All Forum Posts by: Jennifer T.

Anyone know which management company this user was talking about? I tried googling and the articles don't mention the company at all. Please link me the article if you don't want to directly name the company here...

Hi all,

Just looking for general wisdom on how to renovate a MFH with tenants living in it. Some tenants will probably be evicted due to poor payment history and also the unsafe state of the unit. But most of the building will be occupied.

- Each of the units are unique (it's a monster house, with two additions and also a detached building). 

- Both the exterior and interior need extensive repair and reno, probably full gut rehab for most units.

- The electricals will need to be separated and individually metered - is it possible to run new lines separately while gutting each unit one by one?  

Thank you for your time!

Hi all,

I'm working on a deal to buy a 17-unit apartment building.

However, nothing is separated by the unit and currently the landlord pays everything. As a result, utilities eat up about 30% of gross rental income each year (and will probably go up a lot more this year). This makes the current deal very unattractive, but I think there is an opportunity here to greatly decrease expenses.

I'm looking for ideas on how to separate utilities so each unit can pay for their own utilities.

Water is charged a flat fee by the city (weird I know) so that can be just divided equally between units.

Heating of the water (gas) - all comes out of the same water tanks, how difficult would it be to separate them by the unit?

Electricity & heating - baseboard heating. How can I split this up? Has anyone done submetering before?

I will be renovating each unit so there will be work done on all units.

Is there an opportunity here? Please share your thoughts and thank you very much!
  

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for ways to find funding for my next BRRRR deal.

Currently, I have a piece of land, as well as a separate SFH, that are both fully paid for, and are worth quite a bit. I'd like to pull some equity out of either, or both, to fund my next deal.

I know I can probably get a HELOC on the house, but can I get a HELOC (or something similar) for the vacant land (it's in a city and has utilities hooked up) as well? I don't want to sell either at this point, but would like to make use of the money just sitting in them...

Also should be mentioned that I have no verifiable/proof of income. 

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone,

I have successfully BRRRR'd in the US and now have found some opportunities in Canada.

Since I have no employment income, and very little investment income (as I have just started the BRRRR process), I relied on hard money lenders to purchase, and then DSCR/asset-based/no-doc lenders to refinance. This was very easy to do in US as there were an abundant of options.

However it doesn't seem to be this easy in Canada. I have reached out to mortgage brokers that work with investors, and was told that there are only short-term bridge loans available (for 6 months - a year). There are no private/alternative lending options available for a longer term-loan (like 10-30 years). 

I can get past the first stage and find the cash for purchase and rehab, but since the BRRRR strategy relies heavily on refinance to get the money back out, how can I do this in Canada without a conventional mortgage?

I would very much appreciate any sharing of ideas or experiences! 

Thank you in advance. 

Unfortunately it's a one bedroom apartment so if that's classified as a closet then it would become a studio.. 

Is there any exceptions for one bedroom apartments? I remember viewing some high-rise condos in Philly where each 1bdrm unit had a long narrow layout, which meant that only living room had windows and not the bedroom...

Hi all,

I'm about to be under contract for a MFH when I suddenly realized that the bedroom in one of the ground floor units doesn't have a window (my fault as there was a tenant living there so I rushed through the viewing). All of the walls are adjacent to/shared by the neighbors so I can't put a window in. This is a row home in Philly. 

Do all bedrooms (even in old houses) need to have a window to be considered a bedroom? Any work arounds? The deal is very good so I'd like to try and make it work!

Thank you in advance!

Hi all,

I'm analyzing this deal in Philly that is a 5 unit home not legally zoned. It's a SFH that's been divided and rented out as separate units. I'm thinking of using a lawyer to apply for zoning/use variance but I'm not sure whether to keep it as a 5 unit house or combine 2 of the units, or convert basement into laundry + storage rental and make it 4 units.

Price-wise it's a really good deal. As a 5 unit commercial unit, if I multiply the income by the Gross Rent Multiplier (~8) then there is a ton of upfront equity. If it's a 4 unit multi family then it's hard to say as there are basically no comps. (If I take the difference of a triplex vs a duplex nearby and take it up to 5 units then it's still a great deal).

My biggest concern is what my exit plan would be. I want to get it zoned legally and put in seperate meters and do a cash-out refi. Will it be easier to do this as a commercial 5 unit or as a MFH? 

Other relevant info: I will be purchasing this under a LLC. I have great credit score. Very little recent income to show but enough asset to cover this purchase + reserves.

I also want to get a small mortgage (maybe about 30% of the total cost) to finance the purchase. Is it possible to do this even if I have little income, but the numbers make sense? If it helps there are tenants on lease that comes with the building. 

Your input is much appreciated!

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. It really put things in perspective for me. After thinking it over, I've decided that taking on two squatters in the hopes of getting around 10k off the purchase price is not worth the risk for me, especially given that it'll be my first flip. 

My wholesaler has actually been very good at communicating throughout this whole thing. I ended up offering him the solution that I will pay the same initial sales price of 120k, on the condition that he gets the squatters out before settlement date by offering them cash for keys at his own expense, and that the property doesn't have additional damage. That way, we will find out if we can quickly get rid of the squatters out before I get stuck with the house. There would be no sale if they don't accept the cash and move out within a few weeks. He would also earn a higher commission than if I agreed to take the squatters for 110k because the C4K offer will be way less than 10k. He likes the plan so we will see what the sellers say. 

Furthermore, thank you for telling me that it's not a good deal as a BRRRR, which prompted me to look further into the math (and redoing it with much more conservative numbers), and now I do feel like it's better as a flip. (Both options seem viable in the area). I don't think I will make a huge chunk of profit after accounting for all expenses but I will definitely make some money to make it worth my time, not to mention getting an incredible learning experience. I really had my mind set on holding it for cashflow so I really appreciate everyone opening my eyes up to being flexible.

They (2 brothers) stopped paying only 2 months into their 1 year lease. Apparently one guy packed up and left when he was told that the house was being sold, the other guy stayed cuz he heard about the eviction moratorium. Then the first guy saw his brother staying and he came back too. Can probably safely say that they dont have much asset/credit to worry about

  I'm just really hoping/gambling that I can just avoid the eviction route and get them out with cash offer