All Forum Posts by: Alex Corrion

In rent ready condition I wouldn’t touch it for more than 50k as a rental assuming that has city of Lansing taxes. I agree with the above you really need to know your neighborhoods here. 

Patrick is hitting the nail on the head here. I would say this in Lansing. What gets you out of bed to make sure your rental continues to perform? One hundred dollars per month might not do the trick, as the city is becoming increasingly hard on landlords. I would say that you want to make sure that the juice is worth the squeeze so that you do not become a tired landlord yourself.  Cashflow is king in these markets, just make sure there is enough meat on the bone to keep you motivated. I also know that there are a good amount of cheap houses that make rentals that cashflow great, and some that cashflow negative after paying property management and the like, just do the homework. 

@Patrick Snyder also the market is hot for "deals" that need no work. But there are plenty of houses that need some fix up that could be had. Generally deals on the MLS here are not worth your time as an investor. I've seen the best numbers with duplex/triplex/quads for on market listings, and I agree with you that Jacob should also look for a multi, they are much easier to manage as you can sometimes cut a deal on rent for a bit of a live in manager.

@Patrick Snyder doing whatever it takes at the moment. Driving for dollars mostly. 

Hey Jacob, have you reached out to any local lenders yet? I don't have personal experience but being that there are many homes for sale in the area under 50K seems like they would realize that this is a situation that persists in the area and would offer lending for it. Alternatively you can look for a seller financed house that will fit the bill, local investors sell on financing often here, you just need to expand your network. I would start with Dart Bank, I have used them and they have been great.  

Hi Trent, seems like this will make a good property for you in the future. 

I struggle with the same thing all the time. I have a tenant now that has been in my building for four years (I inherited his lease) but he his paying below market rates. I have gone the route of getting the people out that didn't meet my personal minimum qualifications and then I renovate those units and get new people in them. I want to keep the people that I know will pay each month to minimize my expenses during the turnover. Then over time, I would try to raise the rent around the best time that allows you to easily rent the place if they walk away. For example, I would tell them I am going to offer a new lease in June (this allows you to tweak the lease if you don't like specific things) and at this time bump the rent. Maybe not 150 per month all at once, but at least something. If she tells you that she can't afford that and wants to go somewhere else, you can easily clean and renovate the unit before august which is the best rental month around Lansing. 

Also, just some advice on your numbers. Depending on the age of the building, you should bump up CapEx and vacancy to 10%. In a house hack, you really only have one unit which may sit vacant for some time.... For CapEx, I use a higher number because you will want to use legit contractors on your business for liability reasons.  Good luck!

I know this is an old post but I am looking for a coin laundry leasing company in the Midwest. I have a 7-unit building that has no laundry and no laundry in walking distance. I was hoping to turn a Michigan basement (ulility closet thing) into a washer dryer room. Maybe two washers and two dryers... If anyone can recommend a company I would love to get the dialog started. Thanks! 

PS-not looking for revenue just looking to add value to my tenants and not have it cost me money.

@Drew Brown thanks! The numbers are great as is, I only buy on todays numbers. I will tell you that the cap rate at current rents in 10.9% 

@David Hall so this deal just closed Friday. The house (now a building technically) was at one point in its history a 7 unit building so at one point in time the city did have this as a seven unit. This building is all utilities included so I'm not worried about that. I will post pictures as it goes along (just contacted my first subs today) and most of that process can be found on my instagram page @alexcorrion 

Thanks for the encouragement everyone, hopefully this all goes 'smooth' 

@Eric Veronica I didn't. The reason being is that I plan on BRRRR-ing the property. I ran my numbers based on an extremely conservative 12 cap based on the increase in rents by fixing up the two currently uninhabitable units. That being said, seller financing at 6% was the fastest and easiest way to get the deal done (banks are getting 5.5% right now). I plan to get fixed debt with a longer am in the next year.

Also, I have no rental management experience on paper so this seemed like it could have been an issue and I may have had to bring in a partner that I didn't really need... I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

@Aaron Stuiber I personally think it may be one of the best places to invest in the Mid-West. There are good landlord tenant laws and the prices are still fine. That being said, I've lived in Michigan my whole life and have tons of friends in the Detroit area and I wouldn't invest there without solid knowledge of the area and boots on the ground. Grand Rapids has some great numbers and seems to be the next big city that will take off. But I am excited about jobs that will not be gone during the next recession (Government (State Capitol), Hospitals, and the largest university in the state (MSU)).