All Forum Posts by: Eric Kluth

I am looking for a duplex/Triplex/fixer-upper to buy within Clark County (around Vancouver, Camas, and Washougal). I will be living in one of the units, so I would want it to be in a good neighborhood.

Corby Goade the lot is large enough to be divided. Will the county allow. I'm working on finding that out.

Anthony Angotti I don't know how much it would cost to convert. I believe it wouldn't be easy though. It only has one bathroom. If I convert I would definitely have to add square footage. I'm coming to the conclusion that converting wouldn't be that viable. I would need to demo and start from scratch, which is fine. Now to figure out how much I can build for, and how much my maximum offer price would be.

I have this lead on a piece of property in Camas, WA where the owner is looking to sell. It's a very run down small old house on .50 acres. House is 940 sq ft built in 1925. The lot is zoned for multi-family. The neighborhood is nice with newer apartment complexes, and duplex/townhomes around, which this lot sits right next to. It was last sold for $90k in 2014. The land was valued at $61k. The duplexes in the area are selling for around $300k +- 15; $125-$131 a sq ft.

The options I envision would be to (1) convert this to a duplex, (2) demolish it, and build a duplex. I also see that I could possibly sub-divide the portion of unused land to a developer.

I am a new investor, and my goal is to hold this long-term, and live in one of the units for a while (1-2 years).

I would need to finance this, as I don't have the cash. I would have 30k to invest. 

So my question: is it a good idea to do either of the options above? That is, does this sound like an opportunity? I'm worried I wouldn't have enough cash to do either. 

Thanks

Looking for a lender that does FHA One time Close loans for site built homes in the Portland Metro area, or similar loan programs to finance both lot and construction. Does anyone know of a good lender?

I'm looking at a fourplex in Vancouver. They are asking $580,000. Gross monthly rents are $4,175. Property is in good shape, and it's in a desirable neighborhood. My goal is to invest in positive cash flowing properties. I will be house hacking this with a FHA loan @ 3.5% down. I have $30k in cash, so I can't put much down. I am using a modified 50% rule to quickly analyze deals as properties in the Portland Metro area don't seem to apply to the 50% rule, so I adjusted it to 35%-40%. So at 35% is barely cash flows, less than $200. Looking for some input from some other investors on whether I should pass and look for better deal. It would be more enticing if it were closer to $400. Thank you.

I found one comp of a 6 bedroom 2,780 sq ft duplex in the neighborhood. Sold for $286,400 last year. Average price per sq ft for a 2-4 unit houses is around $130 from what I can tell. It is higher for SFH here too; average is $152. I plan on doing all the interior painting, flooring myself to save money also. I plan on meeting with a builder to get a better estimate on construction cost to put up a 6 bedroom duplex.

The lot I'm looking at is 9,148 sq ft. It's been up for 3 months so far even with a price reduction. I figured it was too high, but I never analyzed a new construction project so I'm just doing my homework to see where my numbers need to be, and what I need to look at to make it an attractive deal for me. 

Thank you for your advise/opinion.

I don't own the property/lot yet but it is still active. I plan to live in one unit and zoning could allow for a triplex. 

The neighborhood consists of a mix of single family homes and duplexes. According to Zillow the median listing price is around $250k in that neighborhood. Properties range between $250k-$320k. There is a lot for sale for $169k. Median rent for a 3 bedroom is $1,350.

I've never had anything built before, but a builder emailed me a estimate price of $156k for their basic duplex plan which includes foundation and kitchen appliances. 

I don't know all the Do's and Don'ts, but is it correct that you shouldn't build something that cost significantly more than the average priced home in the neighborhood? I figure I can have a decent rental yield if I can keep total cost of completion of the duplex to no more than $324k.

If there's anything I should be looking at in my analysis, please advise. 

Thanks

@Neal Collins The property was located in Hillsboro. I don't have a particular market I'm looking in as I could see myself living in any of these areas if the neighborhood is good. The area of Hillsboro this property was located in wasn't the greatest. I look at various sites such as zillow and areavibes and google maps to check the neighborhood out. Thanks for all the invaluable advice. I would appreciate the opportunity to pick your brain more about the market and also strategy.