All Forum Posts by: Cameron Stewart

Hi Nick,

If you're still looking for the right property manager, I might be able to help you! I manage about 50 units in and around Keene. Call, text, or email if you're interested.

Cam Stewart - 617-519-4541 - [email protected]

Hey Craig! Another investor/agent here ready to help. Most everyone else covered the main stuff to consider, but I'll frame it my way here:

- What area are you going to be living/working? The 4 main delineations are Boston area (inside the 495 loop), central Mass (around Worchester/Fitchburg/Leominster), western Mass (anything west of Worchester), and the Cape. Of course there are smaller ways to break it down, but it's helpful to know where in there you fall.

- Assuming you're in the Boston area, I would definitely prioritize areas that are walking distance to a college campus, regardless if you plan on renting to college kids or not. There is just naturally more demand and it's more stable. The two small downsides are 1) the potential for noise late at night and on weekends and 2) the entire Boston area is extremely September 1st-centric with rentals, but nearby a college it's going to be 100% September 1st through August 31st leases. Lucky for you, there are a thousand college campuses, so lots of area to look around.

- As with any market, the higher the price point, the lower the cap rate you're going to get. Decide exactly what your goals are. If you need extra cash flow now, you'll need to go a little further out, like near Wellesley College (west of Boston) or Endicott College (north shore). The closer into the city center, the better quality buildings/neighborhoods/residents, and the better the long-term appreciation is likely to be, but the lower the cap rate will be. Tufts University (Medford/Somerville) and Boston College (Brighton/Newton) are a decent middle-ground. Then the lowest cap-rate areas will be around Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Northeastern, or any of the smaller colleges downtown or in the Fenway area.

Let me know if you'd like to chat. Happy to just provide more advice or work with you as your Realtor!

Congrats! The first deal is always the hardest. Very few people who only ever do 1 real estate deal, most people do zero or many. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you need help on your next deal!

Yeah Keene has definitely shot up. I got 2 buildings in 2019 and 2020 that were like 18% caps, just ridiculous. Now most stuff is more fairly priced, but still some good deals, opportunity to add value.

Wish I could help you more with VT! Idk about rental markets besides Burlington, but the immediate Burlington area is pretty high priced. Recommendation would be to scour the areas you’re thinking about for property managers, interview them and ask questions about the rental market.

I live in Boston and invest in Keene, NH! It’s a perfect middle ground, where the rent/price ratio is very high, but the quality of the area is actually pretty decent

Hey Scott! Awesome to see that you’ve obviously done a lot of mental, emotional, and financial prep work. You’re clearly right on the cusp of pulling the trigger.

Where are the best areas to invest closer to the city?

Depends what you mean “closer to the city”. Neighborhoods like East Boston and Roxbury (not West Roxbury) are kind of mid-way through an investor takeover, so I’d recommend either of those. Almost certainly property values and rents are going to rise faster than the average in the market, and current reputation lags behind the actual quality of the areas. Somerville is also really good, going to be worse cash flow, but a more pleasant area if you’re going to owner occupy one of the units.

What percentage should we put down? (We expect to have 120k in cash saved up by EOY, not including other investments)

Depends on the financials. If the interest rate you're getting on the loan is lower than the cash on cash rate of return (i.e. you're getting positive leverage) you should put as little down as possible. If the interest rate on the loan is higher than the CoC rate of return (negative leverage) you should put as much down as possible.

What is a jumbo loan? Is it a bad or a good thing?

Just a line of demarcation for a purchase price that is above a certain dollar amount. These days there is not much difference.

Is now a good time to invest or should we wait a bit longer for prices to drop?

Depends on the deal. In the long run, you’ll regret it if you found a good deal but didn’t pull the trigger because you were hoping prices would go down or something like that. If the deal is good, go for it now.

Where is the best place to look to find a mentor?

A mentor is never going to arrive to you pre-packaged as “a mentor”. Start going to groups and meetups where you have something to bring to the table, and where real estate professionals might be. Network like crazy and just let the mentorship evolve naturally.

What other pieces of advice would you give us as we start our journey?

It’s okay to be scared, don’t wait until you’re not scared anymore. It sounds like you’re probably already more prepared than the majority of people when they get into it. You can never know everything upfront, some things you can only learn by going through the experience, messing up, and remembering the lesson.

The dynamics are different, margins are a lot thinner, you need to be more buttoned up and more creative, but lots of money to be made if you do it right. You're very rarely going to get NOI to outpace your mortgage payment if you maximize your leverage. Probably going to need to stack strategies (off-market, BRRRR, and student or short term rentals) and even then, you'll need to rely on appreciation.

What parts of MA are you looking? If you’re looking in the Boston area, areas like East Boston, Everett, Malden, Chelsea, Quincy, and Revere are going to be your best bet to scrape together cash flow. Going further out, Springfield can have some good deals, but residents are generally lower quality and rental market isn’t as robust.

Let me know if you need help shopping around, I get a lot of off-market deals, might be able to get something that works.

Hi everyone! I’m also a newbie investor in Keene, bought my first 4-unit on Davis St in December 2019. Starting to look for my second property. Does anyone know a good wholesaler?

Would love to connect with some of you at some point too!

@Christopher Freeman we’ve looked at a number of markets, and we happened to find an ideal property there, we’re not wedded to it. We do have a unique situation though, as neither of us have w2 jobs. We were able to secure a private money loan, but we have to stay below $300k, and that’s not really possible in Boston with a multi family.

@Christopher Freeman thanks! Not really looking for employment in the Keene area right now, looking to stay around Boston if possible. I’ll definitely keep that in mind though if that changes.