All Forum Posts by: Roman Gwin

I've read a few articles describing the benefit of using a 3rd party like "cozy.com" to collect rents from tenants...one benefit being my routing and account number aren't given to tenants for direct deposit which can evidently lead to issues down the road...however, the main benefit being that a tenant can stall an eviction by direct depositing a portion of the rent owed into my account, thereby, nullifying the eviction process and having to start over since I "accepted" partial payment.  So my question is, does anyone use cozy and is it legitimate?  It's asking for some very private information on-line and before I hand over debit/checking info with security codes and billing addresses I'd like to make sure folks on this forum have used it and have not gotten ripped off...thanks!!!

We are rehabbing a vacant 18 unit apartment building in downtown Phoenix (15 1beds and 3 2beds)... We have most of the sub's picked but looking for a drywall crew and tile crew in the area.  Hoping to get some referrals from anyone who knows some drywallers and flooring guys in Phoenix?  Thanks!!

We are looking to rehab a pretty rundown 18 unit apartment building in the downtown Phoenix area. I have done 1 project in Phoenix and was happy with the contractor I used, however, it was for a SFR and was more high end than this new project would be so the contractor isn't as keen to work on this project with me as he was the last one. So long story short is, does anyone have a contractor referral they'd like to share with me publicly or privately in the Phoenix area? I know that's pretty vague but I'm willing to share all numbers off-line if anyone has someone they want to point my way. Thanks for time.

#FrankFeltes - thanks, will do...

#NedPerlman - good question, the quick answer is that part of the 70% seller carry back is actually a $300,000 note from a property we just sold and we need to use "as is" for next property in order to defer the taxes on that sale.  It gets a little complicated but in essence the breakdown of the purchase is:

$300,000 cash

$300,000 seller of apt.taking our note from a recent sale (5 year interest only at 6%)

$360,000 seller carrying back (5 year interest only at 6%)

The current plan is to hold long term but I believe we can show $15,000 gross in a pretty short time which may make the property attractive to the right buyer for 1.3or more...at that point we would definitely consider selling and doing again.

This isn't a done deal...we're not 100% convinced the price is right but there are other factors we like about the potential project, especially the location near future light rail stops that are being built.... sorry for the long response, lol

Hi Michael,

Thanks, I ended working with Steven Hamilton... everything closed on the Exchange and barring any unforeseen issues I believe we satisfied all requirements to defer the taxes on my sale.  Steven is also now helping me with my personal taxes which is great... thanks for asking, much appreciated.

We are in the middle stages of buying a 30 unit apartment building in Phoenix.  We're putting 30% down and owners carrying back the 70% for 5 years.  Our goal is to re-finance in 2-3 years to pay back the sellers and my question is what kinds of lenders can we talk to about re-financing an apartment building of this size?  Should we start talking to someone now so we know what we'll need to show in 2-3 years when we're ready to re-fi?  I want to have an exit strategy for the carryback loan other than listing the apartment for sale or having the interest kick up too high if we can't re-fi in 5 years... thanks for any help/advice.

Thanks Jason!  Just saw it, definitely helps to have a ballpark/realistic idea of what insurance would cost... I recently paid to be a "Pro" member here so using the Rental Property Calculator to vet the deals I'm looking at...thanks!

Hi all, I'm interested in purchasing a 30 unit apartment building in the downtown Phoenix area....looking for some referrals for multi-family insurance providers.  Thanks for your time!

Hi Denise,

If I read it write, you've been able to consistently acquire SFR's (all-in) for max of $35,000 and rent it out in a good neighborhood for coservatively $800? I'm pretty new to this forum and investing in general but if that were available in my town I'd "rinse and repeat" like you as often as I possibly could... that's similar to buying a house here in LA for $350,000 and grossing $8,000 in rent...I'd go out on a limb and say it's nearly impossible to do here.... if floating the rent between vacancies is a hardship, I'd sell it, buy another house and continue your proven strategy.... someone with more experience than me can probably help you figure out how to leverage the lower priced units in time for higher priced units that may have larger appreciation possibilities for long term portfolio health.

Hi Cody,

Thanks for mentioning the appreciation factor, you're right, it's a big point. I didn't forget about it and have wrestled with my focus on cash flow over appreciation...For example, I bought my Barstow property for $50,000 and it rents for $650....so, if I buy 5 more at same ratio's, I've in essence purchased $300,000 worth of real estate and am getting $3,900 in gross rent. I'm not in real estate full time in LA but I can't imagine there's a house or income property anywhere in LA that I can buy for $300,000 that will generate $3,900 in gross rent....I totally realize this is a simplistic approach and I have more vacancy and maintenance issues in Barstow...however, if you want to help me crunch numbers of long term value of the $300,000 in LA vs. the $300,000 in Barstow I'd be interested to see how that would play out...actually, as I write this out, I'm going to do a quick analysis also based on rents in LA of $2,000 per month for a $300,000 investment with rents going up 3% per year and appreciation of 5%...and compare to $300,000 in Barstow with rents going up 2% per year and appreciation of 2.5%...just for fun. I think I'll try to reach you individually unless you think it's appropriate to share our project for the community to see how we do?