All Forum Posts by: Matt J.

Lincoln Park, for sure. I know a couple of folks who are optimistic about Spirit Valley and Denfeld too. There are some cool projects getting started that could draw more people to the area like these ones. 

https://www.perfectduluthday.c...

https://www.duluthnewstribune....

Hi Renee, it's a place we're looking into, we don't own it yet. I tend to think the same as you; there would probably be quite a few people in the west metro who'd be interested. Air BnB is even more interesting, especially once we see things start to open up more. 

Would be great to chat sometime! 

 Yeah makes sense! It would be a 1 bedroom unit with a separate entrance so I don't think we'd have an issue. Thanks!

Twin Cities investors, was just curious if anyone's had luck leasing up 1-bedroom units in Minnetonka or the west metro in general. I wonder about a limited tenant base for this type of property but it's a big enough market that I think I'd be able to find someone for it. 

As others have said, Duluth is a great cash flowing market and the appreciation over the past few years has been pretty extreme. If you're doing a house hack, make sure you know which neighborhood you want to live in or neighborhoods. There's not much that's DANGEROUS dangerous up there, but it does vary quite a bit from neighborhood to neighborhood. There's some spots in the west end that are up and coming so that could be worth looking at. Others have mentioned Heirloom Property Management, which Mike Schraepfer owns. They're a great company; they manage my places up there. Any specific questions, happy to help! 

Brittany Kuschel is an awesome agent up there too in case you're looking for one. She gets it on the investment side and works hard for her clients. 

When analyzing a deal up front, I look for deals that do meet the 1% rule, and once I see it meets that and do a deeper dive, I strive for 15-20% CoC returns. Every market is different though, so you'll have to figure out which criteria matter to you and stick to it.

Really can't go wrong either way. Both qualify for "residential" financing, so better terms than you'd get with properties 5 units or over. The pros with the duplex are you have 2 units with essentially one set of "cap ex" features like your roof, heating system, etc. Also, if you have 1 vacancy, hopefully your other unit is occupied so you're still collecting some rent while you lease up the other. The cons are you have 2 units right on top of each other or right next to each other, so potential for tenant conflicts and 2 units to send you maintenance requests instead of 1 unit like you'd have with a single family. 

With single family, if you have 1 vacancy, you have no income. But, if you buy in a neighborhood with low vacancy rates you can be a little safer. Fewer maintenance calls hopefully, and the other thing that a lot of people don't consider is when you go to sell, you're able to sell to both retail buyers and investors. With duplexes or more, your market when you go to sell is a little more limited. 

Pros and cons to both, it really depends on what your goals are. 

@Matthew Drouin nicely done, sir! Very impressive! 

Got it, that makes sense. Even with that level of cashflow, I really don't think it's the best idea to put more into a property than what it will appraise for. As others have said, that leaves you with no exit strategy should something go terribly wrong. It's been my experience that there will always be at least 1 or 2 things that come up you didn't expect going into it, Murphy's law.  

You'll probably get this answer a lot, but it depends. I can't weigh in on the best time of year to buy property in Sarasota, but turnkey or rehab I can speak to. 

For your very first property, if you have enough cash saved up and not a lot of experience doing any rehab work, I think going turnkey is a totally fine way to go. 

To get started, determine your criteria. Are you looking for single family houses? Duplexes, triplexes, quads? Are you looking for 3 bedroom or 4 bedroom units? You get the idea. Then, get pre-approved by a couple of lenders. Next, go to a few agents, share your criteria with them and your pre-approval and start receiving properties to review. Also, start working with wholesalers and network with property managers to try to find deals that are off-market. 

If you're shorter on cash and have some background or at least a strong willingness to learn the rehab process, doing a rehab could be the better way to get started. In this case, determine your criteria first, just like you would for turnkey. Then, instead of conventional financing, look into hard money or construction loans through small banks and credit unions. Then you'll need to start vetting out contractors to work with around the same time you start working with agents to find deals for you. If you'r doing a rehab to start, driving for dollars makes a lot more sense than if you were goin to do turnkey. 

Best of luck!