All Forum Posts by: Colleen F.

Lurking a bit but thought I would introduce myself. I am Colleen and I am an MA resident but invest in Rhode Island. I have a family and a day job but seem to gravitate to these old rehabs pulling us into some interesting transactions. I have been a lanlord off and on over the years due to various moves. Currently have a student rental in Narragansett and just closed on a 6 unit nearby! If it needs rehab and its historic I can't seem to pass it by...... (and of course the numbers look ok too) I hope to do a successful rehab on this multifamily and have it be the start of building a profitable rental business. I am also a reluctant part owner of a Sandy damaged 2 Family from my parents estate but that is another story. I would call it a rental but no rent...

Anyway so far I found BP to be a wealth of information and an opportunity to benefit from others experience. I hope to meet some other RI investors and understand the multifamilymarket.

good luck on this investment, I noted you say

> The $4500 credit and security deposits more than covered all the closing costs and left us walking away with over $2400 at closing.

Remember you need to escrow the security deposits. You are not really walking away with them. You should expect to have to return them to your tenants at lease end or eventually put them into the apartments for repairs if your tenants damage the place. that part of the closing isn't really your money.

If you keep it under 4 units you don't need a commercial loan so that may keep the cost down. Don't use a mortgage broker if you don't need to. We made the the decision to use one because it was our first commercial loan and the broker commission of 1.5 % of the loan is a total waste. If i knew then what I know now. Anyway that alone could decrease your closing costs. Components are similiar to any house although pre-purchase inspections may be more. if you are not on sewer in MA title 5 inspection of septic is extensive, don't know what it costs now , we live in MA but invest in RI.

Are the utilities separately metered? Did you meet your states requirement for notice because it probably meets some definitions of an increase. If so you you can serve them notice in line with your states laws.

Lack of Insulation is not a place where people want authenticity. If the windows are special that may be a reason to retain them as selling point. Refinishing wood floors rather then replacing (might save you $). For a house like this both for comps and rehab talk to not just anyone but to people who like old houses. They will know the market. Some features will help retain your value. Others are still negatives. Also renovating consistent with the style is important. Good Luck!

We have had multiple homes with septic and lots of wash with no issue so soap damaging the septic doesn't hold water for me. No personal experience with a doing this in a multi-family but would be interested in the answer as we are in a similar situation purchasing a multi-family place and wonder about installing onsite laundry. The place we are working on has two high volume machines onsite now for the owner and his family. The new lower volume washing machines are probably a help. We would likely replace with them as they use half the water. The number of bedrooms vs septic size we thought matters as well. We will effectively have 9 bedrooms but the septic is 8 bedrooms so we will start with just installing a low volume washer in the single family home and see how it goes. How many bedrooms do you have ?

go to the online assessors database at vision appraisals.com for the town. (I think all of RI is there). You should be able to look up addresses right by your unit. Although it will tell you the town's appraisal what you want is to look at is addresses close to you to see if there was anything sold that you can judge what the value in the area is doing. you can see what he bought the property for too. Hope it helps

Brian, I'm in MA too but our rental is in RI. For RI, there is the non-resident landlord registration and the other RI issue is the lead laws are stronger. We are just now working on a multi-family and the lead will come in to play. I don't know providence we rent to URI students in Narragansett. RI. Student market is different in many ways then regular rentals. you get a little of student market in providence too I think.