All Forum Posts by: Jody Schnurrenberger

I know nothing about them, but my posting should bump this to the top again and give it another run through.  My only advice is to get a real estate agent that knows the area.  Good luck!

I don't know anything about the area, but as a fellow newbie, I wanted to try to help.  I only do buy and hold, but if you're interested in flipping, I recently saw comments on 2 books that looked really good.  J Scott's "The Book on Flipping Houses" and "The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs."  Also, though it's heavy in math, so I'll never read it, Frank Gallinelli's "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know..." (long title I can't recall all of, but you can find it on Amazon).  I'd also recommend finding an agent in that area since it seems you don't know the area well.  

Good luck!

Okay, I do NOT do this for everyone, but no one was answering you and we're both newbies, plus I need the practice, so I put your property into the BP Rental Property calculator and in my opinion, it's not great. The numbers I was told you want are a MINIMUM of $100 per unit (though most folks say that's way too low for a SFH or even duplex-quadplex) and at least 12% cash on cash ROI. The calculator says your cash flow would be $129/month (not great, but depending on your goals, not too bad) but your cash on cash is only 7%. I think there are better deals out there, but that's just my opinion. Also, I had to make some assumptions, like your closing costs will only be $3k and you will only put away 5% of your income for repairs and another 5% for big ticket items and you will only have 5% vacancy rate. 10% is probably a smarter choice. Any of those could be off from what you plan or what really happens.

Good luck!

@Steve Vaughan thanks and thank you for YOUR service!  :-D

That's a BEAUTIFUL home!  I'd want to live there!  :-)

I'm not from Portland, nor do I rehab, so I can only offer a little advice, but no one else had answered you, so I thought I would. 

Use the tools on here to determine what is a good buy. They have one specifically for BRRRR. I haven't looked at it, but I've seen some webinars on the Property Rental one that say you want AT LEAST $100 per unit for cash flow (and many people say you want a lot more than that) and you want at least 12% for cash on cash. Check out the BRRRR tool and see what others recommend for numbers to look for.

Also, I recently saw a recommendation for 2 books by J. Scott.  (He wasn't the one recommending them.  lol  And they are doing well on Amazon, so I think it's legit.)  They are "The Book on Flipping Houses" and "The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs."  

Good luck!

I'd recommend using the BP tools to help calculate that and if you should buy.  (The rule of thumb I've been seeing is minimum $100 per unit cash flow and at least 12% cash on cash...just so you know what to look for to decide if it's a good deal.)  They are pretty comprehensive and include things we might not think of like insurance and taxes (which I don't see included here).  Your cash flow of $60 doesn't leave a lot of margin for error.  To be safe, I think you should use the tool.  Good luck!

Did you run it through the BP tool to get those numbers?  They said one of the biggest mistakes people make is leaving out stuff and their tool seems pretty comprehensive.  If you ran it through theirs to get those numbers (and didn't leave out numbers you didn't know), then it looks good to me, but then again, I have a financial manager to make my final decisions for me.  lol  I'm not the BEST person to ask, but I saw no one else was answering, so I thought I would.

Good luck!

I'm interested in this as well.  It hasn't come up yet as I usually buy vacant, but thanks to another BP member, I'm looking more closely at distressed sellers and the deals I can get there.  Thanks for posting.  :-)

Do you NEED a washer and dryer?  Do you even NEED a microwave?  I have 2 sets of duplexes and both my financial advisor and property managers recommend that as the washers and dryers break, I not replace them.  They said since a duplex is basically like a small home and most of the folks I'm renting to are couples or families, they usually already have a washer and dryer.  In fact, the PM said some people have even put their washer and dryer in storage while renting my place.  

As for a microwave, I've rented plenty of places that didn't have them, both as a landlord and as a renter.  (None of my duplexes come with a microwave and they stay rented.)  They are pretty cheap.  I think most folks already have one or are willing to go buy one.  I don't see that as a deal breaker for a renter.  That's just my 2 cents. 

As for where to buy stuff, another post was saying a lot of folks go to Lowe's and Home Depot.  Also, I think they both give discounts if you're a veteran...or know one willing to buy for you.  Also, Black Friday is coming up if you can hold on that long.  There is also Craigslist, with the understanding that they may not match and as used, they may not last as long.

Oh, and I don't know if you have a choice, but people are also saying to go with electric over gas stoves as there are more chances of accidents and some renters just don't know how to use gas.

Good luck!