All Forum Posts by: Shirley R.

When buying a small multi family, what should your due diligence include?

2 months ago I bought what seemed like a legal 3-family, is registered with the assessor's office as a 3-family, yet now the fire marshal declared 1 unit inhabitable and the city planning and permits office saying the 3rd floor isn't a legal apartment it's "half-storage" whatever that means..

Meanwhile the tenant was immediately evacuated to emergency housing (hotel) which the city made clear I will be billed for

Thank you all for the suggestions and the stories that made me feel like I'm not just a PITA to work with.

So I went to the supply store and spoke to the guy there. Apparently he knows my heat guy and he's one of his biggest clients and apparently he went back to school for refrigeration certification.

He got him to call me back and I got 3 other numbers!!! It's amazing what you can do in person and with a smile. @Marc Winter was right!

Thank you Marc. That is a good idea. I have done this before with other type of professionals with great success. I should have thought about it. Thanks again!

Hello fellow Hartford investors, I'm looking for a heating guy to work with on a regular basis. Anyone can recommend someone reasonable? I had HR Heating, who's a good guy, but he's ghosting me. I think he dumped me : ( 

Hard to say, but from my short experience I can tell you that inside the city of Hartford the returns are good but it's very harsh. Just today I had to see the police clean the blood off of the sidewalk from a shooting, not to mention the countless drug deals I witnessed. And that's all on the South end! On the North end people don't even want to come to do repairs and no one is willing to manage it, cause it is supposedly the wild west, though I haven't encountered any problems there yet (knock on wood). 

Personally, I think I will try to find a deal in Manchester next. The returns aren't as great, but seems easier. People swear by New Britain, but I don't have any experience there, maybe I'll explore that area next...

My 40th Birthday gift to myself was taking the plunge. Closed on 3 properties (8 units) 3 months shy of my bday. I guess I need to think of another present...

Thank you all for the input. I'm leaning towards @Bill F. side. 

Of course the first thing I done was to get someone out there to fix it. Then I texted the A-hole letting him know I know and to keep away. His response was "when are you buying me coffee?" 

Honestly...

A handy guy did some heat and hot water maintenance in a triplex property for me. Then I asked him for estimate to rehab one the apartments. Later I learned he installed an old water heater and removed the year of manufacturing off of it and told me I need a new boiler when I didn't.  So I decided to give the rehab job to someone else.  

Today I get a call that there's no heat and hot water in all 3 apts and the rehab guys said someone who fits his description was there yesterday claiming he's the plumber and did work in the basement. 

This so called plumber also told me in the past that he turns off his tenants heat/hot water when they don't pay, so I know he's capable of this line of behavior. 

Would you call the police or just fix it, put a lock on and move on?

I always carry on in my head how much I will gift my family and my husband's family, and calculate how much interest you can get just keeping the money in the bank, and on and on. 

Yet I never bought a ticket...

@Warren Garceau Congratulations!

I just bought a similar property in Hartford, a far worse area, but still looking at hopefully a $700 cash flow once it's stabilized

On a technical note, how did you post the calc result here? I tried to figure out how to do it with no success...