All Forum Posts by: Erika Baker

@Scott Mac

Hi Scott- I should have been more precise- there were several trees in front of the building blocking the entire building and address- and  pathways- they said it was a safety hazard on the pathways- we could have put a very temporary bandaid and just trimmed them down at back- but then we would have had to deal with them again- since then I’ve learned to use more cheap temporary fixes on things that don’t pose a major safety issue

Had to fix several other things too- lots of little things such as paint peeling on bathtubs, oven hood not working, etc..

This was week one of owning it- silly me thinking we would take care of things that were super serious thoroughly- just to have more things pop up that were more urgent soon after - 

@Theresa Harris

Thanks for your input Theresa… We did have it inspected. They mentioned boiler was looking kind of corroded roof probably would last five years… We knew those things, but other things happen before we could even get to those- now we are face to face with them after ac unit leaking into ceiling below and everything else- 

I feel like we’re pretty much gonna have to just get through it… Even if we sold, we would have to pay capital gains taxes wouldn’t we?

@Colleen F.

Since I first posted, we actually had someone interested in both vacant units… It’s like good news really really bad news good news, awful news… Such a roller coaster!

There’s something weird with the way the water sewage is metered not to individual apartments so we charge about 50 bucks a month on top of the rent to make up for it.

Deferred… That’s for sure! That is a good word for it, lol

@David Fern

Hello- thanks for your reply- you gave me some good options! And some things to think about- your right, stressing about the situation isn’t solving anything but action will- it really helps talking to people who have gone through this- We can pick up some extra trade work in our profession - won’t be fun or easy but will definitely get us through 

@Charles Carillo
Hello- thanks for the response Charles. The property was kinda rough and 3 of the 4 units were rented when I purchased it, so I felt good only having one vacant, but then I had some unexpected things happen to the vacant unit with a leak which prevented me from renting it out right away, then the little old lady in the one unit got sick and went to a nursing home- she lived there about 9 yrs and we had to then spend money on new carpet and new paint in her unit to get it rent ready. 

So currently I have the 2 vacancies- the one is very nice, I would stay in it but ppl who have seen it don’t like that it is bottom floor .

The building is from the 60s, has a good strong foundation according to several contractors who have done work. 

We also had one tenant that is section 8 who just had an inspection that failed a week before we purchased- one of the things they wanted was the building to be more visible- so had to spend about 3000 on landscaping. 

I really feel the area is up and coming- it’s north of Cincinnati, some nice bars and restaurants a few streets away but this particular street is a “c plus “ at the moment.

I am just really nervous- first time doing this, don’t really feel I know what I’m doing at times - seems like so far nothing is going my way at all- do I stick it out and hopefully make money some day but drain my savings or do I call it a day and probably loose money

My husband and I bought our first property in July. We researched, read books, went to meetups for about 8 months before we made our move. Bought a half occupied 4 plex in cinci. It had been a money pit from the get go. Had to fix roof issues, boiler issues, leaks, trees, you name it. On top of this I used a heloc for the down payment, the interest rate jumped up to 10%, that with the high mortgage interest of 7%, and constantly pouring money from our savings into the building has us both loosing a lot of sleep. 

It’s only been a few months but feels like years- I keep telling myself sometimes you have to spend money at first to make money and we need to stick it out but I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up! The numbers worked when I analyzed the deal if it was fully occupied but we are having trouble with that as well. Also little things like the electricity and water bills are adding up for the common areas. 

I feel like we might have made a bad investment and we should get out of it, any advice would be appreciated! 

Thank you that is helpful and makes sense- to borrow from the HELOC short term- I am nervous to buy a fixer-upper for my first property not knowing anything at all about rehabbing but that would make more sense to get the cash back out and pay back the HELOC as quickly as possible - some things I need to think about for sure!

Thanks that is helpful! I plan to do the exact same thing- use the HELOC for down payment and the rest a conventional loan- I hope my HELOC payments are less! This will be my first property so I want to try to use the cash flow to pay back the HELOC- very hard to find any cash flow properties right now around me unfortunately.

I just recently opened a HELOC from my primary home to use for a down payment on my first investment property. I will finance the rest with a conventional loan. My question is, what is the smartest way to pay back the HELOC? If anyone has used this method and has any advice it would be appreciated! I have not purchased anything yet... looking for a small multifamily.

Thank you for all of the awesome responses and advice! Especially "time in the market beats timing in the market" and I will keep that in mind! I will start my search for my first property and hopefully get moving soon! This is an awesome forum and everyone is so supportive - thank you all -