All Forum Posts by: Barbara G.

I am trying to figure out how a gut rehab of an apartment can only cost $2,500 to $3,000, including a washer and dryer and Refrigerator, and stove, and dishwasher, and kitchen cabinets, and counter tops and tile floors and bathroom fixtures, and painting, and electrical, and plumbing.  Come here and do that for me for $3,000.

About your Triplex with the machine in the garage, perhaps when one unit is empty you can try the w/d "en suite" and charge the $50.00 extra and see how it goes.

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Yes you are very high end.  Here, as I said we are getting $1,100 for a small 2 Bedroom apartment (in a duplex) that costs $600.00 in expenses, (we don't set aside a managment fee as we do it)  including principal and interest.  I don't  think most of the other low end apartments have Washers and Dryers or Hook ups for them (all of our tenants have their own w/d) so I think our apartments are more desirable and we would consider doing that in the future in anything we buy.  On those $2,000 apartments how much cash flow is there?   

@EVA

No body has addressed the option of just putting the washer dryer hook ups in the apartments and letting the tenants buy their own w/d.  Am I missing something here? We are really happy about our not supplying a washer dryer but just providing the hook up.  I am sure that our apartments are easier to rent because the tenants can have  their own washer dryer and no one is complaining about supplying their own w/d and I don't know if any apartments furnish washer dryers for their tenants.  We are in the state of Conn.     Do you think you do much better buying the washer dryer and servicing them rather then just suppling the hook ups?

 Well I am also impressed and envious about these apartments. Eva has that  rent for $2,000 plus and she has a managment company to boot.    We feel lucky just getting $1,200 for a 2 bedroom, an we manage our own small portfolio.    How much more do you get in cash flow on these apartments that rent in the $2,000 range?  

We have very nice tenants.  They work hard, they pay their rent, they are no trouble.

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Roy I am totally blown away by your "en suite".  Where does this word come from?  

$25.00 or $50,00 sounds like a good  and reasonable amount to charge.    We have just purchased another 2 duplexes.  These new duplexes also have W/D hook ups provided by the previous owners.  All 4 tenants have their own w/d in their "en suite".  We don't want to service, or replace w/d units, but we do want our tenants to have their own with our provided hook ups.

As the other posters have said, it isn't about the money its about having a much more desirable apartment.  I know, personally I would never move anywhere unless i had a washer and dryer, and I don't want one in the Basement, I want it on the floor where it is easy to access.

@Eva Salas

Eva I don't understand how you are handling this.  You say the apartments are occupied.  How are you going to handle it with the occupied tenents?  Are you going to ask them if they want to be upgraded to wthe W/D units?  How much of a raise are you going to request?

If the apartments are unoccupied are you just going to put in the w'd units?  $100.00 seems like a lot of money.

Barbara

Yes if you are getting stack units the 2 piece are better for the very reason you mention.  Unfortunatly sometimes only the one piece stack fits because of the slightly smaller size of the 1 piece stack

We bought 2 side by side duplexes that had washer, dryers in the utility closet.  We had no idea who these belonged to but assummed the tenants owned them.  One tenant moved out almost immediately and took the w/d with them.

This is a blue collar/immigrant area and we feel allowing the w/d is an important positive feature. The rent is $1,100 for a 2 bedroom.   The downside was water damage on the floor beneath all the w/d units and we had to repair/replace those areas.  So we never bought the w/d but are just responsible for the hook ups and we prefer not to have to buy or service or own the w/d units.  We still feel just the hook ups and space makes our units more diserable and easier to rent.

So that's another option you might want to think about.

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I agree that these are important questions but don't you want this information BEFORE you go to contract?  Your offer is actually based on the answers to these questions.

I have a 17 year old Grandchild who has opted out of going to college.  She says she wants to buy property and be a real estate agent.  Its pretty frightning.  I told her I would pay for the real estate course.  Lets see what is going to happen here.

Is it a house?

What does the zoning say?

How much will the rnovation cost?

How much is the property "AS IS"