All Forum Posts by: Brad M.

Five units and up is considered commercial. This impacts the type of financing that you are able to obtain on them. Four and under you can get a traditional 30-yr mortgage like you do on your residence. Once you are in the commercial realm, the lending terms differ (shorter amortization, shorter term to maturity, etc.)

@Omi C. From what you have provided, looks good to me. I've got a quad that I paid $320k for, gross rents are $3,260/month, and it cash flows nicely. Lots of similarities to your deal (but I paid more). Water and sewer separately metered, very low taxes (historic tax rehab deal), and insurance $950/year. Maintenance isn't too bad, 1920's construction but gutted and rehabbed (not by me) 7 years ago.

Go for it!

@Reggie Maggard - Check out the Spreadsheets section of the BP Resource area. http://www.biggerpockets.com/files/category/spread...

You should be able to find what you need in there.

@John Allen - After searching for quite some time, I ended up with a good quote from Erie. 

State Farm, USAA, and others were all at least 50% more for the same coverage.

But, the Erie agent I went through also specialized in multi-family properties in the neighborhood I purchased.

My advice (and what worked for me) was to ask other long-time investors in the neighborhoods I invest in who they recommend. Nothing beats a personal recommendation.

@Joe Gilroy Your ROI is going to be very dependent on your individual circumstances. So there will not be an easy way to search based on that. As @Peter Harris mentioned, you could filter properties by cap rate, as that is a simple calculation of NOI/Sales Price. But that is different than ROI. Also, the problem with LoopNet is that unless you pay for Premium Search, you get a very limited amount of listings back. The only ones that you will see will be those that the listing agent (or seller) paid for Premium Listing.

Your best bet is to find a good CRE buyer broker. Depending on your product type and price range, you may have to pay them (often times in investment sales the listing agent does not pay the buyer broker - different than residential).

You may have a hard time finding one to help unless you can show that you are a serious investor with a specific product/price in mind. Not saying you aren't, just the way brokers are.

@Larry Turowski & @Joe Villeneuve - Here are my Top 10 Reasons to Not Procrastinate :

1)

@Bill Coleman His resistance to having a screening check done is a huge red flag. I don't know how hard it is to get a tenant for your property, but I'd take an immediate pass on this one. 

If you still want to do some background checks, you could see if your local court records are online. With just a name and birthdate you could likely find any past legal problems. You could also try one of the online services. Google "background check" and a number of sites come up that don't require SSN. I can't vouch for how accurate any of them are, though. Good luck.

@Martha T.  It is a little late now, but there are a few things that could have helped you stay out of this situation. One is making sure that your purchase agreement states that the seller is not allowed to enter into any material agreements (like signing new leases) without your consent while the property is under contract. Although the seller still owns the property, they can not enter into any agreements that impact your eventual ownership without permission. If you have that in your purchase agreement and they violate it by signing new leases without your consent, you can cancel the contract and get your earnest money deposit back.

The other thing that helps is make sure all tenants sign an estoppel prior to the end of your due diligence period. This clarifies what is in the lease, and it must be signed by the seller as well. Estoppels get everyone on the same page and eliminate confusion about the lease terms.

If your tenant's lease only lists one tenant (not sure if it says anything about not letting anyone else live there), and she is in violation of the lease, you can begin proceedings to have her cure the default, or get evicted. Note verbal notification is no good...must be in writing.

I'm not a lawyer, haven't seen your lease, and don't know the laws in your state, but it sounds like you may have options if you do want this tenant gone. 

@Kenneth Hynes I'd hold off on ios 8. I upgraded, and am finding a lot of the apps haven't caught up yet with their own updates.

@Ashley Swift I've found that the best way is through other investors that you know. It is very much a word-of-mouth, referral business. But once you do have the contractor, make sure you still have a solid written agreement. It can seem like overkill for small jobs, and it may turn some contractors off, but a good document to use is an AIA contract. You have to pay for it, but depending on the job and your comfort level with the contractor, it can make sense.

http://www.aia.org/contractdocs/index.htm