All Forum Posts by: Casey Crowe

We'd love to have a relationship with an investor-friendly attorney who would offer investor-friendly boutique-type services.  For example, we'd be happy to pay some reasonable and nominal retainer fee in order to have the ability to text this attorney and get answers to our questions as they arise, rather than having to schedule an appointment or go through a paralegal or wait indefinitely on an answer via email.  Ideally, this arrangement would assure us of an answer in a reasonable amount of time.  We know a small-business attorney who provides this exact type of boutique services to his small-business clients.  Also, a proactive approach, rather than reactive, would be greatly appreciated.  For example, like @Jason Merchey said, an attorney who put himself/herself in the client's shoes in their approach:  "What would I want my attorney to caution me about?  What would I want my attorney to tell me to ask my CPA about?  What would I want my attorney to suggest to me in order to facilitate smoother transactions?" and so on.  The way an attorney could make himself/herself indispensable is to be proactive with advice about our money and our investments like he/she would be with their own investments, not leaving us to discover information on our own and then using them as a source to verify it.  Once a year, our financial planner says it's time for us to meet to review the past year and plan for the upcoming year.  We do the same with our CPA.  Our hope would be to one day find an investor-friendly attorney who sees himself/herself as an extension of our investment team and offers the same proactive perspective.  I would imagine we'd need less and less involvement over time, but as fairly new investors, this type of approach would surely result in making raving fans out of us.  I hope that's helpful, @Erik Sklar.

Oh wow. This, according to the attorney who found 25 defendants to sue for construction defects, said "This was the worst, most ham-handed, Keystone Cops crap I have ever seen." He's a seasoned and savvy attorney. We had window flashing put in upside down, non-pressure-treated lumber used, a garage floor that doesn't slope, rare HVAC units, termite damage, etc. As well, the shyster developer took 7% of the condos as payment, and he was running the HOA at the time. He kept HOA dues artificially low so that his units would be more marketable. Not one dollar was in the reserve fund. Once the jig with this joker was up, he dumped all six units on the market at fled. We settled for $3m but it's a $6m rehab we have to do. I was too ignorant and led to complacency by my Realtor back in 2009 to really dig in and find out about this complex.

That's my point: find out about the HOA and the status of the building.

Oh we are at $375 in dues and once we factor in the loan of $3m required, we'll be at like $500 for the next five years. Fun!

Be very careful about condos. I got my *** handed to me 9 years ago on a condo and am still paying for it today. I mean, I stuck with it, joined the Board, and such, but it would be considered a loser by almost any perspective. Condos are, as one person put it, "socialized housing." I am into democratic socialism, but this use of the word is definitely negative.

@Casey Crowe, if you’re doing the work yourself then $16-20k sounds reasonable. Carpet will be a few grand, but not crazy.

The wild card is the electric work. Depending on what the work is could really add up.

@Casey Crowe, many of your expenses look low:

• 7.5% - Repairs & CapEx, each
• 8% - Vacancy, this is very localized, so might be okay
• 10% - Management, figure this in, even if you plan to self-manage

Man, that HOA is high. Make sure you really look into the condos finances. An HOA hike or special assessment could kill you.

I'd also be worried about your reno budget. $16k only goes so far and costs can add up quickly.

Your actual ROI will probably be closer to 9%.

Multifamily is 100% in the numbers. Figure out what your return requirements are, and stick to that no matter what! Say I want 12% CoC or more for example...then my offer always starts below the 12% and work my way back up to the 12% never to pass that threshold. You need to take into account all the cost to renovate the property in your purchase price. You can figure off actual income and expense today, and build a proforma based on renovation cost, and future rental income after renovation. That being said your goal is a certain return no matter what if the property doesn't accomplish that goal you move to the next one. Getting laser focused on the type of returns you want will help you evaluate property much quicker as well.