All Forum Posts by: Batista Thomas

Thanks so much. We actually have management companies for our properties as we do not live near them. I will have a meeting with them this week to revamp our screening process for tenants and make sure credit checks are a priority. Repairs, maintenance, bills evictions were all considered before we purchased each property. We purchased each 20% below market value and accounted for 10% vacancy at each multifamily and each 4 unit building should cash flow $800 after all this is paid and accounted for. The issue Im seeing is the turn over is constant causing us to have to remodel or put more money into units more often, and repairs are eating up the initial money allocated for this monthly and we have to use our profit to cover it therefore money isnt building. 

I think we may need to increase our vacancy percentage as well as costs for repairs and definitely find a way to screen our tenants better. Thanks again Johnathan Twombly and Alex Deacon for the advice it is very helpful.

Hello,

My husband and I now have 2 quadplexes, 2 single family homes and 4 townhomes in our portfolio. We started investing in 2013, when we formed our LLC. We want to add another multifamily to our portfolio but can only afford the same time of properties we currently have and I'm not convinced this is the way to make money as we are putting our profits ($200-$400 per door) back into the properties for repairs, maintenance, evictions and bills as tenants do not always pay their rents. The properties do not have much equity so selling at this time wouldn't get us much of a profit. We do not have anyone to approach for investment. The properties are sustaining themselves however thats all they have been doing for the past 5 years with no real growth in terms of cashflow

 Any suggestions on what we should do to take our business to the next level?

Thanks for the information. I did not know much of it. Very helpful.

Thanks so much for your responses Chris and Lynn they were helpful.

I am considering purchasing a single townhouse to rent out. There are three other units connected to the townhouse but they are owned by 2 other individuals and are not for sale. Only one unit is occupied and the unit we are thinking of purchasing is a foreclosure and there are HOA fees.

Does anyone have experience purchasing only one unit of a condo or townhouse? Is this a good strategy? Can someone with experience identify any reasons why not to purchase one out of four connected units?

Thanks for the feedback Paul.

Thanks so much for your response. I have not run any official comps but zillow and other sites like it have the houses vaulted from 40k-50k a piece. However, they don't account for the fact that the current owners probably have not done much work on the houses in many many years. The current owners have owned the homes for at least 20 years. Thanks again for the feedback.

I am just starting out in real estate and I've come across what seems to me as a great opportunity but wanted some advice from seasoned investors before moving forward. An older couple, in their late 80's would like to sell some homes that they own. The issue is they will only sell in bundles. I am currently thinking of purchasing 5. Two are assessed by the tax assessor at $15k, two at 13k and one at $7k. As you can imagine the houses are not in the best neighborhood and are very old one was built in 1904, none built after 1960. All are currently occupied with renters who have been in the homes for over 7 years one for 20 and the current owners collect $300 in rent from 3 tenants, $250 from another and $400 for another. That is more than enough for taxes, mortgages and expenses. There will be upgrades that I will have to make and I will factor those in once I see the inside of the homes. There are several issues. The current owner is a landlord she collects money, she negotiates the rent when tenants can't pay and she accepts late payments. She has mentioned numerous times how the current tenants see her as a friend and she is not tough. The neighborhood is not a war zone, it doesn't even have a large crime rate, however it is not in the nicest part of town.

A little about me. I am a newbie investor who has conducted tons of research and know that I am interested in investing for 99% cash flow. I would like to buy and hold. I have no interest in being a landlord, I only want to own properties. I currently own 1 rental managed by a management company and it has a great tenant, in a great area and its pretty self sufficient and has a cash flow of $300 a month. I would definitely hire a management company for this new deal if I go through with it. The homes are about 2 hours away from where I live and as I mentioned before I have zero desire to be a landlord.

So with all that being said, my questions to seasoned investors are,would you pursue this deal? What are your concerns (I know the upgrades are a concern but I just don't have that info right now. The current owner says the tenants don't want her to paint the walls or put down new carpet.)? Are there any questions I should ask? What would make this a better deal? Thanks in advance for your feedback.