All Forum Posts by: Elijah H.

@Salvatore Lentini

Debt for one! My wife and I have our budget sorted out and we are only a few months away from being as close to debt free as we can be!

Also like others have said, a bit of analysis paralysis...

we have been practicing running our numbers daily, but the majority of properties that we come across aren’t anywhere near being close to being a good deal for us. We are in the Tacoma/Seattle WA area.

We are also working on our networking and finding more local investors! We would like to decide on the areas we are searching!

Thank you for your post!

@David M Trapani

Thank you all for the replies!

The properties were 2 multi-families across the street from each other: a 5-plex and a triplex listed for $650,000. 6 1bd/1b & 2 studios. The 5-plex exterior looked to be in decent shape from photos, the triplex would need a facelift...no photos of the inside...

It looked to be in about a “C” neighborhood in a somewhat rural area, so rents would be around $750/$650 a month (super low compared to Seattle/South Sound area where we’re currently located)

We appreciate all your replies and advice on seller financing! We hadn’t seen a 2-in-1 multi family listing before and wanted to hear how others have approached seller financing situations, especially when submitting a low offer. We’re not going to pursue it but enjoy having this platform for knowledgeable input! Thanks again!

Hello BiggerPockets!

My wife and I ran numbers on an interesting seller financing deal for two separate multi-family properties being sold together, for a total of 8 units.

The properties are in an area with low rents, and the asking price seemed a little high to us. After running the numbers, we realized we would need to be asking about half of the listing price for it to be worth it.

We know the strategy of “analyze 100, offer on 10, and buy 1” but we were just curious to hear what others had to say on how you would approach making such a lowball offer to a seller. What is proper etiquette? We’ve heard on the podcasts how you should really get to know the seller when attempting seller financing, but we also don’t want to waste anyone’s time.

Any tips or pointers would be appreciated! We are having fun practicing our numbers!

Thanks in advance!

Elijah & Isabel

@David Sisson thank you for your response. That is helpful insight, as I did not realize all of those possibilities. Definitely helps you understand the level of risk associated with a property like this. Thank you!

@Joshua Crossman

Great advice. I agree that a conventional multi family property with a VA loan would be a smarter first time deal. Thank you!

@Justin Frank Thank you for the response. That is all very helpful advice. We are excited for our first deal but also a pretty nervous time too! Especially since we have been mostly looking at conventional multi-family properties and we didn’t quite know what to think of this unique property!

I agree that an exit strategy was one of the biggest drawbacks for us. It seems that just because the property is already providing a lot of positive cash flow, isn’t always meaning a good deal. Especially if all of your sources of income have to be removed from the property.

Again, thank you for your response.

@Christopher Smith No, it would be our first investment actually which is another reason why we are hesitant. We have been researching for a few years now and have had our eyes open and running numbers for traditional multi-family homes for purchase through my VA loan.

We are quite familiar with the area though. I have lived in the area for 6 years personally, and my wife has spent her whole life in the area.

Thank you for that connection! We will try to see if he is on the site, and able to make a connection.

@Scott Mac You are absolutely correct. Our real estate agent is getting us in contact with the owner in regards to owner financing. Worth a chat!

We have been looking for investment properties in our local rural area and found an interesting piece of property for sale.

It is a 7.5 acre lot with 1 manufactured home, 1 stick built home, and three mobile homes which are all currently occupied by long term tenants. There is also a horse barn and horse fields that could be rented out, a garage, and several small utility and storage sheds. There are also 2 wells and 3 septics total. There’s about $4500 of monthly revenue on the property with potential for more.

The asking price is $430,000 and the owner wants to make a cash sale.

There are multiple avenues of revenue on this property which makes us interested, but there are some legal and permit issues which have us concerned.

The property is not zoned to have the mobile units and stick home on it and so we wouldn’t be able to finance this property without losing the units. If we were to finance, it wouldn’t appraise for nearly the asking price of $430,000.

We don’t have the cash to buy outright but are considering whether we should inquire about owner financing.

We are curious if anyone on this forum has advice on whether this would be an unconventional but profitable investment or if it sounds like more trouble than it’s worth?

Thanks in advance

Unfortunately we have just passed over our 1 year lease a few months ago and are now on a month to month contract. We were given the option to buy, but I will be leaving the military in about 6 months and we would like to move out of state. I was planning on using my VA loan to house hack in our new area, as the property we are on now isn’t our ideal rental property. It looks like we will be looking for somewhere new temporarily! Property management said they would be bringing the written notice that the house is going on the market in the next day or so. My wife and I really appreciate all of your help. This is such a wonderful and helpful community to be a part of. We can’t thank y’all enough.