All Forum Posts by: Sarah Miller

Hi! New to the site.  About to close on our first duplex and anxious to get a second one but cant qualify so soon for a second mortgage.  I've looked into land contracts but my RE agent says I will never find a seller of a duplex willing to go land contract.  Any comments on this?  Anyone have difficulty finding sellers willing to accept financing options like this on multifamilies?

Thanks Jeremiah, that is a very constructive reply.  I do agree the scale of my duplex plans look a little off.  Canton is a very odd market with very cheap taxes (under 1200/yr) but with some areas with higher rents than expected (ours is pulling 600/unit for rent).  We looked at many with this same income.  Canton has pockets of nice neighborhoods with many duplexes like this.  We are getting ours for 75k (market value of 90k).  I was thinking of leaving a year or so between one of the purchases or right before we 'trade up'. Just wasn't sure what would be best or if I should just let the market determine the timing of some of this activity..

Thanks for the replies.  So I prefaced this by referencing our stable jobs and income.  We will be using personal savings to purchase our first 3 properties.  I have a degree in finance and my MBA.  I do have all calculations planned out in a spreadsheet but I don't want to share it because its not supposed to be a detailed plan, just a reference for myself for what-ifs. 

I do not have this drawn out specifically and I don't feel like I am doing myself a 'disservice' by having a plan. What I meant by 'don't want to change it' meant I didn't want people telling me our strategy is the wrong strategy completely and telling me to buy and flip or something.  I am looking for suggestions that's why I posted this.......

I have 'duplexes bringing in $600/mo as a benchmark because those types of properties are EVERYWHERE in our market.  We looked at almost 25 of them bringing in that profit before we picked out the one we have.  Minimum I am looking for a minimum of $200/mo profit per unit.

When we trade up the first time in year 4, the 25% is specifically coming from the sale of the 3 properties and the cash from the profits of those 3 properties.  I have calculated available down payment to be approx. $100k (all RE fees, taxes, and everything accounted for). 

Lastly, again my PM is my mother.  She will be giving me a huge discount on her services since she already does it as part of her RE business.  I have her fees calculated into my spreadsheet and she is very flexible with what I will be paying her so her payment is not specifically determined yet.

Hello!  This is only my second post on BP.  I am a new investor from NE Ohio.  My husband and I recently purchased/are waiting to close on our first duplex (50/50 rule applies perfectly, making $600/mo profit or 300 each and we already have tenants lined up to move in). 

elow is a summary of what we are planning on doing for our 7-8 year investment strategy.  I am not looking for suggestions on changing our strategy (since we all have our own strategies) I am just curious to know what I can expect specifically as far as financing loopholes or issues we may encounter.  I will preface this my saying both my husband and I work full time and have stable incomes.  I was raised in a real estate family with my mom owning her own RE firm and my dad laying floors for a living and has rehabbed his own investment property once.  My husband and I gutted and rehabbed (biggest job was a new kitchen) our first home ourselves (aka no hired help) as well so we are not afraid of getting our hands dirty.  

year 1 - buy a duplex with 600/mo profit

year 2 - buy second duplex with 600/mo profit

year 3 - buy a third duplex with 600/mo profit

year 4 - sell all properties and use the cash and equity from them for 25% down payment on a small apartment building (550-600k selling price) with 4800/mo profit (10-20 units depending on the rent)

year 5 - ride it out and save the profit

year 6 - ride it out and save the profit

year 7 - sell the apartment building and use the cash and equity as a 25% down payment on an apartment community (2-2.5M selling price) with 14-20k/mo profit

We chose duplexes for a specific reason starting out because of the market in our area makes them a better investment than single family homes.  It is very easy to find duplexes in our area with a solid 50/50 rule while single families don't make as much per unit.  Once we get our third property, my mom is going to be our property manager and my dad and uncle will be our maintenance department (unless we have to go out of the area to find a property in which case we will hire help).

Hi All!

This is my first post on BP and I'm excited to start our investing journey.  My husband and I just sealed our PA for our first duplex in Canton, OH.  We've been wanting to get into real estate for quite some time and used some savings to buy a very nice property with 6BR 2BA (duplex - 3BR1BA ea, 1000sq ft ea).  As long as closing goes well, its not going to need much work at all except some cosmetics and will be netting a $600/mo profit.  My questions come a little random and vague...

Now that we are basically liquidating our savings, we won't be able to get another one for a couple of years and even then it will be difficult.  How have some of you gotten off the ground running? 

I have looked into possibly building our next multifamily which seems attractive with a higher rent possibility. Anyone have experience with this?  Do I use a regular builder or are there special multifamily builders?

Is there a way to get business loans for real estate investing? We have made an LLC to house profits but don't know if a real estate operation would halt us from getting an actual business loan.

Thanks!