All Forum Posts by: Michael Doherty

@Keron Castle Hi Keron, I guess where in Hartford is your 3 family. Are you in the north end, west end, south end or downtown? I ask because depending where would lead me to say Mid term rental (focus on travelnig nurses ect) or short term rental (Airbnb). If you are located in the south end or north end would get section 8 or a normal tenant (which you probably already have). If you are West end I would go Mid Term rental or airbnb. And if you are downtown I would go airbnb or mid term rental. 

I have an airbnb in Fairfield, Ct but I am targeting a completely different clientele. There is a pretty strong demand for mid term rentals in Hartford with Hartford Health Care, Hartford Hospital, Trinity ect ect. I recently sold a house in the West End and it had a traveling nurse in it.... owner got a great price because of the rental income he was getting. 

@Yoel Peyamipour Hartford, CT has a strong rental market and many tenants utilize housing vouchers of various programs. For example, I am selling a 6 unit (3br 1b) each unit and all the rents are $2,000 a month (3 of 6 are section 8) and tenants pay their own utilities. There is still good cash flowing assets out there you just have to know where to look. For CT I would consider: Hartford, Bristol, New Britain, Manchester, Meriden, Middletown. 

@Alex Molina definitely house hack. If I could re do it I would look to house hack a 3-4 unit and really take advantage of that 3.5% down opportunity (or any low down product available to first time home buyers). I only bought a 2 family and wish I had done 3-4 units. Keep in mind inventory is low in Hartford county and FHA loans/offers are not ideal for the seller (as opposed to conventional or cash) so you will have to be competitive in other ways when making offers. Let me know if I can be of any further help.

@Mckenzie Jean I am not aware of any banks allowing a HELOC on a non owner occupied investment property. What my partner and I have done to side step this is.... Key Bank allows a Business LOC for up to 50k. Not $50,001 but $50,0000. Anything 50k and under they don't require and proof of income, verification of assess ect. All you need to do is have an LLC, it may not even have to be active for over a year. You can say the business makes whatever you want and there is no verification. You are personally guaranteeing the return so they will ask for your social ect. My partner and I correctly have a few of these out right now (through multiple LLC's) and it's helped when we needed it. The rate is not fixed so right now we are paying around 13%.... its a short term fix so keep that in mind.

@Andrzej Lipski Hey Andrzej hope your well. I go to CTREI and many other investor meetups... I am sure we have spoke or met at some point. I am an investor friendly agent and may be able to help you. I also have a portfolio of my own strictly multi family and commercial property. I have a portfolio of C class and B class buildings, similar to what you may be looking for. 

My team and I do quite a bit of wholesaling as well and come across deals all the time. Lets connect outside of BP, I think I can help you reach that goal. My partner is also a commercial broker/hard money lender. 

I think Hartford is a fine area to invest in but just like any city, there are some areas/street you certainly want to avoid. I own a number of units throughout Hartford County both residential MF and Commercial. Hartford County in general is a great place to house your portfolio. The challenge with Hartford the city is high taxes and that is very top of mind as everyone's property was just reassessed this year. I would suggest you look into other area in Hartford County like Bristol, Manchester, New Britain and way the pros and cons of each area. 

@Greg Todrank As you become more comfortable in your investing journey, you will begin to realize that you do not need a formal inspection. Build relationships with trades people (HVAC, Contractor, plumber, electrician), bring 1 or 2 of them with you (if you can) and do a walk through that way. The only time I would get a formal inspection is if you plan to ask for some sort of seller credits or repairs as you can use the report as leverage. Without a formal report ect it will be hard to ask for anything in return. If it already seems like a good deal and you just want to get it under contract I wouldn't worry about a formal inspection and it WILL win you the deal over the next guy.

I structure my deals like this (if it is a good deal). I buy AS IS with a 10-20 day due diligence period. What it does is: tells the seller you are going to reserve the right to get an inspection do your DD but you are not going to come back to them and Nickle and dime them on little stuff. What you have just done is given yourself the right to back out should something unforeseen arise but also made your offer much stronger than the next guy. There is literally 0 risk in doing it like this. Many investors get caught up with the AS IS clause. It is irrelevant as long as you give your self a DD period. 

Now if you choose to waive that DD period all together (wouldn't recommend for larger properties) you still have a mortgage contingency you can use as an out. 

@Raymond Hill I am a local investor in the Hartford county market. I invest in New Britain primarily but am open to Hartford. I would specifically look to invest in the East, South or West end of Hartford. The North End can get a little rough and is closer to D class market. 

@Andrew Jambor I continue to invest in Ct (Hartford County) primarily. I think there is still good opportunity around here, I am also starting to see higher unit mix (12-30 units buildings) come to market. I agree with you though looking for markets that have better landlord/tenant laws. I have heard there is some pretty good opportunity on near the east coast of FL especially for air bnb purposes. Will probably be my next venture. 

@Matt S. I would only sell if you have or plan to identify a better asset to go into. Could be for a number of reasons. If you want to scale up and get more units under 1 roof. If you like Mobil home parts/self storage more now... if you want something closer to home or want to change markets all together. As many others have said, it's a sellers market, albeit rates are very low. 

I would not sell for the sake of selling. There are plenty of lenders who will do a cash out refinance. I am currently doing one now on my 5 unit building. Getting 75% LTV for 10 yr fixed 25 year amortization at 4.5%.