All Forum Posts by: Chris Greenawalt

@Katherine Hong After learning what I have about the area, I didn’t want to pay market value for the house, nor did I want to sour a friendship with a low offer so i just walked away. If you or @James Masotti know anyone interested, they are still interested in selling , as far as I know they have not put it on the market yet. Katherine, if you are researching the market, James seems to be a valuable resource for all things Wilmington :)

@William C. I am interested as well.

Hi Guys,

I am in the process of buying my first investment property. It is a single family that was listed as a 3 bed 1 bath. It had a legitimate 4th bed (heat and closets present) and room to add a half bath with minimal impact to living space. I saw this as instant value add and pulled the trigger because the est rent worked out to 13% CoCROI and about 38% total annual ROI (based on 5 yr sell date and conservative for the market 3% appreciation rate).

I am very nervous about investing in single family for my first property but I have a process in place to cover vacancy. This is recently remodeled and most larger components are new (appliances, heater, windows, etc). I think my biggest concern is keeping it rented. My Mother in Law is my agent and is confident we can keep it rented so that is easing my worries. All this said, do you guys have any tips, advice, anything that I can learn from? 

Managing myself. Long term tenants in there now. There are some initial repairs that I factored into the cash investment. Any other suggestions on ways to finance the majority of the house with minimum out of pocket. I hear about this all the time and am trying to make that work for me. I have excellent credit and low debt to income ratio. 

Hi guys! I have a triplex that I am currently analyzing and would like some input. I am leaning toward putting in an offer but it’s my first deal and I am nervous. Am I suffering from “analysis paralysis?”

Asking is around 279k and I am going to shoot for getting it for 245k. I worked the numbers with 25% (61,250) down but my down is coming from a HELOC so I'm trying to work the mortgage to get as low down as I can and be around $1,500. Here are the numbers I'm working with. Mortgage (P&I, tax, ins) $1,480. One of the cons here is that current owner pays utilities (water, sewer, trash, heat... waiting on electricity #) which average to about $421/mo. For total expenditures of $1,901/month the units rent as follows

1 bed $700

1 bed detached unit

2 bed unit with a huge second floor master $1,050

Total income $2,450 - each unit is about $150 under market, total $450 under market.

With current prices my "cash flow" is $549 which, for now, will all go to paying down the HELOC

I plan to save part of my HELOC to be used for Vacancies and Cap Ex so all income will go to paying it down.

This puts calculating CoCROI and overall ROI if I sell at 5 years with 66,500 initial cash investment (down plus some small repair costs) I'm at 9.9% and 22.6% respectively. Does this sound like an ok move? Should I be more cautious with my first deal? Am I looking at all of this right?

I know I’m missing something. Let me know what else I need to tell. Thanks!

it’s 3 bed 2 bath. Pretty well updated. He wants market value which is 80k. I’m not going to low ball him since it’s a buddy... I would pass before doing so. The rent numbers are 950 and he has a prop manager running it for 12%. Currently cashflows about 350-400 for him. I would be buying with a traditional mortgage and about 25% down. Wilmington is a little far for me so i would probably continue with the prop manager..... was thinking of offering 70k and coming up to 75k.  am I forcing my first deal by considering this? 

James, thanks for the info!

shoot! Looks like I am a couple blocks south, between 2nd and 3rd (Judy Johnson Park). Do you recommend running? The place is currently rented and has been for a while around 1.26% rent to value. I feel like the numbers work for this place, we’ll cared for... BUT my biggest worry is the market dropping and not coming back. I plan on holding for a long time (20-30 yrs) 

Hi guys! I am starting out in real estate investing and have been on the hunt for my first deal. An opportunity recently came to be by way of a friend offering an off market deal in the Hilltop neighborhood of Wilmington, DE. Numbers seem to work out for a solid rental prop. My question is in regards to the market and neighborhood. Wilmington doesnt have the best reputation but the friend is an up scale kinda guy so I can’t imagine his first house would be in a bad area. Let me know if I’m missing anything that may help you give me an idea of the area. Thanks!