All Forum Posts by: Fan Bi

Does anyone here know if you're legally allowed to in RI put in a lease agreement that you, as the landlord, will pass on water and sewer to the tenants in MFs, e.g. by bedroom count or square footage?

@Anthony Thompson Given you believe that there are stronger economic growth opportunities outside the state, are you starting to look elsewhere to grow your business or do you still ultimately believe it's a local business and domain expertise trumps regional trends?

Also, there is some talk of improved infrastructure locally, e.g. extending the commuter rail to Central Falls, and even a Hyperloop project from Providence to Boston. Or are these too much of long-shots to be considered?

@Anthony Thompson @Christian Allen really interesting topic guys. I'm a new real estate investor based in Boston (have done two deals in Providence in the last six months). From a cash-on-cash or cap rate perspective, Providence seems like a winner. I've done analysis on close to 100 deals at this point between Boston, Providence and Charlotte NC (wife's hometown) and Sydney Australia (my hometown) and Providence is a clear, clear winner on cash flow. 

Now Charlotte, Boston and Sydney have been crushing it the last five to 10 years from an appreciation standpoint and are at a point where it's very hard to cash flow. My default philosophy is buy-and-hold with cash flow properties but it's hard to stomach the asset values in these other markets are most likely going to run past Providence in the next 10 years.

@Anthony Thompson @Brandon Ingegneri Thanks so much for the feedback guys, much appreciated. We are still interested in the property so will speak to a couple of lawyers and go from there. 

Will write back here if I learn anything interesting!

Thanks for jumping in Brandon. We did not end up closing because there was too much downside, i.e. what if they trash the place before we move in, what if they take longer than 60 days and we have to then start an eviction. 

From here: we would either like to move forward with closing at a later date with a closing credit for additional costs incurred, or forego closing but seek damages based on costs incurred. 

Over the course of the past few months, my wife and I found, inspected and financed a triplex in the Providence, RI area. The final walk-through was scheduled for 9/9/16 at 9am, with the closing at 10am. When we arrived, it was quickly evident that the seller and family were still occupying all three units, and had made no intentions to leave.

We asked the listing agent about the situation, and he was both dumbfounded and lacking in communication. We subsequently went to the agreed-upon lawyers office to close (and hopefully understand from the seller's attorney what was going on), only to find out from the seller's attorney that his client requested another 60 days. 

The damages are time planned off-work for fix the property for an October 1 rental date, cancelled contractors, but most of all missing an October 1 rental date which puts us in risk of having extended vacancy through a New England winter. 

Are there any attorneys or real estate investors who have seen or experienced anything like this?

Hey folks, interested in this thread because doing a quick search on Zillow, it looks like there are condos selling in Eastside (not high volume, but they're moving). With SFs in Eastside becoming harder to find for <$600k, is condo conversion something we're going to be seeing more of?

Had been looking for buy-and-hold MFs in Boston (mostly Eastie and Southie) for the first six months of 2016, but couldn't find anything that came to cash-flowing. Just closed on a place in Eastside Providence, and actively working on a second MF in the area.

Curious to learn from vets here; what areas are people looking at in RI?

Do people have thoughts on Providence, RI being flat as a market for the past 10 years? Would love to hear any (speculative) thoughts. 

@Ann Bellamy Do you use a management co for your rentals or self-manage?