All Forum Posts by: James Bitakis

Well, I could sell it without a Realtor, and just settle for a 15K profit which means I still need to buy at 121,700 if I only got 190K.  But yeah, too tight.  

I am looking at another potential deal that looks better. 3/1.1/ basement, 2 car attached garage in equally as nice suburb for 73K. ARV looks to be 170-185K. Needs about the same rehab as the above property. I think this looks better.

I am looking to buy a 4/2 SFH in a Chicago suburb. It is in a western suburb in Dupage County. Nice middle class area. The home is 1336 sq ft. with a 1 car attached garage on a slab. It needs complete rehab plus I'd do new siding and roof.

Price: 130K  

ARV: 190-210K (low estimate). Is this too small of a margin for a first timer? I would be acting as the GC supervising the work. I'd only do some of the smaller things (paint, demolishing, cleaning only) as I'm not that handy.

James

Hi, I was wondering if there is a real estate tool that shows the best (and worst) fix and flip real estate areas in the USA?  Something that would show how much profit doing a flip in one area vs. another?

Yes, taxes and insurance was added.  Landlord pays common electric & garbage which is included in the expenses they showed me.  After everything, conservatively, the 8 unit will cash flow 1300/month total with 25% down.  That is with a property manager.

The 8 unit will have a 1300-1400/month positive cash flow.  The 4 unit will have a 600-700/month positive cash flow.  This is after expenses and 10% (vacancy), 10% (management), 10% (capital repairs). Tenants pay their own utilities.  Just wary about Kankakee's taxes $3900/yr on a 79K building?  I have heard that Indiana is investor friendly (if I had to evict, I heard it is easier in Indiana vs. Illinois). 

East Chicago, Indiana is not in Chicago at all.  It is in NW Indiana, close to Chicago city limits, but not in Chicago.  

I am looking at a 4-unit in Kankakee, IL. or an 8-unit in East Chicago, IN.  

79K for the 4 unit

225K for the 8 unit.  

As this will be my first multi-unit building, should I invest in the cheaper one?  I live about 1 hour from each property, so I will be using a more local management company, but with checks and balances to go through me (I want to see a prospective tenant's information; I also want to see repair estimates before any work is done).

Both buildings have had some remodeling done to them.  The 8 unit is 5 3-bedroom, 2 2-bedroom, and 1 1-bedroom).  It has good cash flow.

The 4 unit is all 1 bedroom apts. in a good rental area.

Both are in class C neighborhoods.

James

What kind of neighborhood is it in? As someone else also asked, how did you figure the ARV? Did the contractor give you a rough estimate BEFORE you purchased it, or do you kind of figure roughly how much $$ it would cost on your own?

Great job.  It looks amazing compared to the way it looked before.

Wow, that puts non-realtors at a super disadvantage.  Unless you are cozy enough to be getting the pocket deals from the Realtors.  

So, maybe I should've called the brokerage office on 10/4. Maybe it was already under contract even then, maybe it went under between 10/4-10/6? The thing is, the automatic listings being sent to me by a Realtor also showed this same property pop up on 10/4, not 9/30 when the printed listing says. Can a Realtor put it on the MLS a few days AFTER getting a contract with their seller, just to pitch it to their investor friends, before putting it out there on the MLS? Is that Illegal or just unethical?