All Forum Posts by: Kelly Conrad

Thanks for the responses everyone! We're going to be passing on this property since as many of you mentioned, this may be a one way ticket to some serious pain. We're going to see if there are any single family homes in the same area that are cheaper that we could brrrr instead.

@Rich E. Thanks for the input! That's what I am hoping to hear. For you, how much reserves would you feel comfortable with before you took on a reno project?

@Amber Gonion They're currently month to month right now.

Hey everyone! So we are this close to putting in an offer on a up/down duplex in West St. Paul, but it definitely needs some work. We want to do BRRRR to get us moving, and we have to use our 18,800 from a HELOC for part of the down payment, and then we have another 10,000 private loan we can use for repairs. We're thinking of offering 152, and right now this neighborhood is becoming very popular, so this home could be worth close to 170 in a few years.

Right now 2B/1BA that are nice look to be listing at ~1300 in the area. The units are currently rented at 845 and 815 (which we just can't do, it has to be risen to matter what).

We're thinking if we focus on the lower unit and upgrade the kitchen to make it look nice and then paint some rooms, and then create some storage that can be rented in the basement on a monthly basis, that we could rent it in that 1300 area. The upper unit would likely just have a few "must fix" items and paint some spots that need it, and we'd probably try to rent it for 925.

We're thinking that we should be able to get a tenant fairly quick in the upper unit to at least have something coming in while we fix up the lower unit to get it looking nice.

I'm guessing that we may go over all of the cash and loan amounts we have available and may need to put a few grand on a credit card in order to get the lower unit looking really nice. My question is, does the ends justify the means? Since we have to use the entire 18,800 for part of the downpayment and then the other private loan for 10,000, are we owing too many people to make it worth it?

Cashflow for 1325 lower once renovated and rented & 925 for upper pretty much as-is would be ~370 Cashflow and 8.9% ROI. Once we get the upper unit fixed up, I'm guessing we can start at 1,125 (or go more, whatever), and at that point, we'd have ~580 in monthly cashflow and 11.62 ROI.

Sorry for the long text, I'm just worried that because we have to borrow money in order to get started, that we won't actually be making any money on the deal. I'm hoping someone has been here before and can lend some insight on what they would do in this situation.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for the input everyone! As much as we'd like to include a dishwasher, it looks like it may not be possible unless we completely re-configure the entire kitchen. We did consider a portable dishwasher as well, but we're worried that could just be beaten to death and wouldn't be worth the money to have it there.

 Hey Josh! Which picture are you referring you? I'm not sure we could really move the wall on either floor, as the fridge is against the outside wall of the home. But, maybe if you could clarify a little on what you mean, that would be awesome!

Thanks!

Hey everyone! I'm not sure if this is even possible, but if we purchase this property, we want to re-do the kitchens and update them. The problem, is that many deals for appliances come with a range, fridge, microwave, and...a dishwasher. Due to how these kitchens are set up and that if has to be connected to water....I'm not sure if we'll be able to. Maybe some creative thoughts not involving completely re-doing all of the water and gas lines?

What do you mean by changing the occupancy of the building? Like turning it into a SFH or adding another unit or something? Or do you mean changing building ownership?

Thanks for the response!!

Hello! The homes in our area are old (like 100 years old) and we had some questions on the stairs. It's been the same owner for 70 years, and they're looking to sell. There are two sets of stairways that I'm a little concerned about. 

The stairway above is very steep and the stairs are not very deep. Because of when the house was built, it's likely not up to code. To be fair, these stairs really have no reason to be used, since they connect to the downstairs unit, and there is a separate entryway to the top unit. We really don't have a way to fix them, would this be a liability for us?

The stairs above go into the basement and curl around to get downstairs. Again, I'm not sure how this can really be fixed in a really old home with very low ceilings (like 5'6 ceilings or a little lower) in the basement. Is this something the city will say it has to be fixed? Is that something that we could get into trouble with as landlords? There's no reason to go downstairs unless there was an emergency, but I don't know how that can be fixed with the home how it is.

I'm hoping some other folks here have some insight :)

@Deanna McCormick Thank you very much. Unfortunately, since our budget is fairly small a lot of North Minneapolis properties are coming up. But, like you said, even if we put work into some properties in that neighborhood, the value would never be worth it. I'm looking around St. Paul since it seems like we have a little more of a chance to build instant equity, but of course, many of those properties are also in Dayton's Bluff, Payne-Phalen, and South of Maryland which seem to be hot spots and a little rough as well.

@Account Closed Thanks for the insight, I don't know if the payoff would be worth it for us, not for how much comps are around the neighborhood.