All Forum Posts by: James Dickens

@Jeff Kehl I had 2 numbers there like @Jeremy F. pointed out and it was as much a study for me in the numbers than anything. To some extent I'm not 100% sure of my numbers so figured I would toss them out there and see what discussions would be had. I think he will know whats best as it is his deal and he knows the area and the numbers and it sounds like he has a good handle on all of it. 

One thing, and again as Jeremy pointed out 50% in a lot of cases will be high for expenses and if you have solid numbers to go by you are better off using those. The 50% is more for quick analysis or so it is being said by some of the Youtube/buy my book crowd. I find though that in most of the cases that I have looked at (Looking at listing sites like Loopnet and Zillow) if you use the 50% NOI to calculate the asking price you will be pretty far off the asking price number. Once I start looking at actual broker deals I'm sure the numbers will fall into place a bit better.

@Debra Chepkemoi From one newbie to another I would say the best thing to do once you have decided on Muli-Family is to look for people talking mainly about that subject. There is a lot of clutter out there. Look here on BP for Blog Posts from the Muli-Family guys and follow them so you know when they post new content. A couple of books I would recommend to start with are the 2 from Ken McElroy - The ABC's of Real Estate Investing and then the Advanced Guide to Real Estate Investing. Those both helped me focus a bit more on what content and information I needed to look for. Currently, I am reading @Matt Faircloth book which you can get here on BP which is called Raising Private Capital. I would, however, say it's best to understand some of the basics before jumping into this. I can tell I am going to have to go through it a few times myself.  

But the original cup of coffee disclaimer still stands and if anyone has any better or more seasoned advice please feel free to give it. 

@Jeremy F. ,

Ok this and 50 cents will get you a cup of coffee so take it for what it's worth. I have not done any deals yet but have been looking a lot at Multi-Family and crunching a lot of numbers. 

In general, I have seen some advice to go with 50% as your NOI after you take your gross - your Vacancy and to use 10% vacancy as a rule of thumb. Your numbers are just a bit different so wanted to see what I came up with to see how different they are.

If I read this right

Gross Income Reported is $81900

Vacancy 5%

GIR-Vac @ 5% is $77805

NOI $55805

From what I can calculate that works out to a 9.71% cap rate

Which puts the est Property Value at $541,867 

That's not too far off which is good.

With the 50% method and using 10% Vacancy Rate, it drops the value down to $357,862

Now again my math may be off but I think that you should be somewhere between those 2 numbers on price and of course that will depend on a lot of other factors and how conservative or aggressive you want to be with your numbers. 

Congrats @Tony Castronovo ! sounds like a great learning experience. Would love to see any numbers on the deal you would be willing to share. I am educating myself currently in the hope that someday soon I too can do what you just did. 

I have been looking in this area for Multi-Family, but also Trailer Parks and Self Storage as well. Greenville, Columbia, Charleston areas in SC and Charlotte, Raleigh Durham and Coastal NC. And also looking in the 10 + unit range. 

@Ryan Picco I say great plan! Although not written down it is much like what has been bouncing around in my head. When I talk about what I want to do I get some of the same reaction about starting smaller and learning that way but to me, it's about scale. I want to focus on the obstacles that are in the way of my goal and that goal is much like yours :)

@Steven Pike Welcome aboard and Welcome to Acadiana! Always good to have more Health Care Professionals in the area. There is a local BP meeting which will be great for you to attend. Here is the link https://www.meetup.com/BPACADIANA/

I would say it would be well worth it to take your agent to lunch and pick her brain. She makes her living on making connections and if she can't help you she will know someone who can. Just let her know you are interested in investing in real estate and you value her input on who would be the best to work with. If she is the one then she will tell you, and if not she should be more then willing to connect you with someone. 

I'm finding in my research (I'm new at this as well) that Real Estate is a Relationship business and building relationships seem to be one of the key tenents outside of the actual numbers that you have to focus on. 

Awesome News! Thanks Mindy and Thanks BP :)

@Sean Doherty Congrats on finding a place to consider. I am still looking myself. I am not a pro so anything I say may be wrong :)

I picked up in another thread that converting a basement may be against code in some areas. Not sure if it is in your area but maybe something you want to dig into a bit deeper. I hope for you that is not the case as it sounds like the sprinkler system will be enough of a pain. 

The other thing of note and I hope to hear from others but I think you can only use the 203K if you plan to reside in the property. If not, you may have to look at the HomeStyle FNMA loan instead. The HomeStyle loan does not require your residency in the property. 

Good luck and I hope this works out for you!

Welcome, @Brady Higginbotham . You should find all that you need and more here at BP. I have been to Roberts group a few times and have met some really nice folks. I think there is a REIA in BR that might interest you as well.

I wish you well in your investments! 

Google Search led me to one of Brandon's Webinars and I was on to BP from there.