All Forum Posts by: Brian J Allen

Owen,

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news here.  It will be hard to find a 2 family for $390k in Worcester.  You can find one in the surrounding areas.  Also, most of these will trade PRE MARKET, as there is pent up demand.  Since it is now rare to pay over the appraised value for properties, it is even now more common for owners and agents to figure out the price of the property and simply sell it to someone for that price.  Due to the pent up demand it doesn't take too many calls to other agents to sell a 2 family.  Luckily as someone who is a buyers agent for many multis, I get these calls and do a bunch of these pre market properties a month.  Make sure that you are working with an agent who specializes in working with Buyers in the type of houses you are looking for.  Best of Luck. 

can i have an address so i can drive by/

i have a couple if you want to DM

@Amanda Copeland. there are a lot of options for splitting the heat etc, PM and I can go over them if you like.  Programs from Mass save and from the city of Worcester

A lot depends on where and if you need to get somewhere every day.  If you need to get to cambridge.  Not sure if I would pick worcester.  I would check out Lawerence/Lowell.  If you are going to Downtown Boston, then maybe Worcester Works

Market Rent for a 2BR in Burncoat/Greendale section of Worcester is probably $1800 for a 2BR with 1 parking space.  I have a client who has one on Francis Street and he gets $1750/month, B+/A- Quality.  3BR go for $1990/month.  tenants pay their own utilities but they have W/D in unit.  Sadly in Worcester people do not value heat as much as you would think.  I figure $200/month year round is more than enough to cover heat.  So pricing could be at $2000/month, if it is exceptional, and has 2 living rooms you might be able to get $2500/month.  Keep in mind that just because someone agrees to a price, does not mean that they can actually afford it. 

Worcester has an interesting dynamic that is not shown in the statistics.  There are a lot of students who may or may not be counted, but that number remains pretty constant.  There are a lot of extended families who live in Worcester who may not be counted either.  I think in many ways you should be charting JOB GROWTH as well, as Metro Worcester may be growing.  As an Economist I have a lot of more detailed thoughts on Worcester and its path that are hard to put on paper in a short format.

@Tyler Benotti, glad to help shoot me a PM

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) wholesale investment.

Purchase price: $294,000
Sale price: $380,000

I bought this to hold, but my tenants never paid and complained all the time. I collected $700 total from my 2 tenants in 21 months of ownership. All the rents that i collected were from State and Federal COVID programs. I didn't want to evict so I sold with tenants in place. Property was worth $410k and I sold for $380k so I didn't have to deal with the tenants. Was upfront with the buyers that the tenants were not paying. Hopefully they will have more success.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

It was going to be a buy and hold

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

Glad to get rid of it!!!!

How did you finance this deal?

conventional financing

How did you add value to the deal?

I bought at a value price and raised rents over time

What was the outcome?

SOLD and Glad it is gone

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Tenants are the most important part of the transaction.

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

WorcesterMulti.com

@Carlos Ptriawan that is great you are able to make $300 installing a window.  Typical price in Worcester is about $100-150 per window