All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Go on Loopnet and under property type select religious facilities, schools, other specialty. Set your price and have fun like me fantasizing about buying an old church, school, or library and converting it to a multi family, a unique single family, or retail/ commercial space. There's currently a beautiful old 6k sq ft library built in the 20's available in Dayton, OH - Daytonview Branch Library. I like the gothic style churches found in mostly midwestern and northeastern cities. Some old churches even come with a graveyard! I'm sure there are a ton of things to consider when taking on a project like this; de-sanctification, zoning, repair specialists, etc. Anyone have any experience taking on a conversion like this or know of anyone who has?

@Kris L. That makes sense. Thanks, Kris!

@Jonathan Greene thanks for the input! Good point on finding someone with experience renovating older buildings. You definitely don't want a contractor learning on the job.

@Todd Powell thanks for sharing your experience with older properties. This gives me more confidence, but I'll definitely do a bit more due diligence on older properties.

@Mack Benson sage advice regarding the extra due diligence. And thanks for educating me on MLS. Looks like I need to figure out my market and find a broker.

@Grace Navera I forgot the city was that old! Excellent point. I saw a beautiful duplex in OTR recently that was built in 1890 that I wouldn't mind having in my portfolio.

I guess it depends on what analysis you're doing since this advice may not work in certain contexts, but Bezos has said a couple things I make use of in my day to day;

1) Reversible vs Irreversible: If a decision is easily reversible you should make a decision fast and without perfect information. If it's irreversible, take plenty of time to analyze and understand the issue as thoroughly as possible.
2) 70 Percent Rule: "Most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70 percent of the information you wish you had. If you wait for 90 percent, in most cases, you're probably being slow."

Setting goals can also help. If the goal is something like making an offer on a property, make a checklist of your criteria for what makes a good deal and as long as the minimum criteria are met, move ahead. It helps to remove subjectivity with pure data. I like making spreadsheets with a list of weighted pro's and con's.

Hope that helps!

 Properties older than 30 years. Several investors make mention of not looking at properties older than this due to some of the issues that can come along with properties of that age. Kris, do you take this in to consideration when looking at deals?

I've seen the rule of thumb that you shouldn't buy a property older than 30 years for value-add multi families. In some markets (like Cincinnati) the up-and-coming areas consist of properties that can be much older; between 50-100 years old. Also, for my budget I'm finding that most of my opportunities are between 50-75 years old. Mind you, I'm just searching MLS sites.

If a property is in solid shape and needs mostly cosmetic or other basic improvements but was built in, say, the 1950's, is the age a deal breaker?

Am I seeing mostly older properties because the younger properties are mostly off market?