All Forum Posts by: Ethan McRae

Right now I am interested in purchasing my first duplex or triplex and lately, I have been doing a bunch of analysis. 

Obviously 6+ bedroom duplexes are much more desirable to me than 4 bedrooms because you can rent them out for more. However, although having 3,4, or even 5 bedrooms per unit makes these properties look great cashflow-wise when I am doing my analysis, I want to know how practical it is to actually find tenants that are in need of say a four-bedroom unit. 

I can imagine that the tenant pool in need of 2 bedroom units is much larger than the tenant pool in need of 4+ bedroom units. That being said, I am concerned that if I purchased a duplex with 4 bedrooms per unit it would take a looooong time before I could find tenants that would be willing to pay for what a 4+ bedroom should theoretically rent for in my area. Of course, covid only makes me more concerned that I wont be able to find tenants at all. 

@Nick Riccio Gotcha. Best of luck to ya 

@Michael Belmore I have yet to close on my first deal but I will keep that in mind. Thanks!

@Lien Vuong Thanks for the feedback, this is great to hear. Would you care to share what cash on cash you like to look for when analyzing properties?

@Joseph Cacciapaglia awesome. For my first property I want to avoid a value add play just because... well it will be my first property and I dont wnat to be in over my head with major repairs. That being said maybe I should focus on cashflow. Thanks for the advice 

@Zac Ballin Zac thats awesome, and really reassuring to hear. What area do you tend to look for property?

@Mark Mahoney thats great to hear. Right now my business partner and I are looking for either a duplex or triplex in some of the towns north of Boston (Lynn, Revere etc,) but really we are interested in any area with cash flowing properties that is relatively close to where we will be working (east Cambridge, and north end of Boston). What cash on cash roi do you look for/ what areas do you like? I really appreciate the input 

Right now I am looking for property to buy in the Boston area. When looking for properties I tend to try to find ones that meet the 1% and 50% percent rules however, its very difficult to find properties like this.

I have analyzed a few properties that dont quite meet the one percent rule but seem to cash flow. However, I am a bit hesitant about going for properties that don't meet the one percent rule because I've heard many investors say that you are doomed for failure if you don't meet that rule.  

I was wondering if anyone that lives in some of the more expensive areas like Boston or California cities would be willing to share how they go about looking for properties. What rent to price ratios are acceptable for you?

Does anyone settle for .8%? Less? If so, whats your logic behind your criteria? Thanks!

@dj 

@DJ Richmond Thats great to hear. Sounds like its just slightly more difficult to fill units- understandably so

@James G. love the positivity. Right now I am looking for a duplex to purchase in the boston area but with everything going on, my fear is that when I do purchase a property I wont be able to rent it out quickly.