All Forum Posts by: Niko Molina

I found out more about that flood. Apparently thats the first time it's ever flooded like that in the past 15 years or so.

If I bought this little mobile home for <$1,500 ($1,500 is asking) and lived in it for a little while just to have a place of my own (dreading living with others) and did just a little bit of work to it that would increase it's value, I could rent it out once I'm ready to enter the MFU investing world using creative finance. Trailers here rent for $300-$550/month. Landlord pays sewage/garbage. I mean within a year I could practically make the money back and then more while it stays rented. Could even sell it once it rented over time equivalent of the amount of money I bought it for and put into it.

Edit: To the above poster, I don't really have a family. I mean it's just myself and my girlfriend lol.

I've wanted to get into MFU investing using creative finance, however life has essentially happened and I need to get a place of my own quick. There is a cheap trailer available for an asking of $1,500 where all conditions are livable (apparently) and the only work that needs done is cosmetic. Has a car port and a shed. 

If I buy it, I'm going to do some small cos work to fit my own living needs/wants because I'll be living in it for about a year, year and a half or so. Lot rent runs at $195. Cheap living. No central air - will be using window AC units. It's a 3BR but my old lady and I are the only ones who will be living in it. The park has flooding issues because my mother lives in the same park and when it has rained heavily, 2-feet of water is sitting under her trailer. However, THIS trailer I'm looking at buying is further away, so the flood height will be lower… perhaps 1 foot. Maybe even 6". I'm going to talk to the neighbors and ask how high the water gets on that road the trailer is on. 

What are upgrades done to a mobile home that add value to it? Once I'm ready to use an FHA on a MFU I'm either going to sell this trailer and use the lump sum as a down payment or rent it out.

Meeting with the owner/seller tomorrow at 10am and will post more info once I find out more about it.

Relevant to me... this is essentially the plan I'd like to do for starting out.

FHA a MFU -> re-fi or find a way to rid the 'FHA' loan -> use FHA again on second MFU

Will add to my list of books-to-purchase! Appears to be a solid read. Thanks for sharing man!

Make sure you're very familiar with your state and local laws. Some places have been getting a bit tricky for AirBnB the last I heard. I ran into a guy that was doing it while I 'CouchSurfed' at his place in Nasvhille. He had 3 people from France staying over for $50.

They got beds and couches - I got a sleeping bag laid over memory foam :)

The two above me covered some things I was initially going to say upon entering this thread, so there is no need to repeat what has been said. However, I'll link you to some books and such that will help you out with your search for education in multi-families.

You can not go wrong with anything found here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/store

Look for specific blog titles about multi-families/multi-units. They can be found in pretty much any sub-category whether it's Finance, Landlording, Starting out, Property Management, etc.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/

Another good site I use is from one of our very own BP members. Ben always posts good articles on his blog. Not always about multi-family, but it's solid information that helps everywhere in REI. Can't go wrong by stopping by here and seeing what Ben has been saying! https://justaskbenwhy.com/blog/

This thread is extremely relevant to me. The town I'm from is Lima, OH and it's roughly 30,000-40,000 people and has three colleges in-town. Also has a private college 15 minutes east in a much smaller town and a college 15 minutes north, also in a smaller town.

I think it simply boils down to renting out to anyone else - you're either going to get some college kids that treat the property well or you're going to get some throwing keggers and playing beer pong in every room and getting rowdy on the weekends. Hell, one of your rentals might be the party spot for the night and be open to 60 kids in their late teens-early 20's. I'm friends with a lot of the college kids with me being 22 and I've been to plenty of house parties - some with upwards of 100+ people and I can only imagine if that place was a rental, what the landlord goes through.

A lot of times, parents will pay for their kid's rent expenses, so receiving the money shouldn't be a problem. These kids have loans and grants and such to help them even if their parents don't chip in all the way. They all share the utilities and should be pretty good about each of them throwing in to cover expenses.

What I would do, as @Jonathan Newsome stated, is try to rent in a unit that would attract more mature students, if you will. Higher price tag, higher quality unit, higher quality tenant. (fingers crossed)

Great way to get started! It's actually the route I'm going to be heading down. It's recommended by plenty of REI gurus as a beginner's first steps. FHA to house-hack a multi!

Perhaps you may be able to connect to someone on here! BP is quite big and you've got people just starting out to people at the top of the game. BP is quite the networking tool. ;)

Do you carry around a laptop such as a Macbook? An electronic pad such as an iPad? Do you write down your information in a notebook and then enter it on a desktop at home? Or do you keep it old school and just use a pen and notebooks?