All Forum Posts by: Ben Layman

@Jaron Walling Thanks so much for the input! 

Yes, I am using a HML for the acquisition. Then doing a cash out refi with a small local bank after 6 months.

I believe the neighborhood is a C- but after checking on Rentometere, BP rent estimator and zillow, I believe I can get at least $1,300 for a 3 bed 1 bath in this area. Full disclosure; this house was started by another investor who may have gotten in over their head. A lot of the work has already been done (kitchens, full baths, 2 new furnaces, water heaters, electrical, flooring and paint. I still need to replace 50% of the windows, the roof and buy 2 new appliance packages. Plus some smaller miscellaneous items. So thats why i'm coming in at $45k rehab.  

The only thing I don't like is that i'll most likely need to leave around $30-$35K of my own money in this deal. But that may be the sacrifice I need to make in this current market. I have another duplex in the Hilltop I bought in 2021. Zero of my own money left in the deal and it cash flows around $450/month. 
Are you an investor in Columbus? 

Would you do this deal? Curious to hear if another investor would pull the trigger on this! 

*This link comes directly from our calculators, based on information input by the member who posted.

 Hi @Richard Boyd thanks for asking. I ended up finding Stessa and I've been using that. Been working great so far. I'd recommend it if you have 10 or fewer doors, it might not scale well. I only have 3 rentals so it's fine for the time being. I love being able to track my NOI and cash flow every month.

 @Tanner Lewis Thank you for the recommendation! I appreciate it! 

Thank you everyone for the replies. I found a really great tool that allows me to do my own bookkeeping (for now) and it's called REI HUB.

It's similar to Stessa but I feel that it's more intuitive for my needs. 

Can anyone recommend bookkeeper in Richmond, VA? Looking for someone with real estate investing experience :)

Thanks in advance!

Some SUPER helpful advice here @Drew Sygit Thank you so much! I hadn't even considered that I should be running my numbers for vacancy, evictions, non paying tenants at 10-20% rather than 5%. Thank you for the info. 

Great advice, thank you so much @Alicia Marks I think I'll hold off on this one knowing that it won't appraise for anywhere close to $200k. My goal is to find a true BRRRR and unless i can get this one for less... doesn't seem like it works.

Hey @Alicia Marks thanks so much for responding! 

Here are a couple of answers to your questions. I have no crew in Detroit and I don't have any other investments there. I would be starting a new boots-on-the-ground team. This was a property I'm thinking of getting from a wholesaler. I don't know much about Russell Woods but was hoping that it was somewhere in the path of progress. The property I'm looking at is a 3/1 duplex (similar to yours) and it would need quite a bit of work. There's someone upstairs currently on a M-2-M but paying $650 and it looks like it's in bad shape. Really interesting to hear that your ARV appraised SOOO low... that's a little scary. I would want to try and pull my money back out of this deal. The wholesaler is saying that the ARV is actually $200k. But i'm just not sure. Doesn't sound like that would be possible even after I dropped so much into it from what you are telling me here!

View report 

Would you guys do this deal? Located in the Russel Woods neighborhood of Detroit. The rehab could be anywhere from $50k-$75k.

*This link comes directly from our calculators, based on information input by the member who posted.