All Forum Posts by: Samuel Lindgren

Hi All - Does anybody hire out snow removal and lawn maintenance on their Minneapolis rental properties? I've got a duplex that I used to house-hack, and do all the snow/lawn care for, but I recently moved out, and am considering hiring it out now. The property is 40x120ft, and has a city sidewalk, so I'd want a team I could rely on for all our snow and grass work to avoid city fines.  Any references would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I love what you did with the kitchen and bathroom here. Great execution on the project. It’s also cool that you were able to take a lot of your initial investment back out at the refinance. Do you already have a plan for redeploying the capital?

 @Jeff Schemmel - It's great to meet a Minnesota agent who also invests. Happy to tell the story. We closed in April 2021, by April of 2022 the rehab was completed, and it was rented up October of 2022. I definitely should have given the general contractor better detailed blue prints, and paid less attention to cutting-costs on the rehab decisions. I lost a lot of rent by trying to squeez the rehab into my limited spare time. Also, I should have priced the rent lower to get a renter in there sooner. I guess you just have to learn some lessons the hard way. 

Purchase price was about $165K, we put about 20K of rehab into it, and it appraises for about $180K. I'm still on the first lease so I haven't raised rents yet, but I'm confident that I'll be able to make annual increases over the years. 

For management, I went with a management company to handle advertising and tenant screening. They've been pretty easy to work with and have good online tools. See the link below: https://www.minneapolispropert... . Thanks! - Sam

Hi Stacy - Thanks for the support! I'm looking to invest in Minneapolis again. I'm interested in setting up another house hack in Q2 2023, and then looking to do a flip in Q3 2023. Likely will be taking a break in Q4 2023 for peak season at my day job. 

Hi Tim - Could you share the lender with me as well? I'm seeking a HELOC on a rental property that will go up to 95%. Certain lenders seem to have tightened to 80% LTV caps for investment property HELOCs at this time, but if you know of any that would go to 95% that'd be helpful. Thanks!

Thanks Robert! It was definitely a challenge, but I learned a lot, and am excited to seek out more advanced projects in my market since I have a lot of good contractors now, and have been researching the overall building process for small multifamily properties. 

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $164,000
Cash invested: $31,991

Initially, my story started with my agent helping negotiate $10K under asking. After that, my wife and I worked with a general contractor to remodel the bathrooms and kitchens in both units of our duplex. In addition, the lower unit had the plumbing re-done, while the upper unit was re-wired, and re-insulated. The property is now stabilized under a management company that makes it truly passive, allowing me to focus on my next investment opportunity. Happy to recommend agents or contractors.

@James Hamling Thanks for the thorough response. I appreciate your perspective on the most practical systems to implement if you hope to grow your portfolio in future. 

@Alex Forest Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not sure what software I'll be using to bill tenants yet, but your idea seems pretty easy to implement. Even though I'd get billed on the 15th for prior months usage, I could tack on half of that bill to the tenants next invoice on the first of the next month. 

Hi Matt - I didn't ask them that yet. But thanks for the idea. I'll try to call back and see if they do have a full year's worth of water usage from a few years ago, and if that doesn't work maybe look at rental listings in the area to see what other landlords are charging for monthly water, sewer & trash (paid to Minneapolis).