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All Forum Posts by: Shawn L.

Shawn L. has started 4 posts and replied 127 times.

Post: When someone asks you to add 48 + 27, what happens in your head?

Shawn L.Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Natick, MA
  • Posts 128
  • Votes 188

50+27=77-2=75

Post: How to raise capital for 2nd deal.

Shawn L.Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Natick, MA
  • Posts 128
  • Votes 188

If you don't have a high paying job or some other means of quickly saving up your next down payment, then the best way to get it is by pulling the equity from the first property. Now of course, this is only possible if the equity exists. That means that you have to either have bought at enough of a discount to pull equity out now, or force appreciation by renovations or some other value add strategy to the existing property. Easy to describe, less so to actually do, but still 100% possible.

This all assumes you aren't looking to partner, as the previous poster mentioned

Post: Looking for General Contractor Referrals

Shawn L.Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Natick, MA
  • Posts 128
  • Votes 188

Without much thought I can come up with 3 states that have a town/city named Milford. Might help if you add that as well since your doesn't seem to identify what area you're in either.

Post: What to know and what to have when becoming a landlord

Shawn L.Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Natick, MA
  • Posts 128
  • Votes 188
Originally posted by @Dan Travieso:

Anthony - Each state has slightly different laws..... That being said, step 1 would be to identify the tenant/ landlord laws for the state you have the property....

This is the response you should be paying attention to, especially since based on your other posts I assume you're becoming a LL in MA. Many things are different in MA vs. other states, including among other things, the regulations for handling of security deposits. Make sure you don't mishandle your deposits or you may find yourself owing the tenant 3x the deposit (read up on treble damages in the context of MA Security Deposits)

Post: Boston landlords estimating expenses

Shawn L.Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Natick, MA
  • Posts 128
  • Votes 188

You can look up water and sewer rates by town, (typically listed by hundred cubic feet so make sure you're converting to the right unit) and calculate based on some average use per bedroom, anywhere from 20-100 gal per bedroom per day depending on how conservative you want to be.

Maintenance I usually have set to 1 month of rent per year, i.e. 8.33%. This obviously varies widely by building but for the most part it seems to end up somewhere in that range over the long term. Capex I typically set at $125 per unit per month, I would not go any lower than this, and if you're looking to buy in the city I'd definitely go higher because everything costs more in the city. Landscaping depends on size of the lot, but I figure fall and spring cleanups, and that the lawn is being cut every other week from April thru October, again cost per cut varies widely by lot size, where the property is located, etc. so you just kind of have to know what that costs. Same for snow removal, varies based on a lot of factors but I know about what it costs where my properties are located. Also make sure you're having common walkways and stairs cleared of snow, typically you have to pay extra for this. Seasonal expenses like landscaping and snow removal just need to be capitalized monthly for analysis purposes, simple enough calculation there.

Management anywhere from 6-10% depending on the area and level of service you're after. Also make sure you include tenant placement fees if they're not typically paid by the tenant in your market. Boston and surrounding areas typically the tenant pays the fee, further out you go this is usually paid by the landlord. This can be calculated based on an assumed average length of tenancy and similar to seasonal expenses, capitalize it monthly for analysis purposes.

*Edit - I didn't mention vacancy but of course you need to include that as well. Market dependent. Also things like common area electric, other misc. costs I include I did not mention but there are costs over and above what has been summarized above.

Post: Is this a good investment?

Shawn L.Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Natick, MA
  • Posts 128
  • Votes 188

You mention its listed, but unless I'm missing something (I might be) I don't see it on the MLS. I see 3 multifamily listings in Framingham under $750k, all are duplexes listed between $520k and $615k. Knowing nothing else about the property other than your post, and the fact that there are currently three duplexes listed between $110k and $205k higher than this triplex, I'd say its absolutely worth a look, but in reality I'd expect that there are bigger issues with it than $20k worth of work.

Regarding FHA, are you planning to occupy one of the units?

Post: Cash out REFI on 3 Family

Shawn L.Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Natick, MA
  • Posts 128
  • Votes 188
Originally posted by @Mike Hoefling:

@Shawn L. What was the recent Portfolio Lender you used? 

The recent cash-out was with Washington Trust, they're based in RI but have a local office in Wellesley.

Also to clarify my previous post both the 2018 purchase at 80% LTV thru Align CU for the 4 unit and the recent cash-out refi at 75% LTV thru Wash Trust on the Duplex were investor loans, i.e. not owner occupied.

Post: Cash out REFI on 3 Family

Shawn L.Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Natick, MA
  • Posts 128
  • Votes 188

@Mike Hoefling I was able to get 80% LTV on a 30-year fixed for a 4-unit investment purchase at the end of 2018 with Align Credit Union, not sure if they're still offering terms that good though I'd suspect not.

I just recently completed a cash-out refi with a different portfolio lender on a different property (a duplex) that maxed at 75% LTV, and due to COVID they were upping their pre-close reserve requirements from 6 months, including primary residence to 12 months

Post: Reasonably Priced Lot survey companies / people Woburn

Shawn L.Posted
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Natick, MA
  • Posts 128
  • Votes 188

David at Framingham Survey Consultants is a great guy and does good work. He'll do some quick research on the lot to see what he's working with (nearby monuments, etc.) prior to giving you a quote.  He's looked at stuff for me in MetroWest and does work in Boston for the Architectural firm my girlfriend works for so I'd assume he would go to Woburn as well.  Framinghamsurvey dot com

The last 24 hours or so my trending tab is completely full of old threads (2-13 years last response time) and when I click on any of them, I get an error message saying that the page doesn't exist.  I assume there's some glitch in the system, which I was surprised to see hadn't been addressed yet.

@Mindy Jensen is this a known issue?  I can screenshot if necessary.