All Forum Posts by: Nathan Waters

I'm familiar with the area.  We have over 30 rentals in that neighborhood. We are also considering liquidating to move into other investments.  Not waiting for an 08 type correction but looking to sell a turn key operation and start again acquiring value add opportunities. 

Hi @Turquoise, I live in St Joe and have about 25 units in Benton Harbor. It's a tough area to invest in if you are not here. The margins are typically pretty low with debts here lower than those in Illinois. I also own 1 rental in Joliet Illinois but had more when I used to live there. So I'm familiar with both areas. I don't check BP very often anymore but feel free to reach out with any questions. I also run a local investor group in southwest Michigan. You can search us on Facebook, SWMI REI. It's free to join and ask questions. Good luck.

I had a pro membership for a few years and I kind of lost touch with BP for a while. I was just now looking into renewing the membership just for the purpose of using the calculators and I got sticker shock. I used to pay about $250 a year and now its over $400. Not worth it to me. I liked the deal analysis tools but I can get by with spreadsheets for what I need. 

I have tried to buy a haunted house in the past without much success. My recent purchase of 9 units included a 4 unit that is haunted by a woman that over dosed a few years ago. This is according to the tenants that have lived there a few months. The death occurred over 5 years ago. I haven't spent enough time in the house to experience anything out of the ordinary, but I will say, the tenants in this house are some of the strangest people I have ever met. Don't know if it is related to the Aura of the house. 

Is the deal an off market? I'm familiar with Joliet. You'll have ghetto problems there but could be worth it. Depends on your strategy. I like the war zone properties though so I'm bias.

Investment Info:

Large multi-family (5+ units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $179,000
Cash invested: $9,500

9 units, 5 properties in a portfolio deal. Most big items have been recently renovated including roofs, furnaces, water heaters etc.

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

Obtaining 5 houses in one transaction while using equity in a home I already owned to cover the majority of the down payment. Not bad, under 10K down for 9 units that cash flow even on an aggressive 10 year note.

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

Through a real estate meetup group. Networking with other investors.

How did you finance this deal?

Cash out refinance on another property to cover majority of down payment. Portfolio loan from a local bank through the commercial lending department.

How did you add value to the deal?

Haven't yet. But I will be slowly raising rents over the next 24 months on the units that haven't been increased in a while.

What was the outcome?

More than doubled the units we own plus opened the door for more deals through networking. we are now under contract for 15 more units through networking. Should be closing on them over the next 2 months.

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

Just a commercial lender and other investors.

@Levi Rudder

Unfortunately there are only 3 title companies where I live. I didn't choose this one, the sellers agent did. Since they now seem willing to learn the ins and outs and are in contact with the 401k group, I'm hoping the process will go smoothly next time. We all gotta learn sometime and if they're learning with me, I'm ok with that.

@Brian Eastman & @Keri Middaugh

Since posting this, my 401K custodian reached out to me before I even had a chance to call him. He happened to see the thread on BP and called me this morning. So awesome customer service. My point of contact at the title company has been doing this for over 20 years and never encountered this situation. Once I explained that I am not putting it in my LLC and that its not illegal, they pretty much came around. I got them in contact with my 401K custodian. I'll provide updates as they are available. Its pushing the closing by a couple of days which is not a big deal to me. I'm mostly concerned that it is done correctly. For anyone else following, Discount Solo 401K is the company I went with for my self directed 401K. They were pretty responsive from the beginning in answering my questions and I would recommend them. No complaints about their service.

I am under contract for a duplex with a closing in a couple days. Title company contacted me today to tell me that I can't buy the house in my 401k Trust and that I need to do so in my LLC. I gave them all the docs for my self directed 401K. I can't help but think this is on account of inexperience on the title companies part. I am however doing this for the first time so maybe I'm F--king something up. All my houses that I've bought in the past are in my name or the LLC. Any help? I live in Michigan state if that makes a difference.

 I haven't checked this thread for quite a while. Not sure anyone else is checking it but the group does meet up once a month. They primarily use facebook to get the word out. @Aaron Mikottis is the ring leader. Look him up on facebook and you should be able to find the next meeting. Good luck.