All Forum Posts by: Josh Birrell

Hi Lauren, welcome to the world of real estate investing!  Im from West Kingston as well and a member of the RI real estate investors group.  I'm have a few rental properties in south county so I'm always down that way if you need anything.

Best of luck

Josh

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Warren.

Purchase price: $272,000
Cash invested: $40,000

Buy and hold 2-family in Warren,RI currently renting for $2500/mo

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Cash flow

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Found on RI MLS

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional Financing

How did you add value to the deal?

Updates and repairs

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Process went smoothly

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

No

Anu, I've never heard of them actually but if they're not very responsive to you I don't know how well they will handle inquiries from potential guests unless you plan on doing all that yourself. Airbnb seems to be king of the STR market right now for do it yourself vacation rental management and their platform is very user friendly. For me, it's worth the 10% fee Evolve takes for what they do and the time they save me.

hey @Anu Gunn., ive been using Evolve for about 5 years now and have been very happy with them. I think if you stay that route you'll find the property will quickly gain traction as positve reviews are posted. I know ive gotten many international travelers as well so their reach is pretty extensive.

Hey @Jeff S. thanks for taking the time to reply.  You know, it's funny, I went and looked at the property again yesterday and said to myself, how bad can it be?  I deal with people all the time and can make a historic property work, right?   But looking at your response and re-reading the others I now am laughing at my own arrogance.  With good deals pretty hard to come by right now I think I was looking at properties I wouldn't otherwise touch trying to force a deal rather than sticking to what I know works and doesn't work for me.  Thanks guys for the advice, much appreciated.

Hey @Matt Romano, congrats on getting in the game. I invest in RI as well and know the east bay well. Try Falcon Associates in Fall River, they handle RI as well, know investor tax issues and are inexpensive. 508-678- 3022. I'm in Barrington regularly so let me know if you have any questions or want to grab a coffee and talk shop.

Definitely sounds like you are undervaluing your rental.

I'm a police officer as well as a real estate investor and I've found there are several parallels. People are people and if you set out to treat them fairly, with respect and understanding, you can many times, though not always, get the same in return. Be honest and up front with people and most of the time they will respect and appreciate you for it. To me that is a relationship worth having.

Hey Rob, you're a brave man to hit Mt. Washington this time of year!  I own two condos in North Conway, one is a vacation rental and one a year-round.  Not sure what type of property you're looking for or what your end goal is but let me know if I can answer any specific questions you have.

Thanks @Andrew Johnson and @Sean Connolly for the input.   I kind of figured the historical preservation people could be a bit finicky but I wasn't aware they had that kind of legal authority over one's property.   Considering the price and cap for this property which are better than normal for the area I figure there has to be a headache somewhere and its likely with the historical committee.  I'll doing some more digging on the local level but thank you for the perspective, much appreciated!