pit if I'm making a mistake...any advice would be appreciated!