All Forum Posts by: Marc Rice

Hi all. I own a 3B/2.5Ba townhouse in Fremont, valued at $905k, with $690k left on a 30year fixed at 5.625%. For personal/family reasons, my wife and I need to move out of state sometime in the next 12 months.

I’m trying to figure out what to do with this property. We’d lose about 70k selling at appraisal value, and comps have rent at around $4300 which would be far short of cash flowing after maintenance & management costs.

Looking for creative ideas on how to execute this move as painlessly as possible. I have $200k cash to deploy in the process, but would prefer to use that for a down payment on a home in the place where we’re moving (similar VHCOL area.)

Hi I am looking for a new place to invest, I like multi family 2plex- 4 plex but would potentially do something bigger.   Currently have properties in Spokane,Wa, Caldwell, Id, Reno, NV, Little Rock, and Benton Arkansas.   The only place that seems logical at this point is Arkansas since the values have gone up so much in the other places.   Im looking for anywhere that I can get close to the 1% rule.   I am not as much interested in appreciation as I am cash flow.  Have 5-600k to spend and would like something to yield over 5000 a month.  Any ideas let me know thanks

Ian

@Marc Rice can you share with me please?

@Marc Rice The best Real Estate Agents have trusted contacts who can get inspection items taken care of. A true Investor friendly agent will have all of the contacts and likely use them on their own projects. I rely mostly on referrals from my agent and my contractor.

Hello, 

I’m new to real estate investing and was hoping some of you would share your thoughts on why it is better to invest in real estate over the stock market. 

So far, I’ve only invested in stocks and the idea of investing in real estate seems somewhat risky to me.

Does anyone have any experience using Poplar Homes as a property manager in the Dayton, Ohio area? What is your experience? What level of management did you select? Would you recommend them?

Folks, I was talking to a turnkey company to buy an investment property, and looking at a few properties. Their pro forma sheet doesn't take into account ANY vacancy or repairs when calculating cash flow, and the rent comps are...ambitious. 

1. The way their cash flow calculations are presented is IMO sketchy: while the form is not a spreadsheet, it is made to look like vacancy/repairs are included in cash flow calcs (stacked together with other numbers impacting cash flow, and right above the final cash flow amount) 

2. When asked about vacancy/repairs, their answer is: that's why why they separately have $5,000-10,000 as "account reserves" in their pro forma. Or "simply cost of doing business", they keep repeating - (an unprofitable business, it seems to me, but maybe I am just inexperienced?). Furthermore, they add something along the lines of "this property is working for you, cash flow is here to cover this type of stuff while the property is appreciating -- so what if you have that 5K HVAC unit replacement " (FYI, even when optimistically calculated, cash flow does NOT cover a 5K HVAC unit within the first few years) 

3. When asked why their properties don't cash flow in any rental calculator, the answer is: "people who use these rental calculators don't get the kind of deals we give you" 

4, Re rent comps...I looked at Zillow, and another tool, and if I simply rely on Zillow, rents are typically lower and there are properties in the same few blocks on the market for 40+ days. THe turnkey company's answer: our property mgmt company is doing daily complex algorithms and they have the best information here. My reply: "but these properties realistically are for rent, so your comps should not be that much off, correct?" No reply, just that their PM knows best. P,S. PM has bad reviews for the most part 


Am I crazy here? Should I at least see NEUTRAL cash flow if I account for vacancy and repairs (and am optimistically counting on this to appreciate)?...Not to mention that all their ROI calcs depend on cash flow of course so long term return calculations also fall apart.

I do want to give them benefit of the doubt but I also want your smart opinions. Thank you very much! 

Hello everyone, I am a new user on this platform and joined because I am interesting in investing in multifamily and connecting with experienced investors. I have been doing research for a couple months now and I feel a lot more educated than I did before. If anyone has advice or personal experiences they could share I would really appreciate it. I am still unsure of a location where I should buy, so any advice on that would be awesome too. 

I look forward to hearing your suggestions!