All Forum Posts by: Michael Vittorio

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $250,000
Cash invested: $60,000

Live In House hack with a hint of BRRR. I was able to buy this property during the early stages of the pandemic and before the run up in the market. I was blessed to be able to take advantage of teleworking and work on my side of the duplex while home. I put about a whole year of sweat equity into the property and developed it into a high renting side. I will eventually renovate the other side when the long term tenant moves out.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I have wanted a duplex for a long time. I found the right one off market and I was able to close on the deal!

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I have been looking for an investment property for almost 2 years. My realtor called me on my birthday and mentioned a property came back on the market THAT DAY. She said I had to see it today, so I did and we put an offer the same day.

How did you finance this deal?

This was financed via conventional loan.

How did you add value to the deal?

I completely flipped one side of the property. I put in new floors, repainted the walls, redid the bathrooms and cleaned up the exterior. I also put in a new fence.

What was the outcome?

I still have the property and it is cash flowing nicely!

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I loved every second of it! Lessons learned:

- I really enjoy flipping a house with my own hands
- I now know how to eradicate certain pests inside a property
- I have gained an incredible amount of knowledge on inspecting a property to make sure it is a sound home

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I had a fantastic realtor. Charlen Wales based in the Hampton Roads, VA area. She stuck with me through the end and was always very attentive! I didn't deserve her but she was always there!!

Whats up everyone! I am putting together a group of millennial investors in the Hampton Roads area who want to get together and talk shop about investing, financing, and everything else. We have a growing Facebook group that is great for organizing meetings and networking. We come from all backgrounds and areas of expertise. Some have little to no experience in real estate while others have multiple deals under their belts. We've met a couple times before, usually Hanks Filling Station on Colley but plan on expanding out. The idea here is to use the group to bounce ideas off each other and build our network. 

If your newer to the real estate game and are interested in meeting like minded people then shoot me a PM and Colleague Request and I'll invite you to the group! 

@Nick Love You stole my idea! But this is great, would like to connect and hear more. 

Hey BP,

I am looking for an active investor in the Hampton Roads/Norfolk, VA area who has had success with flipping houses and would not mind helping a newbie. I am interested in partnering with and funding a deal with you and going through the steps so I can learn more about the market and the whole process. If you are interested in partnering I can bring funds and plenty of hustle (I currently have an active direct mailing campaign in the Norfolk/Portsmouth Area). Shoot me a PM and lets make a deal!

@Mike Kehoe Hey, Mike, welcome to the area! I am getting started investing in the area this year. If you wanna meetup and talk shop send me a message. There's a lot of good breweries in the area we can meet at.

Mike V

@Account Closed example of one house from Zillow:

9/13  Sold  $54k

11/13 Listed for Sale  $249k

8/14 Sold $249k

7/17 Listing removed $165k

This tells me that it was a flip which was successfully sold (after 10 months) then the next owner foreclosed on it. Would you conclude the same? Is $165k the amount that Zillow estimates for foreclusure auction or the price of the house right before the listing was removed due to foreclosure? 

Could you also further explain what you mean by "two years is about the peak time for foreclosures"? Do they become upside down simply because they could not afford the house in the first place, hence the low down payment?

When doing some research to better understand my local market, I noticed a concerning trend. Houses that were renovated no more than  a couple years ago are foreclosed on. Thoughts? What does this say about the market? How can I dig deeper and understand more? 

@Christopher Lightner What would you consider a small fund? I would always want some cash on hand for planned CAPEX, however in my case I was not planning on having an extra $8000. Maybe more like $3000 which could cover necessary maintenance. I have also been fortunate enough to secure a decent amount of credit on several credit cards - desperate measure of course.

I would definitely be interested in grabbing a beer sometime. Saturdays work best for me

Question here: Is it typical to find variation within a city where the Rental Income to House Price ratio differs significantly? For instance say there are two houses on opposite ends of a city that are both $250k. One area's average rent is $1000 and the other's is $1300 for comparable houses. Let's further say that both houses are right at about the quality you would expect for the area and are livable. Is this ever seen? Would there be a reason that rent is higher in proportion to the sale price? 

One of my thoughts would be that it is an area where there is a high likelihood of a renter's employment changing locations (i.e military) so maybe a premium can be put on rent since someone only in the area for 9 months would not want to buy. 

I am not saying I have seen this personally, just wondering if this occurs.  

Hey @Matt Connolly, I am also new to real estate investing in the Norfolk area. I have been doing a lot of research but would rather get out on the streets and start assessing deals/making offers. Even if you don't buy, it is good experience. If you and anyone else on this forum want to go out for some drinks and bounce ideas off each other I'm all for it!

P.S. I am also a civilian engineer working for the Navy. I'm at Naval Station Norfolk. Which one are you at?