All Forum Posts by: David Barnett

@Annie Weeks Here's the website for the rules/regulations for the city of Saint Paul.

https://www.stpaul.gov/departm...

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of short term rentals, as I've seen in my own backyard that the government likes to come in and regulate it (not a huge fan of the risk/uncertainty in regulations from the government agencies).  The person I talked to yesterday talked about this being a Minneapolis thing more so than a St Paul thing.  However, I've noticed that they normally go in tandem (as evidenced by the new renter ordinances in the Twin Cities).  Assuming Minneapolis enacts new short term rental regulations, it'll only be a matter time until St Paul follows suit.

@Annie Weeks I was just discussing this yesterday with a STR investor. He mentioned that there are a bunch of restrictions on STR coming down the pike in the Twin Cities Metro. If you are looking at a straight up STR, I'd be careful and make sure you look at the proposals that are out there with STR's.

I would strongly encourage you to invest in an area that you know about over pro-forma CoC and ROI numbers. If you don't know the area, don't have a quality team in place, it is very likely that your proforma CoC and ROI numbers won't come close to actuals. I invest out of state and invested in a market that I knew well enough (visited multiple times, have a friend that lives just outside the metro, and did some research/watching before jumping in).

@Ryan Cotter I'll start by saying that I'm not familiar with the program at BU.  By any chance, do you work a traditional W2?  Do they offer tuition remission?  At least at my W2, if you can tie the classes to any job at the university, they will provide the tuition remission benefit (whatever the IRS limit is now-a-days).  Worth a thought if it applies and could cut the cost in half, if it applies.

Looking sharp, @Bruce Runn.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Boston and Brookline investing and am also not too keen on condo investing unless you are on the Board.  Most condo's don't have a lot of cash flow (if any) and there is risk if the Board of Trustees change something (change the by-laws), or if the association isn't properly capitalized from a reserve standpoint (i.e. special assessments).  

Congrats!  If you don't mind me asking, what part of Boston is this duplex in?  Also very interested to hear about the type of unit and how much you had to reduce rents to secure a new tenant at turnover.  

 Does your agent have recent comps that support their suggested price?  In actuality, you can offer anything you'd like.  If this is a high producing agent, I would assume that they have a better sense than you would on where the deal would land and what might offend the seller.  If you're talking about an extra $15k or so, the commission for the agent is an extra $450, give or take.  My hunch is that you are overthinking this and trying to talk yourself out of this deal for some reason.

This post is lacking details.  I understand that you don't want to give an address, etc., however a lot of this depends on the part of the city this condo is located in.  I'm not a real estate agent and do not follow the Boston metro condo market too closely.  However, anecdotally, there is a condo in my association that has been listed for 90 days, has had two price drops and still hasn't moved.  I think a lot depends on location, size of unit, etc.  Anecdotally, I think the smaller units are having a hard time moving...

@Elizabeth Ashantiva What part of the city is this 4-plex in?  I think that will help in the advice, especially if it is in some of the areas that are seeing the steepest drop in rent (close to the civil unrest, Uptown, Whittier, etc.).