All Forum Posts by: Cindy Gonzalez

Hi Joseph - You're absolutely right! I'm a big BiggerPockets fan.

I work at Palm & Cactus Real Estate. I just started :)

Hi All - I am hoping to connect with investors that buy in the tri-county area (Palm Beach, Broward, Miami Dade) who are ready to purchase real estate. I work at a brokerage in downtown Fort Lauderdale that specializes in wholesaling - we get 3-6 deals every week; mainly distressed properties, condos, SFH, etc. Although I am super new to this, it's a blast so far and I love meeting new investors and hearing about their experiences. Please contact me if you're open to connecting :)

@Adam Awada Yes, the uncertainty that comes with HELOC is what's shying me away but certainly worth exploring! Thank you for the input.

@Scott Wolf Hi Scott - yes, that's a good point and I will explore that further.

Sorry I didn't clarify. He is also a mortgage broker and the lender that I might work with for an investment property. Thanks so much for the feedback!

I purchased my primary residence in 2020 and have built some solid equity due to market changes and forced appreciation - I am working with a private lender to pull equity out of my house to purchase a duplex/triplex as an investment property (I'd rather not house hack since I am searching for properties in cities a couple hours away from me). I am being advised to refinance but I got a great interest rate when I purchased my house (3%) and am pretty sure it will go up if I refinance. Would a home equity loan or HELOC be a better option? I am leaning more towards a home equity loan since the variable interest rate and non-fixed payments on a HELOC worries me as a new investor.

Thanks in advance!

@Carl Millsap This is the initial step so I can determine if it has potential enough to request the rent roll and financials. This was really helpful - thank you!

@Carl Millsap Thanks for your reply Carl! After adjusting to market rent, the gross scheduled income goes up to $177,600 with additional income included. I use 10% vacancy to be on the safe side - would you say that is too high? That gives me a new gross income of $159,840. I also used 55% for operating expenses - NOI is $71,928, which is a lot less than their current NOI - could they be over optimistic about their expenses? I got a new valuation of $1,219,119. It doesn't look like this deal would work - I am just reviewing multiple properties to perfect my deal analyzing skills.

Hi BP,

I am analyzing a 12-unit apartment building in the Fort Lauderdale area and even though their operating expenses seem low, the valuation I came up with after adjusting the numbers is off by A LOT so I wanted to hear everyone's thoughts about what looks off or what important details I might be missing. I don't have the actual rent numbers so I am using what was given on the pro forma and on the right are my adjusted numbers. 

          PRO FORMA                            ADJUSTED

Gross Scheduled Income: $148,980 ---- $148,980

Vacancy Cost: $5,767 (4%) -------------- $14,898 (10%)

Gross Income: $143,212 ----------------- $134,082

Operating Expenses: $40,724 (28%) --- $73, 745 (55%)

NOI: $102,487 ----------------------------- $60,337

Cap Rate: 5.9% ---------------------------- 3.4%

Asking Purchase Price: $1,750,000

Valuation/Offer: $1,022,661

Even if I adjust the vacancy rate to 5%, I still arrive at a $1,079,475 evaluation - over $600k less than asking price. I have been running into this a lot when analyzing properties and it seems to be a common theme where my offer would be far less which makes me think if I'd have a tough time getting an offer accepted if other potential buyers are coming closer to what is being asked. Is this common for the numbers to be so off? I want to make sure I am going through the analyzing process correctly so any feedback will help. 

Thanks in advance! 

Hi @Brian Garrett. I don't have the experience you do but your post caught my attention (especially since you were one of the ppl who provided me w/ helpful insight on my first BP post about a year ago :)). I recently purchased a SFH in Delray, which I am currently living in and now that I went from renter to home-owner, I am looking to take on partners to syndicate a 6-unit MFH in the South Fl area - Dania Beach has piqued my interest. I'm excited to hear what venture you get into!

Btw, @Jon Huber - I signed up to your virtual meeting on Saturday afternoon. Really looking forward to it!

@Raul R. @Percy Matsunaga Thanks for your replies. Those are good points.

Percy, When you say purchase the NF home under my name, do you mean to make me the borrower and have siblings as co-signers? I might still need co-signers as I do not think I would get approved for a loan large enough for a 6-bedroom house.