All Forum Posts by: Kyle R.

In my opinion, it's easier to just add the water/sewer expense to rent. I cover water/sewer at my 80 unit and ended up dividing the bill among the units and labeled it as a rent increase. After that, I went through each unit and installed tamper proof aerators on all faucets, along with low flow shower heads. Within a month my water bill was cut by $1,500, which was nearly 50%. 

I wouldn't let financing stop you from trying to acquire a larger multi-family property for your first deal. My first multi-family purchase was an 80 unit and prior to that, I only had three condos. I financed the property via a commercial loan from one of the larger banks. My experience wasn't questioned and I was 24 at the time. As long as you have the capital to put 20% down and the property has a solid DSCR, financing shouldn't be an issue.

I don’t manage it, I outsourced it to a management company. However, I’m the only one with keys to open the coin boxes.

Thank you all for the input, I’m going to order a new Whirlpool washer and dryer.

Part of the reason collections could be low is that I do not have a quarter dispenser in the laundry room. Theft is a concern as the laundry room was broken into last year.

 Thanks for the note. As of now, I'm viewing the laundry room as an amenity. However, I'd like to optimize my income as the current collections are very low. It's a class C/D property, so I'm hesitant to pour too much money into machines as they'll be beat up.

Any recommendations as to manufacturers? So far I've found Speed Queen to be the best, and Whirlpool not far behind.

I acquired an 80 unit complex early last year that featured a coin operated laundry room. There's a total of ten machines, five washers and five dryers. One washer and dryer recently went out and is beyond repair. I was planning on replacing each, however, the laundry room generates only $100 each week. Based on the run price of $1.50 per cycle, the washer and dryer is run about 33 times each every week, or around 5 times a day. As a result, I'm leaning towards not replacing and just having 4 washers and 4 dryers. Thoughts? I feel like there should be more machines present, however, collections are low.

Providing you have access, the MLS would be my first choice. A family member listed their home for sale last month. They were contacted by a buyers agent and asked if they'd consider renting it for 6-12 months to a corporate relocation tenant. Market rent is $5k a month and they offered to pay the full term upfront. I could be wrong, but I feel most who are being relocated hire an agent to find rentals of interest. By default I'd imagine they search the MLS first.

Are you implying that legal hurdles don't exist when evicting commercial tenants and all leave the commercial property in the same condition it was rented? If so, there's quite a bit of naiveté in your statement.

Providing management screens properly, you nearly mitigate the risk of residential evictions. Don't forget, people will always need a place to sleep. However, the same is not true for a commercial storefront. Not sure about you, but I'd rather properly screen tenants than deal with disruptive change created by companies such as Amazon.

I second the 4 plex FHA route. Purchased my first unit at 19 and now have 81 doors at 24. My only regret is not starting off in multi-family.

For what it's worth, I budget 8% for CapEx and another 8% for routine maintenance. I acquired an 80 unit six months ago and haven't had any issues setting aside a total of 16%. However, the complex was built in the early 90's.