All Forum Posts by: Sean O'Dowd

Hey everyone,

I'm a long way away from buying something and am mostly just working on a business plan right now!

For people who do own apartment buildings of 6+ units now, do you contract ADT or some other online security system with cameras? 

On the plus side, there is a extra security and residents feel safer. Additionally, the place has some measure of protection from vandalism. On the negative side, the quotes I've seen suggest a quotes from anywhere from 50-100 a month. 

Security is something I absolutely want to offer my tenants, and these rates are expensive at the same time. Does anyone use security systems, and do the companies provide "bulk pricing" if you have multiple buildings?

I would not buy any street higher than 45th 

I found this portfolio online and there doesn't seem to be any big institutional builder or developer listed on the site.

http://chicagoapt.com/our-buildings/

As a case study, how would you build a portfolio of this size?

@Joel Owens Thank you very much for your response and help! I think FHA is an interesting idea and something I would strongly consider for an owner occupied property. However, I am actually looking for a property with ~10 units that I would not live in any of the units that would be a buy and hold for a period of longer than 7 years at least.

I am really interested in the idea of purchasing a multi-family property, likely in the Chicago area. 

I have found many properties in the 250,000-500,000 price range. 

As a commercial loan, my guess is that I have to get it at a bank, with 25% down for a 75% LTV.

At that point, I'm lost! Could someone walk me through the next steps from when I walk into the bank to get this loan, and when I take possession of the property?

Thank you very much @Jason Bott!

Hypothetical question that I may use to write an essay on for my current real estate class; was hoping to have an opinion on it!

Say you own 3 properties and manage them yourself. For some variety, one SFR, one duplex, one 6 unit multifamily. For maximum protection purposes, you have four LLC's. One is for each property, and one is for the management of the units.

If you wanted to add umbrella insurance on top of that, would you get an umbrella policy for the LLC that manages all of the units, or three separate umbrella policies for each of the individual LLC's that owns the units?

This is a rather silly question but (full disclosure) I am a college student studying Real Estate and information from this site has helped provide context for my studies. For that, Thank You!!! to anyone who has commented on my posts, or anywhere on this site! I've probably read your comments, and they have helped!!

My understanding is that REIT's do not need to be public, but simply need to have over a 100 investors, distribute over 90% of their profits, and have no more than 5 partners owning more than 50% of the equity. Owning multiple multi-family apartments and generating solid cash flow can lead to a lot of money.

So my question: How large do you need to be as an investor where you should consider reaching out to 100+ investors? Are there any general rules of thumb about the number of units you should own, or the amount of equity you should own?

It seems like the two most common positions that potential employees could fill would be book keeper, and a property manager who manages the day-to-day of the property. 

What about an agent/marketing person? Personally, I think if you are in the 100+ unit range we are talking about, you likely will have frequent vacancies. A dedicated employee whose job is to show potential tenants the units, run background checks, and then figure out ways to market the units when not showing them, would be a vital position to have. Is this a reasonable assumption, or am I overestimated the amount of work in this area?

Thanks for the reply @Arlan. Can I ask what responsibilities your wife and daughter do?