All Forum Posts by: Blake Marks

And Jonna - I'm still learning the market, but am surprised there isn't more available.  I always figured I'd have to look throughout the PNW to get what I am searching for, but it's still a little surprising how little there is in Boise.  Not sure if it's an inventory situation or about how the area has developed, but... we'll see.  

Gino - thanks for the response. You must have a typo on your Capex number (?). I'm in basic agreement with the rest of the figures, although 50% total expense load still seems high to me in general. I think it has to do with the fact that we were generally looking at more expensive, newer, and larger properties in LA - at least that's my guess.

 You're definitely right, and given good data I would do just this.  Part of this, however, is trying to fill in the blanks where data doesn't exist or good records haven't been kept by the owner, AND gut-checking those numbers to make sure they seem reasonably accurate (I worked in brokerage long enough to know how badly those numbers get scrubbed!).  It's also about being able to do as much of the valuation work up front as possible.  

Hi everyone - I'm reposting this here from another forum because I didn't get any responses.  Hope this is the right place!

 I've recently relocated from Los Angeles to Boise, Idaho. I'm working on buying apartment buildings in the 15-20 unit range and trying to figure out some rules of thumb to gut-check the expenses I'm using in my underwriting. I used to work in commercial brokerage so you'd think I'd just *know* it, but... that was in LA and on much bigger projects!

Anyway, cost of living in my target region is right at the national average - not too cheap, not too expensive. I'm hoping you can help me with some rough per-door per-year numbers and any other rules of thumb you use. I generally bucket all my expenses into the following:

Payroll (Note: payroll made more sense on the institutional deals I used to work on. I don't think I'll really have a payroll expense on these smaller deals - but, if that's true, it really blows up a lot of the ratios I used to use 'cuz it can be a big expense.)

Marketing

G&A

Turnover

R&M

Contract Services

Utilities

Property Taxes

Property Management

Insurance

Capital Reserves

Specifically - I'm looking for per-door per-year numbers for the above, and total expense as a % of EGI (or gross) for these smaller (15-20 units) deals.  Also, this is really about forecasting prior to due diligence when under contract.  In general I would use historical data, of course, when available.  

Thanks in advance!

Oh - and PS, this is mostly a question about forecasting and evaluating properties PRIOR to due diligence.  I'd use historicals, of course, for anything that gets serious.  

Hey all - I've recently relocated from Los Angeles to a smaller city in the Northwest US.  I'm working on buying apartment buildings in the 15-20 unit range and trying to figure out some rules of thumb to gut-check the expenses I'm using in my underwriting.  

I used to work in commercial brokerage so you'd think I'd just *know* it, but... that was in LA and on way bigger projects!

Anyway, cost of living in my target region is right at the national average - not too cheap, not too expensive.  I'm hoping you can help me with some rough per-door per-year numbers and any other rules of thumb you use.  I generally bucket all my expenses into the following: 

Payroll (Note: payroll made more sense on the institutional deals I used to work on.  I don't think I'll really have a payroll expense on these smaller deals - but, if that's true, it really blows up a lot of the ratios I used to use 'cuz it can be a big expense.) 

Marketing

G&A

Turnover

R&M

Contract Services

Utilities

Property Taxes

Property Management

Insurance

Capital Reserves

Specifically - I'm looking for per-door per-year numbers for the above, and total expense as a % of EGI (or gross) for these smaller (15-20 units) deals.

Thanks in advance!