All Forum Posts by: Dan Milinazzo

It's a fringe territory, but I actively look at Gardner, MA properties and currently have a duplex under rehab out there.  BP is a huge community and Gardner, MA is not a shiny, glitzy investor market.  It's an old market with a lot of history.  It was super hot back in the day as a furniture building capital.  It relied heavily on that industry, so when handcrafted furniture fell out of favor during to mass production people started leaving and it hasn't quite found it's new calling.  Now it's a sleeper community with an affordable entry price point.  Don't be fooled there are fair number of seasoned investors in that market (for proof see my failed 3-4 offers that were beat out), they just dont feel the need to discuss the market online here because it seems like a bit of a tighter network.  DM me and let's connect.  

Are there still limits to the amount of attendees to an event? I thought it was 10 for indoor and 25 for outdoor in MA.  If you get near that amount as your virtuals tend to exceed those numbers what's the plan?  Would you turn people away?  If you are going to do just the 10 people then it's almost like you would have to do a sign up or do an invitation only mastermind type network get together.  I would personally be ok attending something with lower numbers, but I am not ready for larger gatherings myself. 

I start with the 50% rule. When I see any new lead I first check Redfin for nearby sales just using the map feature and clicking a few to see how comparable they may be. I flag a value, apply 75% factor to it assuming I can only refi at 75%LTV. I plug that into a mortgage calculator for the P&I. Then I get a quick valuation on gross rent for the whole property, apply 50% factor, deduct the P&I and then divide the remaining value by the number of units for projected FCF per door. Getting the ROI takes a little longer because without walking it I can only take a presumed rehab budget as my cash invested and apply that against my annual projected FCF. If you have a good sheet I would be interested in seeing it even a screen shot. I have just gotten so used to my process on my cell phone I didnt worry much about doing it another way.

Please feel free to add me.  I'm targeting 3-4 unit residential properties primarily and 5+ residential unit properties second.  Value add properties in stable re tal markets. Within 1 hr or 45 miles of Pelham, NH.  The closer to Pelham, NH the better.  I'll DM you to open a direct line.  

2019: Wife and kids are getting more active in the community, my personal network starts expanding to other parents of kids in the same age group. I reconnect with a realtor/investor friend that cautions me about getting in too soon. "A correction is coming" we all feel it, but can't quite predict it. However, values are crazy, now is the time to get money. So I start the painstaking process of trying to Refi 2 properties AND HELOC them as well after refi. One good thing, market kept climbing and my appraisals for HELOC we actually higher than my appraisals for the Refi. Lock in some better rates, and now have a little access to HELOC if the opportunity arises. Back to my organically expanding network. One of these contacts subtly hints at the fact he has done a handful of flips in my backyard for the past 10 yrs with some partners. OK. We need to talk more. We decide we will partner and start grinding. I start getting back into BP, drop some lines, meet for coffee with 1 local guy Mike Ketchen of Commonwealth Collective LLC (this guy knows the meaning of ACT! ACT! ACT!) and what do you know he hosts a meetup nearby. I introduce my new partner to the BP world (mind blown) and we attend Mike's meetup and walk away energized and committed. My partner and I start hashing out strategy, asking questions (we sure as hell don't have all the answers), we start telling more people about what we are doing, and start hunting as a team. We test out some theories on STRs, decide not a great avenue for our partnership to explore just yet. We both have full-time jobs and while I still have an affinity towards the Flip strategy, we decide to settle in on BRRRR as a great mash of our skills. Now, outlining our parameters and narrowing the field, damn MLS. We used the energy and momentum to springboard into an all out market walk and lined up 5 multis in a nearby market. Found good opportunities, exercised our analytical muscles again, and just couldn't make a deal work.

@Timothy Walsh Welcome to the community!  There is no such thing as too much info on these types of pages.  No one is forced to read what you write.  I love the energy in your post and encourage you to do everything you can to keep that up as you venture deeper into this world.  I also read your deal diary entry.  Since this is your first year with the property, do yourself a favor and track your costs and income, especially if you really want to treat that property as an investment.  After plowing through as many podcasts as you have already your probably already have a decent sense of how to go from here.  Once you know the "numbers" it will make looking at deals easier going forward because you have a benchmark to compare it to.  I don't personally know anyone that is running the "2/1 to 3/2 conversion" game locally, but I am sure they are floating around the BP world somewhere.  Keep up the enthusiasm and keep in touch with the BP network.  I wish you the best.  Happy Investing!

@Drew Cameron

Welcome! I'm in Pelham, NH myself. Whereabouts in NH are you from? Arizona is near the top of my domestic travel destinations. We plan to visit within the next 5 years when my kids handle travel a little better (and of course when COVID is gone).

How has your investment career been so far?

Look up "Pints and Properties" in the events section and seek out @Jonathan Bombaci . That's his event and he did an in person one in Londonderry NH (I know it's not MA, but there were a handful of MA investors there).  He is doing another virtual one on October 15th I believe.  

@Patricia Baker I actually just replied to a similar post the other day.  I believe it applies here as well.  

Purchase/Download "The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs" by J. Scott. You can get it right in the BP Bookstore or other sources I am sure. I grew up in construction and I am a very analytical type. I have to budget and price construction daily for my full time job so I have a bunch of resources like R.S. Means, National Construction Estimator, Insurance loss estimates (Xactimate) and countless random notes on values. I can tell you if you are new there is no better book than the J Scott book because it not only give you some price ranges but it gives you context that you can uses to either adjust up or down a bit for your individual needs. Keep in mind the pricing will continue to change, but I believe the version I have is 2019. Also consider an adjustment may be needed because the market is priced differently around you than it was for J Scott. But, baseline just use his numbers and add a healthy contingency on top. Best of luck! Happy Investing and we look forward to hearing more about this and other deals!

For the sake of giving you something more relative, this is a very loose chart I have. Unfortunately I do not recall the source that helped me develop it but I believe it was the one by Paul Esajian.

Single Family House | Light (carpet/paint) | Avg (K&B) | Heavy (Gut)

Under 1500sf | 10k | 25k | 50k

1500-2500sf | 15k | 35k | 75k

2500-3500sf | 25k | 45k | 90k

3500-5000sf | 30k | 55k | 100k

5000+ | 40k | 70k | 120k

DO NOT RELY on this data. This just gives you a starting point. Every time you price something starting out, keep the data handy and compare it to the chart, adjust the chart as needed, but this data is very basic and you can miss a lot if you are not careful.

2017-2018: All I remember is a heck of a lot of physical pain and very long days trying to teach the unwilling how to build and set a good example for my team of project managers and sub-contractors. Bought a new house for the plan of a growing family leading to another best, big, and rewarding event…the arrival of another daughter! Time to leave this grind. I get recruited back to my very good full time job with the REIT the day after my daughter was born. Serendipitous? Maybe.