All Forum Posts by: Aly W.

Thanks Frank!

Hi all,

My husband and I are looking to 1031 Exchange several investment condos towards the purchase of a small apartment building in central FL. We're looking at properties from 5 - 10 units, less than $1M. Our credit is in the high 700's, and we've been landlords for 12 years in 2 states. 

Any recommendations would be appreciated, thanks!

Thanks so much, @Dave Foster, good advice! We should have no trouble selling our relinquished properties, but we're still trying to identify a good replacement property. Evaluating multi's is a new educational experience :)

Good luck finding any affordable healthcare in NJ; my husband still has his W2 job for that. We've investigated various organizations that we belong to (I'm a professional photographer), including the healthcare marketplace, various Christian health sharing ministries, private insurance, etc. Nothing is affordable if you have any kind of job. Affordability is a relative term though, so I guess I'll say we haven't found any coverage comparable to what we have now for less than $1500 a month with a high deductible and co-pays. We are in our upper 50's, which has something to do with it. We pay about $650 a month for both of us through his employer's plan, and that's considered a bargain.

Hi Dave,

My husband and I are looking for a small apartment complex in central Florida and would sell/exchange 2 condos in Ft. Lauderdale for the down payment. We're in the early stages, with nothing identified yet, but I just want to be sure of the sequence of events. We've done a 1031 Exchange before, one condo for another, and it was down to the wire with the timing.

Should we identify and get under contract with an LOI for the apartment, and then sell the condos? I know if we sell the condos first, we only have 45 days to identify the replacement property.

With a seller's market, we don't anticipate too much difficulty selling the condos, so we don't want to do that first and then run out of time to identify the replacement. And selling 2 at the same time, doesn't mean they'll actually close at the same time. Several moving parts.

Thanks for any suggestions or links to your interviews!

My husband and I are looking for a small apartment complex in central Florida and would sell/exchange 2 condos in Ft. Lauderdale for the down payment. We're in the early stages, with nothing identified yet, but I just want to be sure of the sequence of events. We've done a 1031 Exchange before, one condo for another, and it was down to the wire with the timing.

Should we identify and get under contract with an LOI for the apartment, and then sell the condos? I know if we sell the condos first, we only have 45 days to identify the replacement property.

With a seller's market, we don't anticipate too much difficulty selling the condos, so we don't want to do that first and then run out of time to identify the replacement. And selling 2 at the same time, doesn't mean they'll actually close at the same time. Several moving parts.

Thanks for any suggestions!

My husband and I owned 2 rowhouses in Trenton for 10 years. The first 5 years was a real learning experience, with a few good tenants and a few evictions. We finally got good, long term tenants in both houses for our last 5 years of ownership and sold them both 2 years ago. Very low entry point of purchase, and if you get decent tenants that stay, you'll make money. But it's still a tough area, and a vacant house in between tenants is a target. We had the pipes stolen from one house. Property insurance is high, and so were taxes. We appealed years ago and won, but I understand the city recently raised the tax rate. We had a good contractor there that did all the repairs and showed the properties for us. He eventually became disabled, the good tenants moved out within 2 months of each other, and we sold. 

My husband and I just started investing in Brevard County, after 10 years of condo investing in Ft. Lauderdale. We still have units there, but the city is decidedly unfriendly now towards tenants/renters and have too many restrictions, not to mention prices have skyrocketed. We recently purchased a unit in Melbourne and are looking for more, as well as scaling up into multi families/small apartment buildings. We love our realtor for the single units, but if there are realtors who are familiar with the larger opportunities, I'd love to hear from them.

Thanks @Mike Mocek, this is very informative! I've just started my research into apartments/multi-families. My husband and I have 12 years of experience with SRFs and condo rentals in 2 states but looking to scale up. I sent you a connection request, would really appreciate chatting with you!

And today, for our 2/2 condo, I get a message through Facebook Marketplace. 

Applicant: Is the condo still available?

Me: Yes it is, please be sure you meet all the requirements listed.

Applicant: I do

So I call her. She says her credit score is above 650, but not her friend's score, so can her uncle be the guarantor? 

Me: No

Applicant: What about pay stubs?

Me: Pay stubs don't show credit scores. What's her credit score?

Applicant: I'm not sure, I'll have to ask. 

Me: So you didn't read the requirements?

Applicant: I did, but I thought only I had to meet them.

Me: Ok, I should have been more specific in the listing, thank you for calling.

I just updated the listing to state that *all* adult applicants must have a minimum credit score and meet the other requirements (not just the caller). My bad ;)