All Forum Posts by: Jeff Sprunger

Ha, I have one that was built in 1904. 

a buddy's house was built in 1830 and it's beautiful. 

older homes are usually much better built, structurally at least.

factor in the re-plumb and re-wire, don't worry so much on the age of the home.

if you buy the package as a whole and finance it, won't your monthly payments be higher?  sure, once you sell the vacant lot, you could dump that money on the mortgage and increase the equity or use it to refinance the property to a new lower payment (hopefully). 

of use the money from the lot as another down payment, or save for reserves. 

2 foreclosures! 2007!

sell the land and roll the money into an existing apartment complex, 100+units.

using an online piti calculator: $260,000 purchase price, 5% for 30 years, $7600 annual taxes, $1000 insurance puts your monthly piti around $1750. No, its not a good deal. oh, and dont forget vacancy, management, capex, utilities, maintenace, misc...

how can can you jump from a $1300 rent estimate to $2000??? Really? you need to learn your market. get on every website that you can think of: realtor.com, trulia, zillow, craigslist, apartments.com, etc and search for similiar properties. search for similiar bedrooms, baths and square footage. drive an arwa at least a half mile circle around the property looking for "for rent" signs, call the number, get the details. call local property management companies and ask if they have any properties for rent in that area. what are they getting for rent. blah, blah, blah, etc,etc,etc...do your due diligence! know your market.

tales of a white trash landlord by dan brouilette; landlording on autopilot by mike butler; all of brandon turners books

love the FW market. i had 17 units back in early 2000s before joining the military. mine were all SFH and duplexes that cash flowes well. with all the colleges there, you may want to consider student rentals, where you rent out bedroom space. good luck.

stick to the "proven" model you've developed and know works.

When I look at a new area:

look at home many home are currently for sale.  types of homes: 4/3/2 bed, 2/1 baths, garages, sq footage, lot size/acreage, etc.  if you like metrics, build a spreadsheet.  mine is broken by bedroom, so I have different tabs for 4/3/2 bedrooms at the bottom.  filter till your hearts content.

I look at days on the market.  list price vs sale price.  school ratings.  crime. 

I drive areas to get a general feel for the neighborhood.  drive at all times of the day or night, the areas can really change at night. 

what business are near by.  are they easy to get to.  what other amenities are available?

what building projects are in the works? any new industry projected to be coming to the area? or leaving the area?

doesn't your firm have all the metrics it wants you to track and analyse?