All Forum Posts by: Sebastian King

I've spent most of my life in Tacoma and I know the area extremely well, I'd be happy to chat about the city sometime just send me a message. best of luck!

So what do you use for links? zillow?

I'm hoping to get input from wholesalers on what information they provide when presenting wholesale deals?

I would also like input from flippers on what information they like to receive during a wholesale pitch?

It usually as simple as purchase price, repairs, and market value?

Do you usually like to get/give backup information on this (such as recent homes sold in the area, general contractors quotes, etc?)

Do you like the repairs to be detailed into line items ($x for new roof, $x for appliances, etc)

Do you send links to recently sold homes (on the mls or zillow)

Do you send spreadsheets that details all expenses?

Thanks in advance

Hey Chris, I have lived in Tacoma my whole life I know the area like the back of my hand. I would love to help you out. I am a multi family investor myself. Send me a message with your contact info and I'll text you. I can tell you the areas to shoot for and the areas to avoid

My assumption is that these things are very unpredictable (could last another 2 years could last another 50) is that correct?

I'm considering buying a 1920's property in my area and I've gotten the sellers to agree to a 60k purchase. I had a contractor (whom I trust) look at the house and he suggested that I replace all the dry wall, electrical, and plumbing (as well as paint, carpet, windows, etc) and estimated 50k in repairs. I asked if I could skip the drywall, electric, and plumbing, and windows and instead simply paint and replace floors. He said that this could cut the repairs to 15k or so and it would be inhabitable.

I'm leaning toward renting the unit out (rather than selling) but I'm open to either one. I'm wondering if I should do the full rehab or just the essentials?

The rental range in this area for the house is $950 - $1350

Thanks everyone for the advice,

@Bryan R. can you give any specifics on the challenges for this property?

right now I'm leaning toward passing on this one (although part of me feels like I'll be kicking myself in 5 years for it). If it seems too good to be true it probably is right?

@Chris Piper

Actually I have another 60k in another trading account that I could sell as well. I could potentially offer 110k (probably wont fly but you never know).

@Graham Mink

Thanks for that book I'll definitely be reading that. One thing I've considered is buying the property and living in it while I fix up one unit at a time over the next several years. If I sell my stocks I could put a large payment on the property and get down to a very small mortgage. I have very few expenses right now so I could probably throw 2k a month at it until its up to par. Is that a bad Idea?

I'm hoping I might be able to get some help analyzing a 4plex property I'm considering. This would be my first real estate purchase ever.

The property is vacant, its bank owned and on the market for 180k (which is about half the cost of a normal 4plex in my area). The price is really unlike anything I've seen here. I'm sure It's priced low because the property is a "fixer". There is one 2 bedroom unit, one large 1 bedroom, and 2 smaller 1 bedroom units. After some market research, my very conservative estimate for total rent is $2300 ($700 + $600 + $500 + $500). This passes the 50% rule (before renovation) even if i put down 3.5% and owner occupy (which I'm considering)

One negative factor is that even though it's listed at 180k, it's tax assessed over $400k (meaning 6k in taxes!). So i basically need to fork over the entire rent for one of the units JUST to pay for taxes! should I up the 50% rule to 60% based on these insane taxes?

The other issue to consider is obviously the deferred maintenance. I wish I could give an accurate figure here for how much it needs in renovations but unfortunately I really don't know. My guess based on the low price is a lot. I'll need to get an inspection but I wanted to post this before i go spend $500 to get this inspected. Unfortunately since I've never owned a home before I'm not very handy (yet). I know almost all the carpets need to be replaced. I know the windows are ancient. all the interior and appliances are EXTREMELY old (even some ugly wallpaper). My preference would be to replace the carpets and leave everything else "as is" until the rents pay for improvements but that could be a newbie mistake. The building was built in the 40's so it could have all kinds of other issues.

There are perks to this property

1. After visiting the property I discovered TWO additional 1 bedroom units in the basement that were not in the listing! They are not anywhere near in livable condition right now (nor do i believe I currently have the funds to make them livable). Currently they just look like a basement with a bathroom and kitchen (and ugly ones at that) but they could one day add $500 each to the gross income.

2. The property is in a nice neighborhood with a lake view so I would imagine it appreciates more rapidly (not that I ever intend to sell)

If this helps, here is some other info:

I have about 50k in stocks right now that I could sell if i needed to (i'd rather not)

I make 90k a year at my job

Am I over my head on this one? any help would be greatly appreciated.