All Forum Posts by: Christopher Gray

I'm looking for a good Excel spreadsheet for tracking income and expenses on Excel for my rental propeties, but I'm striking out and I don't have the patience to create one myself!  Does anyone have a good template they could email me, that I preferably don't have to sell my arm, leg and first born for?  I've seen some templates for sale online, but lets be honest, who really wants to PAY for a freaking spreadsheet!?  

I would certainly appreciate the help!  This past tax season, my accountant was NOT pleased with the sorry excuse for a workbook that I had!

Thanks in advance!

There are probably a lot "smarter" options out there, but I had studied and saved long enough... so I went bold with my strategy when I found a property I could NOT refuse.  I borrowed from a private financier.  I was offered a $40K loan at 9% interest spread over 5 years.  Not ideal, but for the property I was looking at, I said "not bad".  

The loan repayment amount is $887 per month.  The only stitch is that I can't repay early without incurring a penalty, because they want their money either way.  If I make enough money, who cares, I'll pay the penalty just to get it out of my hair.  BUT... with the money they let me borrow for this property, I was able to put my 20% down and still have reserve to make the payments while I remodeled.

Overall, it ended with a $1153/month payment on the home, totaling a monthly expense of $2040 (less utilities).

The property now provides me $1960/monthly income. Now, I'll BRRRR and get my money back from the refi to place a down payment on the next one, while I keep the original loan note.

Risky strategy... sure... but it paid off for me.  Best of luck to YOU!

Investment Info:

Large multi-family (5+ units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $145,000
Cash invested: $20,000

Initial investment property. Numero Uno! Right on the banks of the mighty Penobscot River in Orono, Maine (college town). Five bedrooms, 2.5 bath. Renting out "by the room" and just secured my first round of tenants.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

The size of the property, the house itself. The location and proximity to the college campus (University of Maine).

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Found it on the MLS and reached out to the realtor, who, coincidentally, sold me my first home and the house we live in today.

How did you finance this deal?

Private money lending. We saw it as a deal we couldn't pass us, so we secured $40,000 in private monies and used it for the down payment and initial repairs.

How did you add value to the deal?

Remodeled the entire interior. The property was sold as a 3 bed/1.5 bath. We added value through adding an additional full bath and converted "unlisted" rooms into actual bedrooms, but moving their entry into a newly created "hallway", adjacent to the existing hallway. The bathroom was incorporated as a part of that remodel.

What was the outcome?

Tenants moving in to fill the unit on 03/01/2023. One year lease was drafted and signed by all. The property (including private money repayment option) is $2000/month... but the profit margin on the property is ALSO $2000/month. This means $24,000 PROFIT, per year, is coming to us. The repayment will be expedited and the wealth generation on this one is enormous!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

We shouldn't have taken as big of a bite initially as we did. We purchased this property in September with hopes it would be ready for the students' January 2023 semester. We got LUCKY with these first tenants as "off-season" renters. Another two months without renters and we would have been forced to SELL. But construction should be completed in the next few days and ready for them to start moving in a few days ahead of schedule!

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

ERA Dawson was the realtor on the project. Specifically, Carol Brooks. Carol is great and she is local, so she was quite accessible when we wanted to see the property or look into things. I've done construction for about 20 years, so I waived the inspection in lieu of touring the property myself and inspecting the "bones". While I will admit I missed a few crucial details, overall, we fell into a GEM of a property!

Definitely start small, even one property to "learn the ropes".  I was looking at originally purchasing two properties at the same time for our first properties, but quickly realized it would be a more financially sound decision to start even smaller.  This was all after researching the market in my area and listening to Bigger Pockets for a few years.  Turns out we were right and found a totally different third property which we ultimately invested in.  Tenants will be moving into that property on 03/01 and we'll be turning a profit of over $2,000 every month.  It certainly pays to think outside of the box!  Best of luck!