All Forum Posts by: Casey Mcgoff

Good looks. Didn't even notice that. Thanks

"Make Millions By Buying Small Apartment Properties In Your Spare Time"

- Brian K. Friedman

I know it has a cheesy title but it has great reviews and I just want to know if anyone has read it.

Worth the read?

@Andy Robison Thanks. I'll check it out.

@Steve Babiak I think you are right about that.. But in this case they aren't real estate investors and for whatever reason bought this house, not thinking about rentals. Better to try and rent it than just let it sit there, right? Also, the "yard" is about an acre or less and the 9 acres stretches back behind the house and doesn't need to be managed.

Thanks @Andy Robison

Its a little hard to analyze the market because it is kind of in the middle of nowhere and there aren't a lot of comparable properties. My friends would like it to be as hands off as possible so maybe we would just put all lawncare/utilites on the tenant in exchange for a lower rent.

I'll look out for that screening source and go back through the Ultimate Beginner's Guide.

And it would be my friend who would begin to manage it. I told him it would be a part time job but we are hoping to automate it as much as possible.

Thanks again

Just found out my best friend is sitting on a 5/4 SF home. Its newly renovated and sits on 9 acres. They have been paying the mortgage for two years and aren't making anything on the property. What a waste! (To their credit, they work full-time and know very little about Real Estate)

I only know what I've learned in the past month or so reading BP.

I thought it would be a great learning experience for me to help him find a renter and learn how to be a landlord so he can stop paying that mortgage and maybe even generate some cash flow.

Is there a conclusive guide on finding and managing tenants for beginners? Geared toward SF's? It seems like there are so many things to do:

Use a management company? Which utilities do they pay and which does the landlord pay? Does it matter how many people live in the house? Who are the best tenants? How to market the rental and find tenants? How to do a background check? Ask for references?

I'm not expecting answers to all of these questions, but if someone could point me in the direction of some starter resources or forums/threads that would be seriously appreciated.

Thanks BP!

@Christina R. Hi Christina.. I'm pretty sure everything is monthly except for the property taxes

@Liam Goble Not at all Liam, thanks a lot for the input.. It's cool to see how active everyone is on BP!

I understand why its a good idea to be conservative... however,

Would this affect (lower) your vacancy %? -> Tenant 1 has occupied for 3 years, tenant 2 for 4 years, and tenant 3 for 8 years.. Also it is near a major university and several miles from the Washington D.C. border.

Heat -> I can't tell if they share heat or what but I know that the heat bill is on the tenants, not the landlord

Water -> Your probably right on this because there is a total of 7 bedrooms between the 3 units so the water is probably higher than my estimate..

Management -> Most of the analysis I look at assumes a 10% management fee; is it standard practice to include that fee as well?

Thanks for the help Liam.. Hope to hear from you again

Casey

@Liam Goble Thanks Liam. For the time being, I do not have access to MLS. For the sake of learning, what are the best resources for real estate information?

I've never done deal analysis before and I am very, very new to real estate. I am not considering buying this property, or any other property, for a year or so. However, this is a real property and I wanted to see if the numbers worked out. Please advise!! Thanks BP!

P.S. I would live in one of the units to qualify for FHA loan at 3.5% down and 4.5% interest rates...That's how it works, right? (for calculations sake pretend I don't live here, though)

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The house costs $200,000

I put $7,000 down and take a mortgage for $193,000 at 4.5% interest rate.

At 30 Years Fixed this is $977.90/month

The three units together bring in $4,470/month. (In reality these units are actually already rented out)

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Using the 50% rule for a quick glance,

$4,470 x 50% = $2,235 for expenses and $2,235 to pay the mortgage

$2,235 - $977.90 = $1,257.10 (cash flow)

$1,257.10 / 3 units = $419.03 cash flow / unit

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When I plugged this into the Rental Property Calculator I used these parameters -->

Property Taxes: $7,000

Points/Lender Charges: $0

ARV: $0 (no renovations planned or needed)

Electricity & Heat: $0 (Tenant Responsibility)

Water: $100 (guess)

Trash: $100 (guess)

Property Insurance: $150 (guess)

Vacancy Rate: 5% (guess)

Repairs & Maintenance: 5%

Capital Expenditures: 5%

Management: 10%

Future Assumptions: 2% (For all three)

The Rental Property Calculator gave me expenses of around $3,000/m and cash flow of around $1,200/m, which was around what I got with the 50% rule.

What am I missing? What would you do different? Thoughts? The property has had renters for a long time so I am assuming it is in livable condition with no serious structural/cleanliness issues.

Thanks again, BP.

Casey

Just started with Real Estate- don't know much yet. It seems that a good way to get started is to buy a MF and rent it to pay the mortgage and try to get a little cash flow. By living in it you could get a FHA loan at 3.5. (I've seen this again and again in "starting out" stories) The only problem is that in my area, there are no MF's, so What is the next best type of real estate to invest in for a beginner? I hope to buy by within the year. Thanks, Casey