All Forum Posts by: Ben Wilkins

@Albert L. - your plan on paper looks similar to how I started.

I'm not to the point where I'm breaking 2k units, but I went from a single duplex up to nine units in 13 months. This isn't anywhere close to the leaps and bounds that you can find on these forums, but it matches a goal that I laid out a year ago.

After some research into a market, and some pep talks from someone who wanted to partner up with me, we laid out a plan and decided to make our first move.

I personally enjoy having the next 20 years on paper. Yes, I know that life won't actually follow this plan - for me, I just really enjoy numbers. I like laying out our projected investments, then seeing how close I was able to calculate it. There's something about developing a model and then comparing to real data... it's the engineering side of me I suppose. I laid out annual cash needed, cash flow, number of units, company expansion expenses, savings for CapEx, etc - "I love it when a plan comes together"

Again, just to be clear: I know that the plan is only as good as tomorrow, but I personally enjoy having goals and comparing.

Bottom line: There's nothing wrong with setting goals for yourself. Aim for the stars, shoot for the moon. Fortune favors the bold. So many cliche memes / quotes. Just remember that life hits hard, a lot of people on here have a lot of experience to back their advice, and almost nothing goes to plan. Stay positive through it!

@Uzi Pablo One thing that I haven't seen suggested yet and might be something to consider (depending on how involved you want to be): JV with other people. This might be a middle-ground, where you get to have more control over your investment. With the amount of money you are looking to invest, this is probably unrealistic for you - but I figured I would throw some more terminology out there for you to research.

Good evening all,

I have a property in York, PA. It is a historic building on the main street, and used to be the YWCA. The building is close to 20k sq feet, has a gym, an old indoor swimming pool, catering kitchen, and some beautiful conference / class rooms.

Asking price is $180k, which is close to warehouse prices - for a downtown building.

Four of us are planning to purchase the property. Two of us have been business partners for over a year and own several buildings already. The other two bring other bonuses to our party.

Plan:

Rehab the building and run as a wedding / event venue. We were originally looking for a different reason, but the building is laid out for something along these lines. One of the partners is a chef and would be interested in running a catering business out of the building as well.

Reason for needing a partner:

I've walked through the building several times now, and it's massive. I'm still finding rooms that I didn't see the first time through. On top of that, it needs a lot of work. Electrical, mechanical, etc. The roof leaked before the current owner, and there is water damage. Some of the rooms need paint, while others need drywall, mold-removal, etc. 

We need someone with deeper pockets than what we have, to join up as a backer for the rehab. My initial estimate is upwards of $300k-$400k for full rehab.

Comps:

There aren't many in the surrounding area. A wedding venue is currently selling for $950k, and other downtown buildings of this size (fully renovated) are selling for $750k.

Exit Plan:

Refinance / sell the property once rehabbed, or stay as a business partner for percentage of income.

If anyone is interested, please reach out to me.

@Martha Michel - there was a podcast where a guy had two or three kids and house-hacked. He compared it jokingly as a "Romanian orphanage" or something similar. I'll have to dig back and see if I can find which one it was.

@Sam T. - the real question is: What does your Lease say? The following is in my lease, and I've never had a tenant argue against it. If the appliance is functioning, then I wouldn't spend the money to replace it.

"Tenant acknowledges appliances and furnishings are for the convenience of the Tenant only, and not a condition of the Lease Agreement. In the event that said appliance or furnishing shall become inoperable or unusable, Landlords liability shall be limited solely to the removal of said appliance or furnishing and NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR REPLACEMENT."

@Bret Bascue - I did get the paperwork done. The guy that provided the financing had done this before and had something pre-drafted already.

The interest was handled as a "six months, interest only" - at the end of the six months, we will owe the original loan amount.

Basics were:

X% up front "points", six months loan at Y% interest. Payments were interest only. Full amount due at the end of the six months. If full amount was not paid at the end of the six months, interest would go up by Z%

@Account Closed - I didn't read through all of the responses to see if someone else brought this up yet, but $100 / door per month isn't terrible (profit). But... at 2,000 units that would give you $200k per month income... 

I don't think that's what you were looking for.

The math that you are looking for is ($200,000) / (12 months * $100 per door) = 167 doors to get $200k annual income

Good evening all,

I am currently looking at using a private lender as a debt partner. I just closed on a quad using my own money, and have an opportunity to purchase a tri from another investor. He has offered to lend the money for closing, so I was wondering:

• How is an agreement usually worded between someone in my position, and the lender?
• Assuming a six-month lending period
• How is the interest usually handled? I'll be honest - I originally said to him "10 percent for six months", but I was using generic terms and don't know exactly what that meant. Is it handled with a standard mortgage-payment equation, with annual interest of .10/12 and six payment periods?

Any advice on how to word an agreement would be appreciated.

@Tim Nicholas so interest only on the heloc... what will those payments turn into? I would assume that will affect your cash flow once you start paying off the loan. Is there any specific reason why you went interest-only on your repayment?

@Tim Nicholas - what's the interest only payments on deal #3? Do you own #2 free and clear, or do you have a HELOC out on it for deal #5?

Good examples of using leverage! Keep killing it