All Forum Posts by: Joe Santiago

@Kiara Washington - I tired to do the same thing for my 4 unit and was unsuccessful. All of the banks told me up to 2 units just like @Harjeet Bhatti said. doesn't hurt to keep trying and asking. Let me know if it works out. 

My numbers are very similar to @John Warren  my property is also in the suburbs. 4 units. 

$15-$20/month common electric

Around $250/month water/sewer/trash

$40-$60/month common gas (water heater)

Taxes are online for everyone to see. Look up the properties closest to the subject property to figure out what your taxes will look like. 

I agree with @Kenneth Garrett, go with a charcoal filter and save yourself the hassle. They sell conversion kits that will work perfectly for you. Also you'll save some money upfront. You do have to replace them  periodically.  

I have a 4 unit in Dupage county. I pay about 150/m for water/sewer/trash. Units are 2 bed 1 bath 850sqft. I also pay for heated water for all 4 units and that gas bill is around $50/m. So I pay about $200/m in utilities. I split the gas lines to their individual furnaces in order to bill the tenants directly for their gas usage and I know they pay around $50 for their gas. So if you were going to pay water/sewer/trash/gas for the whole building,you could probably estimate around +$400/m. I don't know how much of a difference cook county is than Dupage when it comes to utilities but I would assume its in the same ball park. It also depends on what type of heating system you have. It seems like you have a 1 central system that feeds all the units so you're heating price might be different. I have 4 separate furnaces and one central hot water tank. Let me know if that makes sense. I apologize for a any typing/grammatical errors, I am responding from a cell phone. 

1. Personally I would stay away from a 1 br apt, your narrowing your renter pool. 

2. You must account for your expenses both fixed and variable. Example utilities, repairs, reserves, include management fee even tho your doing it yourself, vacancy, etc. 

3. Hammer down on the actual numbers. Both expenses and income. You state the rents range from 1100-1300 which is a big range. Run your numbers with worse case scenario. Check out rentometer .com and craigslist to find rental comps. 

4. IMO I wouldn't be worrying about LLC structure with 1 rental. When you are ready you should be asking your attorney.

Let's look at some rough numbers: 

Income 1100/month

Mortgage 900/m

Gross 200/m

Now let's take $200/m and subtract expenses....

8% vacancy $88/m

5% reserves $55/m

10% management $110/m

5% repairs $55/m

Already your at a monthly cash flow of -$108 and I left out more expenses because I don't know the specifics of the deal. Make sure you run your deal through the forums before pulling the trigger. Keeping learning and listen to the podcast. You are in the right track, just practice running the numbers on properties. Before I bought my first property I ran the numbers on EVERY single deal on the MLS that was in the areas that I was interested for 6 months.

I apologize for any typos or grammatical errors as I am responding from my mobile device. 

Call a bunch of companies and go with who gives you the best quote and coverage.  Compare apples to apples when comparing your coverage. FYI I use State Farm. 

Love the goals and the planning. 

I was in the same boat as you last year. I am 24 and I recently purchased my first investment property, 4 unit using a 203k loan in the burbs.

 I wouldn't count on receiving any grant money for being a first time home buyer with a multi family property. I asked a couple lenders if there were those types of programs and was told that none can be applied to a multi family building. 

If I were you I would be calling lenders right now and get pre approved or see what you need to do inorder to be approved. Most likely they will want more in savings, but some lenders can get creative. 

Please send me details. Thanks

Yes it is considered joint venture. Make sure you  get a contract with the wholesaler that allows you to do so otherwise it would be illegal advertising others deals and receiving money. Good luck!