All Forum Posts by: Doanh Mai

This is very helpful Greg! Thank you so much! I have DM you. 

I would assume that we would have disclose it. Certainly we don't want them to hear from the neighbors. We are trying to confirm from the agent that it was not a meth lab before.

Hi all,

Thank you ahead for your time and help!  I would like to seek your opinion on whether or not I should move forward with this deal.

My wife and I have found this way under market value building in the city of Manchester NH. 

Upon entering the property, there is no electricity. All the drop down ceiling tile have been removed. All the heat duct covers have been removed. Plumbing have been winterized. 

The rest of the work are mostly cosmetic. 

We immediately saw the value of this building and made an offer right away. We are still waiting to hear from the seller.

I did a little work in looking up the name the seller and found that he was a drug dealer (meth) and the building had a lot of foot traffic.

He was arrested and lost possession of the building, now belong to the city marshal. 

I dug a little deeper and this arrest was on the FB page of the city of Manchester. Many mentioned about him being a drug dealer (meth). No mentioned of this building being a meth lab. 

But this place was raided several time between 2018 and 2021. 

My deep concern is that this apartment or building was a former meth lab. But there is no sign of it being one. There was no odor of ammonia  or cat pee or chemistry equipment. However this was probably left empty since 2021 or 2022, at least half a year with one of the window cracked open. 

Is it worth the risk to go through? If it was indeed a former meth lab. What does it takes to decontaminate it. 

WOULD YOU BACK AWAY FROM THE DEAL?

Best regards

Doanh

My first time hearing about acquiring a tax delinquent property was actually from my tenant. His story is that he works for a construction company that renovates these types of property. He was saying that these properties can be auction off at a ridiculous below market price. I am so new at this. Can someone confirms the validity of these type of deals? How easy is it to buy them? How and why do they exist without the big investors all over them and bidding up value so they become somewhat market value?

@Ryan Hazelwood

I am 37 now. I bought my primary residence 4 years ago with 15 % down payment. About 1.5 years later, I bought my first 4 unit multi family using a home equity loan for a 25% downpayment. We paid off that equity loan and just 3 months ago, we bought a 3 unit multi family. Cash flow is really good with both properties. My wife and I have a full time job. It’s quite a challenge to manage everything but it’s worth it. We are saving all cash and ready to purchase another property but right now inventory is really low in our area.

We save more than we spent. I see people driving nice cars, buying boats and living in nice houses and above their means.

One of the best decisionsI have made was to enter real estate investment so good luck to you Ryan!

Hi all, 

We have a family with 3 growing boys and feel that our current home needs to be bigger. With the current market, it’s hard to make an offer with contingent to sell our own home. And with COVID-19 situation, people in the city/working from home are also buying houses in the suburb, which is where our current home is, North Andover, Ma, 30 minutes from Boston. Prices in our area seems to be going up because of that. However I think this is just temporary. If the COVID 19 situation continues, companies not making money and potentially has to cut work force, things might be bad soon for the housing market, which will drive the price down, which is then the perfect opportunity for us to buy. So sell now at the highest and buy later? What do you all think? Thanks ahead for your opinions. 

@Mike M.

Thanks Mike. Lol only thing is building department closes tomorrow for their own renovations. But I will find out either way.

Hi all,

I am trying to make improvement to my building in Manchester, NH and building a walkway using concrete. A lady came by today while we were working building a casing and start taking pictures without saying anything. I was like what are you doing? She claims she is from the city of Manchester, (this is at 6 pm) and presented no credential. She was saying this kind of work requires a permit and I could get fined if I continue. She was also saying neighbors complains of noise but we don’t work past 8 pm. We are scheduled for concrete pour tomorrow but I am not sure if I should cancel it for reason below:

1) temperature is dropping soon if I delay and concrete might not set right.

2) my wife is giving birth sometime next week which results in further delay and I just wanted to get this project done with.

3) winter is coming and if I don’t finish the walkway, hard for tenant to shovel, ice forms and it’s dangerous.

What do you think I should do, delay or move forward with the concrete pour?

Best

Welcome to Real estate investing. I just started recently too and own 1 building now and buying my 2nd one.

1) I would get a real estate agent who is well versed real estate investing, someone who has done it before.

2) Redfin, Zillow, Real estate Cashflow App, Zillow Mortgage, would help in searching and calculating CAP rate and all that for the potential investment.

3) Look for area that has high CAP rate.

4) Read books - Rental property investment by Brandon Turner, Managing Rental Properties also Brandon Turner, HOLD is another good book.

Best of luck!

Hi all, thanks for your valuable feedback. Currently there are no leases with the 3 units. Tenants have been there for 2 years/14 months/7months. I think the landlord is older and wants to move south to Florida. COC is not current and it must be done before closing so landlord must fix up a bunch of items from the inspector. The building itself is not too bad but some update should be done. Leaving rents at $800/month would results in 7.5% Cap rate when Cap rate in the area should be 11% or more.