All Forum Posts by: Dustin Murphy

Nice! Excited to see how it comes out!! 

Hi Dan, I am an investor in the Albany area as well. I don't have any experience splitting units heat up but have you thought about maybe just billing the tenants back the utilities? I am looking at doing that for the water bill on my 3 unit but haven't pulled the trigger on it yet. Still in the research phase of how to appropriately do it. 

Wondering if there any multifamily meet-ups in the Albany NY area? I know there are REI meet-ups but looking to find one that is geared towards multifamily not just REI in general. Hope everyone is having a great!! Thank you for any responses in advance!

@Gart Robert if you look up mark j kohler on youtube he has a lot of really great educational videos on using a trust for LLCs. I would suggest looking on his youtube channel. He is a CPA attorney - I will dm you one I think would be able to answer your question

@Dave Spooner Thank you! I plan on spending about 5k per unit. They just need a good cleaning, paint and new LVP flooring. I am going to be doing the work myself with the help of my contractor friend. Lucky to have a friend that is a contractor and willing to help.

@Scott M. they are currently on month-to-month leases. I am in NY and they have been there for 2 years so I need to give them 90 days here. When I send the notice should I have them sign it to confirm they received it? I am a little nervous I am going to get backlash and they stop paying. That's the only reason I was looking for creative ways to ask them without making them pissed off and it backfires. NY is a tough state when it comes to landlord-tenant laws. Thank you for the response.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Albany.

Purchase price: $210,000

3 unit building got 10k under asking. Needs some freshing up but need two of the tenants to move first before it can be done. Once they are out it's going to be a great value add increasing our ROI from 8% to 15%.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Rents below market value and opportunity to value add to the building.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

MLS. Negotiated price down because units need some cosmetic work.

How did you finance this deal?

Traditional financing 25% down

How did you add value to the deal?

Going to be able to raise rents 200 per unit once rehab is completed

Lessons learned? Challenges?

The lesson learned was, get all agreements in writing. The seller's agent agreed for the seller to add a new circuit to one of the units that had problems overloading one of the breakers and it did not get done before closing. We came to another agreement at closing but now I am paying half the cost of the work being done. This time we got it in writing and signed.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Jamie Brayton is my real estate agent and I would recommend anyone in the capital region of NY looking to buy investment properties to contact her. Answers questions very quickly and always on top of everything that needs to be done.

I just closed on my first deal that is a 3 unit building. I want to ask two of the tenants to move out so we can rehab two of the apartments and raise rents. The current rents are below market value but the units could use a little freshening up to justify the rent increase. Does anyone have any suggestions on ways to ask them to look for a new place? If it comes down to it I may offer cash for keys but looking for other options before I go that route. Thanks for any advice in advance.

My man John Bradley!! I am closing on my first 3 unit Monday(hopefully). Great question to ask my friend. We should have a chat someday soon!!

@Nathan Gesner @Scott M. @Jonathan Greene - Thank you for the advice. Attorney has sent the request. We shall see what happens now.