All Forum Posts by: Ralph Chiaia

@Kimberly Carlisle that’s awesome. I need to dream bigger, too! We all do

@Brian Alfaro thank Brian

@Jonathan Oh Jacksonville FL

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $835,000
Cash invested: $195,000

First off we named it Spring Park Gardens. We bought a 4-famil, 5-family, and single family house all in one spot as one package. It was my first time getting a commercial loan and that was part of the adventure. I called a ton of banks and they all told me to bug off at first. The good thing about that as many were very informative when I asked why not, so I started to see light at the end of the tunnel and understand that I needed an introduction.

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

I wanted to get into multifamily investing. I want to have 100 doors and doing it one by one doesn't seem like a ton of fun. Now that I know that getting a commercial loan is way less painful than a loan on a single family I'm totally hooked.

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

We found this deal on Loopnet

How did you finance this deal?

Commercial Bank and our own money

How did you add value to the deal?

We are Taking to Vacant Units and Rehabbing them

What was the outcome?

Work in Progress

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Challenges is that we immediately found more deferred maintenance than we expected. We expected that.

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

Luckily, I had met a property manager from the turnkey company in town where I had purchased I single family rental before. She was no longer with them but had a vast network. She got me on the phone with her father who introduced me to a friend who then did a zoom introduction to a local community bank and the rest is history. Now we have a commercial loan, I added her and another partner into the mix, and a construction loan to handled the two vacant units.

Investment Info:

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

Purchase price: $835,000
Cash invested: $195,000

First off we named it Spring Park Gardens. We bought a 4-famil, 5-family, and single family house all in one spot as one package. It was my first time getting a commercial loan and that was part of the adventure. I called a ton of banks and they all told me to bug off at first. The good thing about that as many were very informative when I asked why not, so I started to see light at the end of the tunnel and understand that I needed an introduction. Luckily, I had met a property manager from the turnkey company in town where I had purchased I single family rental before. She was no longer with them but had a vast network. She got me on the phone with her father who introduced me to a friend who then did a zoom introduction to a local community bank and the rest is history. Now we have a commercial loan, I added her and another partner into the mix, and a construction loan to handled the two vacant units. Eight are already rented but two need some work. The goal is to pull all the rents up to market value and then add in rents from the two that are vacant and dramatically increase the value of the whole property.

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

I wanted to get into multifamily investing. I want to have 100 doors and doing it one by one doesn't seem like a ton of fun. Now that I know that getting a commercial loan is way less painful than a loan on a single family I'm totally hooked.

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

We found this deal on Loopnet

How did you finance this deal?

Commercial Bank and our own money

How did you add value to the deal?

We are Taking to Vacant Units and Rehabbing them

What was the outcome?

Work in Progress

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Challenges is that we immediately found more deferred maintenance than we expected. We expected that.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $191,000
Cash invested: $45,000

Tenant was put in place in April and smooth sailing so far, which I hope will continue. I feel like if you survive 2020 you're likely stronger than you were in 2019.

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

My friend and former co-owner at the bar. He got me started in investing in real estate.

How did you finance this deal?

Financed with with Cross Country Bank.

How did you add value to the deal?

I didn't. This is turnkey. I think the plus is that the area and city are great. I believe the medical corridor plus all the jobs from the four amazon warehouses (and counting) will keep this local economy growing for years to come. I love what the city is doing in the downtown area.

Hi Everyone who Responded! 

First off, thanks for jumping in. The answers really helped me articulate myself to my contractor and bring up a sticky situation. I didn't want to imply that he was stealing but did want him to account for these buys. After organizing all the items in a big list I called the contractor and we went through them item by item. He had balanced some little costs for things I should have paid for with some little things that he paid for. This was not an awesome move by him since I'm on a construction loan and the bank is checking every dollar I spend. I told him to cut that out in the future. Although I'm annoyed, I think he was more guilty of being a poor accountant than a dishonest guy. So part of me is relieved and another part of me feels stupid for not being more on top of this out of the gate. That's on me and my partner. The good news is I'm handling all the buying directly now so none of this comes up. A corollary of riding him in such painstaking detail is that my contractor and I seem to understand each other a lot more. I feel like this helped clear the air and get us on the same page more. Sometimes a little bit of throwing your weight around helps. I agree with the many people who said don't sweat the small stuff. I think I'm guilty of doing that and feel like it didn't do any good in this case. What was important was just to communicate a bit.  

I just wanted to check in with everyone who commented. Thanks. This community really helps put things in perspective. Some days I feel like it's overwhelming. This is my first commercial loan. It's also my first 10 unit property. 

Thank you everyone for the answers. I took them all into account and will have a chat today. 

I’m in the middle of a rehab and the contractor is doing a pretty good job. I’m buying the materials but the contractor is doing some of the shopping. I’m finding a lot of little things like sponges, buckets, and knives along with lumber and tile and stuff. Should I be paying for those items or do you expect your contractor to have these things?

@Michael G. I work for a small company based in Park Slope. We mostly handle 2-20 unit buildings. Where are your buildings located. We handle most of Brooklyn and parts of lower a Manhattan. We are one stop shopping handling property management and also rentals/sales/construction/concierge services. Message me if you’d like to chat more. Good luck!