All Forum Posts by: Alecia Loveless

@Ana Mills We use electricians for all necessary electrical connections.

However we often find our electricians get more expensive the longer we use them so we are constantly looking for additional electricians. We just found one that’s moonlighting on the weekends at about half the going rate. So we’ve booked him for several projects.

We don’t burn our bridges when they get more expensive, we just use them less. But we’ve found that while they still stay quite busy they can always manage to come pretty quickly in an emergency.

@Marc Shin Agree the 3 ring binder is the way to go. It’s easy to switch it up or add to it or replace it if parts or the whole thing gets damaged.

We did this for each guest room at our B&Bs and it helped tremendously.

And I would suggest that links and QR codes may be helpful to some guests but a certain number won’t use that type of technology so I’d include hard copies of menus. Also if you know they’re likely to need reservations at certain restaurants I would make a note of that on the menu. In smaller/tourist locations the best places fill up fast and knowing you need a reservation is huge.

@Michael Nguyen I bought a SFH first because I found a good one that made financial sense. Unfortunately I had a bad inspector who missed a lot which made it about a $60K renovation instead of what I planned for which was $15K.

Shortly after I purchased a duplex and then a 4 unit and some more in that range before I bought an 8 unit.

The 8 unit has required more time and energy because it had been poorly managed for years.

I would still be buying more SFH but 5 years ago the entry was about $100K. Today it is $300K. But I can get into multi at less than $100K per unit. Yes they require renovations at that level but with a little love I am still getting cash flow.

I recommend you spend some time picking and getting to really know your market. That will help you make educated decisions. I would also recommend 1-4 units to start with because I’ve just found that to be much easier than my 5-10 unit buildings.

Also it’s likely your lender will want you to have some experience before you go too big. Not true of all lenders but you may get better rates and terms as you gain experience.

@Ben O'Neill I have a second, and for a short while a third loan on a property.

I put the first, largest mortgage in under the loan option in the BP calculator.

Then I added the payments for the second and third mortgages under the additional expenses so that I could accurately calculate my cash flow.

I know this won't give CoC or IRR or other metrics like this but would at least give accurate cash flow.

I think it’s a great idea for BP to add a second and third loan option on the calculator as with prices and interest rates being higher I bet a lot of people are using these options now.

@Marc Shin I like the idea of a dusk photo of it’s the porch and maybe interior lights on.

Some of my best B&B pictures were of it lit up at night. Back when I owned them.

@Sanjeev Advani I’m not saying they’re all like this but since Circle K bought 3 local convenience stores they have never been able to staff them properly or maintain employees. The stores are supposed to be 24 hours and they’re often closed due to staffing issues.

Not a fan of this merger.

@William A Colas I’d recommend starting with something in between. Like a 10 unit.

When I purchased my first 8 unit it was significantly more difficult than my previous 3 and 4 units are.

Costs will be more and the work level will be greater.

Yes, the economies of scale are better but I feel the jump from duplexes to a 20 unit will be much more challenging than you think.

@Albert Hepp Northern New Hampshire. The more reputable agencies in my area will not become a buyers agent for less than 3%.

Any flat fee agents are not with the larger local agencies that have the market share of the listings and buyers.

For those listings with agents from out of the area, the sellers typically get lousy service, lousy response from their listing agents, and much less of the market share of potential buyers.

My area is somewhat geographically bounded by various different mountain ranges and the agencies from “East” or “Down South” might get 1-2 listings a year but will likely never gain much of a foothold due to their distant locations.

@Will Almand I love small multis. I have several and will buy more as they make sense.

I don’t think well maintained, well run properties that have rents at or close to market value should ever be that difficult to sell.

The only downside I’ve had is some difficulties in dealing with a shared driveway. I would try to avoid this type of situation again. And I occasionally get one tenant complaining about their neighbor. Occasionally there’s really an issue but usually it’s a busybody who doesn’t like what the neighbor is doing. I think this is just typical discourse for owning property though.

@Marc Shin We have used small baskets of the trash can size to make them look more upscale. Make sure they will easily fit with your small trash bags.

Some places you can find these are yard sales, antique stores, World Market if there’s one close to you.