All Forum Posts by: Brandon Cormier

Hey BP Community,

We all love the thrill of acquiring new properties, expanding our portfolios, and watching our net worth grow. But how many of us are actually prepared for the unexpected?

I wanted to start this conversation because I’ve seen too many investors (including myself) get into serious trouble due to a lack of cash reserves. The reality is real estate isn’t just about appreciation and cash flow—it’s also about survival when things go south.

Many new investors operate on razor-thin margins, believing that rental income will always cover their expenses. But what happens when:

• A tenant stops paying, and the eviction process drags on for months?
• A major system (HVAC, roof, plumbing) unexpectedly fails?
• The market shifts, and properties take longer to rent or sell?
• Interest rates or property taxes spike, squeezing your cash flow?

Without sufficient reserves, you’re not just stressed—you’re at serious risk of losing properties or being forced to sell.

-I learned this lesson the hard way. I was pushing to close on a property and had to borrow money just to make it happen. It felt like a big win when I finally closed and was able to pay that money back immediately after.

But right after closing, disaster struck. A chimney on the property completely collapsed—taking part of the roof with it and crashing through the neighbor’s house. Just as I was scrambling to figure that out, one of my tenants also moved out, leaving me with thousands in repairs and a vacant unit at the worst possible time.

I had zero reserves left because I had just paid back the money I borrowed to close. So now, instead of feeling excited about a new investment, I was scrambling for cash, stressed beyond belief, and facing major repair costs with less rental income to offset them.

That experience completely changed how I approach real estate. Now, I never buy a property without at least 4-6 months reserves on hand. Because when things go wrong, they don’t just go wrong one at a time. They pile up fast.

If you're serious about long-term wealth building in real estate, protecting your portfolio is just as important as growing it. A few months of reserves might seem like an unnecessary drag on your ROI—but trust me, it's far cheaper than the alternative. If you have multiple properties i would recomend having at least 5-10k per door in cash, or in easily accessible funds at least.

What are your thoughts? How much do you keep in reserves, and have you ever faced a situation where cash reserves saved you?

Hello BiggerPockets!

I've had a BiggerPockets account for a little while but wasn't active at all in the past. I am investor myself, but I’m now diving deeper as an investor friendly real estate agent helping others build their portfolios. I specialize in small multifamily properties and house hacking working alongside BiggerPockets podcast guest Andrew Freed to help investors find high-performing deals in Central MA.

My Background:  - Started in late 2019 I utilized an FHA loan to get my first 3 family property in Fitchburg, spent about a year fixing it up and soon after I refinanced. One year after I used that property to pull a HELOC and this year used that money to purchase an off market 4 family property in Clinton for well under market value, which I just recently finished all of the repairs and upgrades on.

-So currently own 7 units in central MA area, soon to be more after my next refinance in 2 months.

- Now helping other investors achieve their goals, whether you are brand new or a well seasoned investor.

How I Can Help:

-Connecting investors with trusted contractors, lenders, attorneys, property managers etc.

-Help with any questions on the market/market analysis

-Help find undervalued, cash flowing off market opportunities

Id love to network with others in the area, whether you are a new/seasoned investor, contractor, property manager, other agent/broker etc, shoot me a message!

I look forward to growing with this awesome community!

Hey @Mark Bond

I'm an investor agent in Worcester/Fitchburg area, and an investor myself as well in small multifamily. Would love to connect. Glad to help you connect with others in the area as well

Hey @Max Bellino

I'm from Worcester  area as well and have a solid cost segragation guy. i see this is a month old but shoot me a DM if you're still looking

Hey @Tre DeBraga

I have clients curently looking for properties using 203k in the worcester area and have many friends who have used it to house hack. Happy to connect!

Hey @Jay Fayz

@Jay Fayz Definitely moving in the right direction! Typically an FHA lender will want to see 2 years of work history in the same field before they will approve you for a loan. Some exceptions can be made but the only real way around it would be to get a solid cosigner for the loan with a good W2. Most of the rental income can help you qualify for more as well.

There are plenty of creative ways to go about getting into your first deal but you may need to get a solid work history before being approved for a residential loan. Im not in Maryland, but shoot me a message if you have any questions or want to chat about some strategies

Hello all! I am an investor friendly agent, and an investor myself in small residential multifamily in central MA. I have had my eye on 5-20 unit multifamily for a while, as I see it much more controllable and predictable way to go about a real estate deal. This year id love to partner with some people in the area and make the jump into my first commercial deal.

What challenges have you seen in the commercial space vs smaller residential multifamily?

What are people seeing for terms nowadays in different areas?

What are some pros and cons of commercial real estate?

What are the most recomended ways to go about targeting off market commercial or portfolio deals?

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Clinton.

Purchase price: $530,000
Cash invested: $20,000

Hello all! I want to share an experience ive had over the past few months with my newest multifamily purchase, and highlight the importance of being consistent, telling everybody what you do, and what you are looking for even when you dont feel ready. Ive owned a 3 family in Fitchburg MA for 4 years that has done exceptionally well with it, living for free in one unit for a while and constantly upgrading the property over the years. I knew it was time to dive into my next property.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

This specific deal was a close friend's apartment that he was renting. Over the years every single time I went over his house to hang out we would talk about money, investing and the future we were building. And I would constantly bring up that I would love to buy the property he was living in. (even when I had no money and no way to take it down alone.) Fast forward 2 years his landlord mentioned in passing he might sell the property; I was the first person on his mind.

How did you finance this deal?

This deal, i used my first successful buy and hold property and pulled a HELOC to secure financing and reserves. The old owner unfortunately locked his tenants into $800 leases which scared away some buyers before he listed. So i put in an offer for 10% down conventional loan, $530,000 with 10k back to me for closing costs and it was accepted right away.

How did you add value to the deal?

This property it wasn't kept up with in a while. Trees were overgrown over the driveway, and vines of Virginia creeper took over EVERYTHING. The yard looked like trash, plumbing stack leaks and multiple water heater leaks. Huge hole leaking water into the roof, and more. I took the next 5 months to tackle everything myself spending approximately 17k in supplies and tools + paying a plumber and roofer 4k total to fix those issues. One tenant moved out giving me the ability to rehab theirs + raise

What was the outcome?

6 months later, I have doubled the size of the yard with all the clearing, performed a unit turn raising rent over $600. Raised properties income from $2400 to $4300 and living for free in a massive 1600 sq ft 3 bedroom. Gave the other tenants a smaller 250 increase and fixed up attic space to rent as storage. Tenants were ecstatic that I have been fixing things that were neglected for years and based on units in Clinton trading for about $200k a door, the property will likely appraise for 750k+

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Biggest lesson I learned in this experience is to tell EVERYONE what you are doing/trying to do. You never know when an opportunity will pop up in front of you. Second though, is the importance of delegating if you want to scale. Although I saved 20-30k by doing everything myself and learned a ton in the process, doing that sucked up all my time and potentially stopped me from buying multiple multis last year. So going forward I will be delegating much more to free up my time.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Huge thanks to Bo Stevens from Jean D'arc credit union, for helping me get a solid loan with a 6% interest rate with a super smoothe process.

@Richard Sherman I know as a fact I can avoid consumer debt. I used to have 700+ debt Bill's every month and knocked it down to 230 so far. I'm going to use my debt paying habits as a saving habit going forward. It also helps that I am an expert auto technician so I dont need to go out and buy a new car, I drive a $1000 dollar 18 year old Honda

So I know there are many Dave Ramsey fans in here, and I am currently using the debt snowball to attack my debt and since august I have been able to take out 17/33k debt. After my next credit card of 5.5k, I will have 9k in school loans with a 14 dollar minimum monthly payment @3% interest. My plan was to get into a house hack to cut down on my rental expenses before going deep into real esate. Should I tackle my debt to zero first? Or should I use that 10k towards a down payment on my rental to get myself into real estate maybe 4 months sooner, then pay down my final debt?