All Forum Posts by: Mark A.

Nice work. The numbers look good. Rinse and repeat :)

Plan your increase so that if the tenant moves out it is in a season that would be easy to rent the unit. You don't want them moving out in mid-winter when nobody else wants to move in...

Do you have parking at your duplexes? Who are you trying to rent to (students or grads / professionals)? I see some potential renters getting pulled to the newer buildings but not everyone wants to live in a huge apartment building, especially at the price point they are commanding. You may want to look for a different property manager...

I make more than 150k per year in my 9-5 job. I will still pay taxes on that income - nothing I can do about it. As long as I have that job I can't be considered a "real estate professional" to have my real estate "losses" offset the day job income. With that said, I won't pay "extra" tax on my additional real estate income due to the depreciation. 

Or you could offer to pay their requested selling price but get in for low money down, low interest rate, and a longer amortization period so that the monthly payment comes out to their desired monthly income. Seller financing can be whatever you both agree on but meeting the seller's price and making it work for you in the terms of the deal seems to me like a win for both of you.

Have you shopped around at smaller local banks? They need to like real estate and want to expand their portfolio. I have bought with better terms (less down) than you are trying to get but you need to find the right bank. Build a relationship with some of those smaller local banks.

Similar to when people ask "where can I get the best mortgage rate," the answer is that you should shop around. I looked at the rates through SoFi but found better rates for my student loans through a local bank that I built a relationship with.

Not sure if you listen to the Old Capital Podcast but they just discussed this - in Episode 87 Paul Grimme talked about the risks vs benefits of a Fractured Condo. The take away point was that you really only want to buy a fractured condo if 1) you purchase enough units to control the condo association (so they don't decide to go in a direction that hurts you, like preventing rentals in the future) and 2) your goal is to slowly buy more of the units as they become available. 

I've looked at several Fractured Condo sales but, to answer your specific question, I'd lean towards buying the full apartment building so that you had full control.

In general, I've heard that if you CAN get bank financing it is probably better for you. Owner Financing really benefits you if you 1) can't get bank financing (due to poor credit, having too many loans, etc) or 2) don't have enough down payment. If you can get better terms from the Seller using Seller Financing than you'd get from the bank (such as a lower purchase price because the seller would be receiving money above the purchase price in the form of interest payments) then it might benefit both of you, too.

My first property I bought with 5% down, 15% owner financing, and 80% bank financing. This made the owner financing worthwhile because i wouldn't have been able to bring the full 20% down to get that property.

Welcome Chris! My wife is from Reedsburg so I've been through your area plenty of times.