All Forum Posts by: David I.

@Patrick Froehlich started last spring at 46 and wish I had sooner. Wife and I talked about it forever then just started. Took 100K out of stocks for down payment on 2 properties. Yes I paid taxes on it but got me going.

My strategy is buy at least 70% of value or less, rehab, refi after 6 mo. I get my down payment back to purchase the next one plus some, then I hold and rent it out. I’m getting ready to purchase my 6th. I do a lot of the work myself and have a small team that helps me.

Knock on wood I’ve had 0 trouble getting traditional loans or rehab loans. Yes probably has to do with age capital and experience, people I know. Again wish I had started sooner. Just start!

Hi all, I have several sfr rentals and want to move up to 4 plexes. I’ve been doing 30 year mortgages on my rentals. Question is - do any lenders only require 15% down.   I know the risks but the properties I am looking at are in good areas and go for 250-300k - and go fast.  I have 50-75k in cash but don’t want to throw all that on one property down payment. That would handicap me for improvements and other properties.  

Id like to stick to a 30 year for cash flow purposes and I know you can on a 4 plex.  What types of financing is out there?  Thanks. 

@Jaron Walling thanks - good info I’m in sales so not afraid to knock or call! Thanks for the tips!

Hi all, looking to move up to multi- family from SFR rehabs and rentals I have been doing. The good multi that hit the mls in my area are gone within a day. Looking to start with four plexes.

Are there any websites you use or techniques to get in touch with the property owners of existing such properties out there to see if they would ever consider selling?

Thanks!

Back to my original question- do you find the tenants more difficult to deal with in a 4 plex or multi family, are there more headaches since there are multiple units versus a sfr.  I guess a property manager takes care of most of this? Thanks. 

Thanks for the reply and info. $1495 is my latest sfr I rehabbed and it’s in a great area.  I’d say my avg sfr is $1200.  The $600 is probably on the lower end for a multi in my area, in a good area probably would get $800-$900 at best. These are smaller units.  Bigger complexes would be on your $1000+ range.  
And those 4-6 plexes do sell literally within hours of hitting the mls. 

I guess it really depends on a good property manager.  With the increased cash flow that would help with the calls and headaches 

So have 5 SFR's under my belt and handle most of it myself - they are all in good areas of town and knock on wood I have had some pretty good tenants. Things go wrong but they have been understanding and I have people that help with plumbing or other issues.

I want to move up to 4 plexes but hear horror stories of course. I know the tenants in a 4 plex are paying less than in a sfr so you are getting different types of tenants. Also I know many may be out of work or making less due to covid 19 so I have to assume 4 plex tenants who didn’t make as much before may be making less now or have possibly been laid off.

But even before that I just know from deductive reasoning the tenant in a sfr I’m collecting $1,495 a month from is going to be different from the 4 plex tenant I collect $600 a month from.

I know sfr are easier to sell if need be and have greater appreciation. However know the cash flow is potentially much greater on multi.

I want to expand and keep going. 4 plex then 6-8 plex, eventually heck a 100 plex.

Help me get past the doubts? Thanks.

Oh I agree, you’re absolutely right. I should have gotten an estimate and will going forward, but I trusted the guy to do the right thing here on a bathroom job.  After this same thing happens three or four times recently it gets really old.

Appreciate the comments, I’m not against paying someone for their work at all.  But the guy consistently does not give me an estimate just a vague cost answer and I always get surprised which I think is bad business. This is just a bigger surprise than the past ones.


I’ve got him set up to do a full remodel on a house I just purchased and I flat out told him I cannot have any more surprises.  It was hard to get any kind of estimate on this one too. Makes me very nervous and want to get someone else to do it. Estimates are going to change as the work progresses sometimes and that’s fine but just let me know when it happens.  

I work in banking and if I operated that way and told my customers what the rate and fees were the day of closing I would not be employed for very long!

Thanks Kenneth..yeah I think this is going to end in a divorce. I simply can’t keep using him never knowing what the final bill will be.  I know estimates can change but that’s not how you do business.