All Forum Posts by: Brent M.

Talk to them like a customer. Be friendly, fair and firm. I always emphasize my willingness to accommodate them (within reason) and that the only thing I need from them(within reason) is prompt rent payment. Said with a smile, they get the message and understand my position completely.

@Brian Garrett Tough to say- You never know what might have happened if you made different decisions, right? I can tell you that I wish I had my current mindset when i first began investing in 2004 (cashflow/business/ROI focused vs RE always goes up mentality). I think rather than SFR, I would have wanted to buy and self manage a 2-4 unit prior to going bigger just to ensure that rentals were the direction I wanted to go. With the homes, I learned that I liked rehabs and really enjoyed providing good housing for people. I have a ton of project management experience though and now that I've gotten this small property closed, I see no barriers besides capital to going much larger next time. I'm a big fan of economies of scale.

Www.best-cities.org

Kyle Hipp your argument is that the Feds need to spend more than they collect to ensure private sector growth? That we'd be better off if only our National debt was higher? Rather than go all Thomas Sowell here, I think you could explore the terms "malinvestment" and asset inflation. Manipulating interest rates to goose the economy is also destroying both savers and pension funds. A lot of Keynesians fail to account for secondary and tertiary effects of their policies. Those effects are quite evident and there will be a price paid eventually.

After losing my shirt in stocks in 00 and 08, as well as tons of Vegas paper equity (didn't sell, still swinging baby!) in 08, I no longer invest heavily in stocks and like all my RE to cashflow enough that I don't care about appreciation.  I have heard about upcoming deflation, hyperinflation, solar flares, 200 trillion in liabilities, Yosemite erupting and Trump declaring himself Emperor (c'mon Rand Paul!).  I happily admit that I don't have a freaking clue what the future holds and there is a certain peace with being ok with that.  I still buy cashflowing RE in places where people want to live and work.  I spend far less than I earn and am always looking for a deal.  I like silver too...  I'm just going to enjoy the ride.

@Tim Milazzo I don't think Fannie or Freddie offers loans as tiny as mine.  next round for sure though.

@Bill Turner It's on McKeithan.  I was also interested in "The Big Easy" to the south, but wow!  Some creative accounting going on there...  buyer beware, right?

Download IRR viewpoint report and consider where we are in this real estate cycle. That being said, there's good deals out there but there's far more bad ones in markets with compressed cap rates. I think anybody betting on appreciation at this stage is playing a dangerous game. I sold about half my SFR portfolio recently. I did buy a value add multifamily recently but I'm holding on to a good chunk of cash until the next recession.

@Dan Hatch you know what? Reserves were never once brought up by any of the lenders. This may be because I keep a fair amount liquid or perhaps they considered my unused HELOC? My lender also told me that they'd want me to set up a business checking account with their bank, but never again mentioned it prior to close. "shrug"

@Wendy Vaidic, not especially.  I checked with several local banks and credit unions,along with Wells Fargo.  All gave me positive feedback on the financials and property, which was reassuring to a newbie.  Wells Fargo was a horrible process with redundant paperwork.  They declined.  One bank liked the deal, but didn't have room in their portfolio.  Two others offered me loans at 4.95% with 25% down.  i hope to refi once I increase rents, if interest rates cooperate.

Well, after about a year of effort researching, networking and trying to find a deal, I closed last week on a 16 unit multifamily in Tallahassee. My previous experience is all in SFR rehabs, but at this point I can't see ever going back. I want to shoot for >40 units next time! My original focus was solely Jacksonville FL, but the market was only offering 5-6 caps in the areas that I wanted to own. I'm well aware that we're late in this current cycle and didn't want to overpay too badly. As a new apartment investor, I was also conscious of my lack of credibility with most brokers. I expanded the search to several other N. Florida cities and was presented this deal by a broker I'd been chatting with. After viewing so many ridiculously exaggerated proformas, his caught my eye as being very realistic. During DD I checked bills, seller's bank accounts and schedule E's. Rents currently average $631 across all of the 2/1 units and should be in the $695-$725 range(improving gross rents to about 136K). Since purchasing I've added new landscaping, signage and gutters. I have a few other curb appeal, unit improvement tasks I'll periodically schedule over the next 12 months. Tenants are already asking my PM when the rent is going up, which I take as a sign they know they're undermarket. It's 100% occupied as well, so I expect a bit of turnover with the increases. Here's my pre-rent increase numbers. 680K purchase price, 730K appraisal. Property is located next to the community college, a few miles west of FSU.

Current gross annual rents- $120,960
6% vacancy- $7258
EGI- $113,702
Tax/Ins $13,000
Lscape(plus a 1-time $3300 charge for lottsa new stuff) $5400
Legal $1100
PM $13,000
Pest control $1,920
R&M&Capex $24,645
Utilities $1500
NOI $53,137