All Forum Posts by: Slaiman Atayee

With regards to tips 1 and 2 above, maybe look to expand the zone in which your shopping for your deals? It sounds like your area may be to competitive for you to meet your goal. Also when marketing your current properties/searching for properties, make it clear you are open to a trade. Someone may be in the opposite position you are (looking to downsize).

What stopping you from that tapping the equity you have in your current place, or reinvesting the cash flows from your other properties into a new venture? Also, if you haven't already, it may be time to leverage your portfolio and start marketing new deals to new investors, if all you cash is tied up in your current investments. With 7 properties, at this point your knowledge and experience is as valuable as a good deal.  If you have a good track record, and the numbers in the new deals make sense, it might be easier than you think to find willing partners. 

Based on the 50% rule, you're going to be cutting it really close paying off your mortgage with your after-expenses income. I would talk to your friend (agent) and figure out why they're selling and see if you have any wiggle room on the $300K lp. That could give you a bigger monthly cushion and push this into a favorable and valuable deal for you. Also, if you live close enough, i'd check out the place and get a good idea of the repair costs (anything drastic is going to significantly affect your returns). 

I'm trying to figure out the monthly rent I can expect from a multi-family unit in a the North Highland Park neighborhood in Richmond VA, but i'm having trouble coming up with accurate figures. I can find information on rent prices in the overarching Richmond market, but nothing specific to that sub-market, which i'm pretty rents lower. There's a very small sample size for comparable apartments on zillow/craigslist/realtor.com and I was wondering if anyone has any strategies they've used to calculate accurate/conservative rent prices for specific neighborhoods?

For starters, is this a personal home you're shopping for? It sounds like based on your criteria (or maybe you're looking for a duplex to live/rent out?). That will certainly dictate what the acceptable shape of the house is for you. Regardless, like people have already said, and what you see time and time again in Brandon T's videos, listing prices are rarely ever hard numbers. It's just where the realtor would like to start the conservation, with some agents/owners working with larger ranges than others (also demand in some areas will dictate tighter ranges). Do the math and see what purchase price makes your numbers work, and if its not drastically different from the listing price, don't be afraid to make a lower offer if you're really interested. It's just an offer at the end of the day, and they can take it or leave it, or better yet open a lane of communication with you to negotiate a more reasonable price. 

If you're willing to venture into the bmore city area, I think there are some really good fixer-uppers where you can generate your own value and make the numbers work for you. Good friend of mine bought a 4plex for 50K at auction with an ARV of $~120K, and estimated repairs of $15K. Repairs actually ended up closer to $25K, but because of the massive cushion he was working with it wasn't that big of a deal. (Disclaimer: If you're looking to hold, I would look into solid property management in the area. PM for recommendations. You might not want to be dealing some of that stuff on your own).