All Forum Posts by: Marissa Carroll

Welcome Robert! I'm also a new investor in the KC area. Glad to have you here and best of luck! 

@Bryce Moore I got a quote through USAA that seemed higher than what others were saying to expect as well. However, my family has had car insurance, and my parents their home insurance through them for decades and they're great to work with. I keep trying to remind myself that cheaper is not always better. The difficulty with insurance is that it's hard to know what you're really paying for until you make a claim. 

@Lee Ripma I've heard a lot of people mention Shelter as a cost effective insurer, but I hadn't looked into reviews yet. Would you mind elaborating on what you're not happy with?

I'm with you guys on this. I plan on owner occupying whatever I buy in KC, which throws another wrench in the equation. 

I keep trying to figure out how close to the top we are, but I think we may still have a ways to go. Being an architect, our jobs are usually the first to dry up before a downturn (and unfortunately, the last to come back in a recovery), and most firms are still hiring like crazy. The last time it looked like this was two years prior to the last crash. I do know that commercial retail developers are starting to have longer vacancies due to over supply.

All that to say, keep going! I figure the first one I buy may not be the best deal, but it's probably worth cutting my teeth before the next downturn when there's a lot more inventory. 

Just in general, you can type in the county name and GIS. Larger county GIS systems should have a ton of info. For example, Jackson county MO and Johnson county KS gis sites are incredibly informative.

This makes me feel a little better about having a hard time finding deals! :) Although it's not a surprise. I'm amazed at some properties I seeing getting multiple offers above asking. 

@Edward Stephens 

No worries Edward. There's no way I would take on something like this by myself, especiallly so far away. I figured if there was something legit there, I could bring it to an acquaintance I have who rehabs and if it was any good, play some part/learn from a partnership on the deal. It never hurts to double check. :)

@Lee Ripma - I do have an agent that I could go through. Since I can't find much data online as far as what the units could rent for, I figured I could call the complexes in the city and see what their prices are. When I look on rental sites, it shows only one vacancy in the town, which seems odd. 

@Andrew Syrios - You're right, I would definitely need more information on it. I'm trying to do some of it up front before trying to contact the seller. 

@Jeff Brower - I did have 10% property management in my estimate. I did realize today, however, that the interest rate I used on the loan was a residential and not commercial number, so that would go from 4.5% to... 8% or so? Thanks for the link to your analysis. I'll go through it in detail. 

@Gary Gummig- That's the one. I would certainly have my realtor involved before doing too much, but I too have been trying to figure out if it's a scam before bothering him. I have only been looking for a little over three months, but if it's been in there a year it probably is a scam. 

@Jeremy Paschedag - I don't have plans yet. It appears to be a complete gut and I think some of the units are just frames and have utilities run but aren't complete. Theoretically, they could be what they need to be.

Thank you all for your help! There's certainly a lot of valuable information on this forum. 

Welcome to BP! Congrats on your purchase. 

As for materials, if you have a construction background, you might see if you can get a specifiers/contractors discount at some places. I know sherwin williams and a few tile companies offer this if you're with a firm or company engaged in construction.

Best wishes!

I'm a new investor... so new that I have never purchased a property and still rent myself, so apologies if I require a bit of over explaining. Any help would be appreciated in evaluating the following situation.

I live in Kansas City. There has been a property available in a small town in Missouri, and hour and a half away from me, for sometime. It's an old, historic exterior 6 plex. From what I can tell, at least have of the units are renovated and are absolutely beautiful. They would go for a fortune where I live. The property is for purchase for $170,000. I don't know much about the town, but this is what I've been able to find.

The total population is between 9-10K. Approximately 35% of the town rents. The average income is low- 30K. The growth is stagnant. There are a lot of homes for sale listed right now that have been on the market for several months. However, when I try to find rentals, I only find one available unit in the town. The "average rental data" in the town on data I can find is, I'm assuming, based on this one, 1 bd 1 ba unit.... $550. So, I could use this number times 6 large units for a yearly gross of $39,600. My total expense I'm showing based on the data I have is $29,462.

What am I missing? The pictures I've seen of the exterior and the unit(s) are gorgeous, and it seems like a ridiculous deal. It is in the "downtown" which is rundown. "Downtown" is in quotes because that's how small this town is. :) It's also been on the market for awhile. Tthe town is small and has little commerce. I've factored a vacancy of 15%. My capex is 10% and repairs 8%, since the units are mostly new and have all new appliances.

Once other thing. The seller mentions they will be taking a loss since they've clearly put a lot of money into rehabbing and restoring it. I can't figure out why they would be selling it at all. Any insights or similar encounters?

Thank you all!

Welcome @Clint Looper! Good luck on your journey. I'm starting out as well. We'll have to connect as we learn.