All Forum Posts by: Matthew Dennehy

A good property manager will handle everything for you so that you are hands off.  Your job is really just communicating with your pm about how you want be be involved.  You will be able to make decisions in key areas and have them implement those decisions.  Just give them some guidance, check in with them once in a while, and review the monthly reports, and it should be really easy.

Check with your favorite neighborhood realtor!

That's great Ryan!

Keller Williams is a great company and lots of market share. There’s a lot of training for new agents, and a lot of opportunity for growth. I was with the KW Metro office out of Bedford until I got my brokers license and became independent. They were great.  I left, and started my own brokerage, because my clients needed more flexibility and I’ve never looked back!

Redfin is a completely different model and they don’t have a large market share in our market. I will let someone else speak about them as a company, since I don’t have any first-hand experience, just caution you to thoroughly investigate before you consider that as an option. 

Congrats, that’s great!

Hi @Becky Marsh your biggest consideration is probably going to be price range.  You might find you NH has lower initial costs, and slightly better cash flow rates.  If you want more convenience, that might put you more solidly in MA since you work in Boston.  The first step is definitely to get a solid lender on your team.  If you like, I can put you in touch with our go to lender for owner occupied properties; he's in the top 1% of loan originators and makes you a stronger Buyer.  Send me a message if you're interested in an intro.

@Jason Regan to build on what Evan said, the NH cities are where the multi family properties are predominantly located: Concord, Manchester, Nashua, Rochester, Somersworth, Portsmouth, Milford, Goffstown, Keene; and some places north of Concord.  Use caution if you go too far North of Concord, there can be some good investments, but also some very bad ones.  Generally your best cash flow will come from Manchester and Rochester, but with a tenant class that needs extra management.  Concord is a great market, and is increasing in price because everyone wants to be there.  My recommendation is also get a pre-approval to see what you can afford, then define your investing goals, then pick your sub-market.

Melissa that is a very common ceiling imperfection in NH. New England I general has a lot of old housing, so it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Most people maintain them in place, or cover with ceiling tiles, until the point where it makes sense to replace with drywall, if ever. 

As far as leaks, a moisture meter will tell you if it’s an active leak. Alternatively, my go to home inspector uses a FLIR thermal camera on every inspection and can tell a lot about what’s happening in the walls. 

Hopefully that helps. 

Hi Bill, I'm sorry you're not having a great experience.  MA has their own way of doing things, so I've seen some minor challenges with MA closing attorneys, but nothing that hasn't been easily rectified.

As to your question about buyer default, it certainly sounds like they could be out of contract; however, that greatly depends on the wording of the Purchase and Sales (I'm guessing your using an attorney provided contract) and the order in which addendums were signed.  Moreover, it can be common for title issues to result in an up to 30 day delay, for the Seller to rectify, in order to transfer clear title.  Your own attorney should be able to easily interpret the terms of your Purchase and Sales and advise you on the need to clear up any title issues.  I would certainly have your attorney reach out to the closing attorney directly.  It's always important to have someone in your corner to safeguard your interests.

And though it may be frustrating, it is important to keep the end goal in mind.  Even though you don't need to sell, you started the process for a reason, so keep that reason in mind as you continue forward.  Real estate transactions aren't all easy, this is just part of the process. 

Rochester is no Portsmouth, and that’s why the numbers still work. Lots of great opportunity there and lots of working great tenants who need housing. Some areas are slightly nicer than others, though nothing that  should really drive a purchase decision. At the end of the day, how you manage the property will have the biggest impact on the quality of your investment. 

It will be governed by the terms of the lease. I have seen leases that allow either party to break the lease with 60 days notice, and I have seen leases that offer no pre-determined termination option. It’s best to get a copy of the lease and find out  

Your best bet is to work with an agent the understands multis and will represent you. As a benefit, most of the time the seller pays your agent so it’s free!