All Forum Posts by: Brian Metz

Hi @Thuy, yes anything 4 units or under will be valued as a residential listing, and over is commercial. I have a 6-unit that was appraised primarily off of cap rate and NOI, and I'm currently under contract for a 3-unit, and working with my agent and a lender, both said that the appraisal will need comps. Despite it being a residential and the primary method is going off of comps, they are still looking at the income, and a tertiary method is to value it off of replacement cost, though that might fall more in the insurance world.

Best of luck!

Cheers,

Brian

@John Pflederer, just a thought and I know this goes against why you have a property manager to do these things, but can you set up a contractor/worker to do some of these smaller, high-expense items like the salt, instead of letting the PM coordinate? Maybe that would save you some money in the meantime as the PM may have been up-charging you. Also, that'll show them that you're not going to sit idle and pay those needlessly high-cost items through them, which could help leverage you relationship.

Hope it works out, sounds like you're on the right path!

Cheers,

Brian

@Jason Xue, first off I'd say run with @Michael Ealy's list - that pretty much sums it up! Some things I did though were put in vinyl flooring, sand/paint cabinets, paint the interior, exterior lawn care/maintenance, new light fixtures, and a handful of other little things. My property is in a C neighborhood so I don't go over the top with amenities/niceties, but one other example was an incredibly cheap peel-and-stick backsplash off Amazon. Adds a lot of charm/appeal for a very low price.

Cheers,

Brian

Hi @Jason Xue,

I haven't scaled quite to a 30-unit yet, but on a smaller 6-unit I was able to go in and perform $4K of cosmetic updates per unit, which justified rent increases. Those raised rents increased my NOI, which then brought about an $8K increase in equity per unit. Best of luck!

Cheers,

Brian

Hi @Jacob Fortune, I had a similar instance for my 6 unit but the property needed some work, that's why rents were low. Without any other info on it, I'd recommend a detailed analysis of the property to find out why rents are low. Maybe it's a burned out landlord or maybe the property hasn't kept up with improvements and amenities. If other 4 unit comps are renting for that $650 range then there could be some potential - best of luck!

Cheers,

Brian

@Albert H I would also consider seller-financing. If you go to offload it, it's a way to keep some income on it for a year or few. Best of luck! Cheers, Brian

I think if you get a copy of Joe Fairless' Apartment Syndication book he has a code for a download in it.

Cheers,

Brian

Hi @Josh Shneyderov, I'm doing something similar, where I'm pulling equity from a previous rental property via a HELOC and using that as a down payment for a property I'm hoping to put under contract shortly. Because I'm pulling from equity in my rental that can support it, I'm counting that expense under that rental, not the unit that I'm making the down payment for, if that makes sense. Not sure if that's entirely correct, but I'm running it that way. Hope it helps and good luck! Cheers, Brian

@Andrew Votsis Last fall when I was shopping around for a 6-unit I had called some of the major insurance corporations and got steep quotes as well. I reached out to a local insurance broker and then he was able to get a quote that made much more sense for the 6-units. Granted that was in NC and not MA so I'm sure there'd be some differences, but I initially received a quote like yours and then it was cut in third for what I remember to be mostly similar coverage. Anyways, I'd recommend finding a local broker to help you out.

Cheers,

Brian

@Kristopher Orr I literally just got off the phone with First Citizens Bank doing the same for my 6-unit. I only had a brief conversation with them but they said they should be able to get this going for me. I'd recommend giving them a call.

Cheers,

Brian