All Forum Posts by: Ashly B.

@Jedd Braunwarth

Our place is across from Union Park. I'm not sure its a tourist destination in itself but its less than 2 miles from downtown, close to the bike path and river, a mile from Grand View and 3 from Drake so maybe even get some families for college visits, etc. I'll definitely update how it goes if that's the route we decide to take.

We're getting ready to close on a 4 plex - units 3-6 for us. All 4 units are currently rented but we intend to end the month to month agreement with one of the tenants due to cleanliness issues. After that we're planning to spend $5k and and one month freshening it up. Toying with the idea of turning it into an air bnb property and keeping the other 3 units LTR to keep stability. The income from the 3 units covers all expenses with a little left over so anything I make on the STR would be gravy. Market rent on it long term ~ $850-900. I'd need to rent it 7-8 days a month at short term rates to break even.

I *think* its marketable being 5 minutes from our growing downtown where hotels are often sold out. Any reasons not to give it a shot? 

 Ahh I see it was a rider on the *extension*. Tough situation, especially if you really want the house but I'd still pass on loaning her money. This is business for you, don't make it personal.

Newbie here so maybe I'm missing something but if the appliances aren't part of the purchase, why can't she sell them now?

I definitely wouldn't be lending any money to someone who recently took out a payday loan and is still short on cash. Red flags all over it.

That's definitely a huge factor for us. My husband's company doesn't offer benefits and its unreal how paralyzing having a benefits package can be! Its like you need to make your salary x 1.5 if you want to keep the same spending habits.

On the flip side, we're fortunate (though its not without a lot of budget dedication!) to live on about 55% of our net income. I can't decide if more free time or more money is what we need most to grow our portfolio! Million dollar question I guess.

I'm interested too! No cap on the number of mortgages? How much are you putting down for each new property? Before our last purchase I looked at picking up 3 houses from the same seller as part of a portfolio he was selling. The banks I talked to said they could do up to 10 mortgages, but required 20-25% down and I had to do a separate closing on each property (so3x the closing costs). Seemed like there should have been an easier way.

Our latest purchase is a 4 plex. I'd love to go bigger for the next. DH and I both have 800 credit scores but I feel like it will take a couple years to come up with 25% down for a 6+ unit.

Loving this forum and all the amazing success stories. 

I've barely got a toe in the bucket but being midtransaction on our third property, my compulsive obsession with number crunching has me wondering how much is enough to do this full time? Seems like a number of people here do so I'm curious when did real estate investing become your main source of income?

In my perfect world, I'd spend the next 5 years building a portfolio and 5 years after that training a really great business manager so after 10 I can quit my day job it can become more passive for me. Does it ever become passive or is it always about growth and then next deal?

Secondary question. The units are all functional and able to be rented as is but our ultimate goal is to make them a little trendier and try to attract more of a young professional crowd since the place is 5 minutes to downtown in an up and coming neighborhood. Before I knew about the roaches, we had planned to keep all the tenants for 6 months to recoup some of our down payment money and let the rent pay for the renovations, starting with the unit that ended up having the infestation because we knew it was dirty and they have dogs that were peeing everywhere, etc. The rest we would just  upgrade as they turned over. 

So now that we feel we need to get them out right away, would you dive right in and do some upgrades to maximize rents or should we do a good cleaning, get it rented for a year and pocket some income before updating? I know this is a bit vague... some estimated numbers for comparison sake. 

Current rent on that unit: $525 (Tenant has been there 4 years and its way under market for a 2 br 800 sq ft unit)

Estimated market rent: $600-650

Estimated market rent with updated kitchen and bath: $850-950

Estimated cost of upgrades: $4k - ROI 10-14 months

Thanks for any thoughts. I don't want to make the mistake of dumping too much in too soon.

ETA: The updates wouldn't take more than a month and the other 3 units will cover the expenses of the house. 

It was a home inspection where the roaches were visible. We've already submitted an inspection addendum that asks him to cover the cost to treat the unit they were found and requiring a pest inspection of the other 3 units, and treatment if needed. 

Thanks for the reassurance. This will be our first eviction. Any resources on what's involved? I presume we have to wait until after closing until we notify them but anything we can do now to prep for it? does it matter that they have a lease in place?