All Forum Posts by: Corey Hajduk

Thanks, after talking to the agents I decided that this property wasn't for me. The current expenses are too high and the current rent is too low. I do beleive with proper management it could possibly be turned around and there is still potential there but that is not what I am looking for right now. To answer your questions though, the house was built in 1971 and I have a rule to always set aside 20% per month in an expense account.

@Account Closed- First of all thank you for that. I am going with a traditional 30yr like you mentioned except I will be at a 4.3. For reserves I will be covered for 6 months of mortgage and expenses in case of vacancies. Right now 3 out of the 4 units are under lease and the 4th one remains open for showing purposes only (I presume). I have not been able to look at the 3 that are currently leased but besides a little touch-up here and there and a bit of curb appeal it appears to be a straight turn-key property. I am unsure of how long the tenants are under lease since I have yet to get the actual bank roll. Also I am unsure of the current rent. I will get all those answers Monday. One question I have for you is about the expenses you have on the analysis, 60% seems high to me but once again I am new. Is 60% a good rule of thumb to follow? 

You are right @Account Closed. I was trying to be conservative and not counting all the equity and cash on cash exchanges. I am looking at in a very pessimistic way in case of worst case scenario. 

The payment includes taxes but not insurance. The only reason I would do 20% down would be to make it easier to finance through a traditional lender. The rental quotes are just an average from rentometer.com from the immediate area so they are probably high for a 4plex. Right now I am currently looking into the homes that @Stephan Haas mentioned. (if you read this please contact me) 

Thanks for all the sound advice. I am really looking forward to starting this new adventure and will keep you all filled in. 

I just raised enough capital for my first Multi-family purchase and have been looking for a couple months now for a good buy. I'm looking in several different areas in Michigan. The areas I'm primarily focused on are Livingston County, Kalamazoo, Ann-Arbor, Ypsilanti and Lansing. I would like to buy several units and have all of them within the same area making management easy. I think I finally found one that's worth taking to the next stage and contacting the seller's agent to set up a walk through, here are the quick rough numbers….

Purchase Price: $129,000

Down: $25,980 (20%) 

Payment/Month: $775 ($9300) 

Closing costs: $1249 

Management costs: $298 ($3570) 

Expenses: $298 ($3570) 

Average Rent/Unit: $745

Total First Year Expenses: $43681 

Total First Year Income: $35760

The building is a 4-Unit, 2 bed 1 bath per unit, that appears to be in average shape and the description claims to have a "clean and updated interior" but no interior pictures are posted online. It is also in a good neighborhood of Kalamazoo, 5-10min from WMU campus. 

What do you all think? Worth it to take up to the next level? Like I said 100% rookie here so everything helps. Thanks

Thank you both for your replies. Basically exactly what I was thinking and have been doing. I just wanted to get some opinions of people with some personal experience on the matter.

Good Afternoon all,

I will be putting my house up for rent and leasing in August and I have a few questions on how to prepare it of to even prepare it at all. The basics of the home are as follows. It is a 4 bedroom, 4 bath home, built in 1990. Everything is very well maintained and working as it should. The only thing is that the kitchen and the bathrooms are a little out of date (looks wise). I personally want to upgrade them but I also think that the low cost of the current laminate router tops and laminate floors well keep expense costs down if I have to rehab at all after any tenants. I guess my question is, will updated and more modern features be worth the initial and eventual price of instal and repair compared to the price of rent??

(Also if location helps, the home is located in Howell Michigan. A decent size city but now where near a metropolitan city in my opinion.)

Thanks,

Corey

I figure I'm not the only one in here that dabbles in both common stock and real-estate investing so I figured I'd get everyones opinion on this matter. Everywhere I look I see articles on how the market is performing better than ever and that it could push another 10-15% by the end of 2014. I am also seeing a lot of articles on how we are about to hit a bear market very soon. Personally after looking into the past performances and comparing it to today I would have to agree that this bull is about to go downhill but Like real-estate investing I am just a novice. What's your opinion? Do you think this momentum is going to last until 2015?

I don't necessarily have any info to help you out at the moment since it sounds like we are in about the same boat but I just wanted to post something so I can track this thread. Good luck with the hunt and if you find anywhere that you would please let me know.

Thanks, Corey

Hey Cierra,

I'm currently still overseas but will eventually be buying investment properties in Michigan. Mainly looking for the Livingston County area since that's where I already own and know the area quite well but I don't have many real estate contacts. I would like to add you as a colleague and stay in touch. Maybe not necessarily on a permanent basis since our areas are kind of separated but it would be nice just to have a connection in your area just in case.

Thanks, Corey