All Forum Posts by: Sunny Karen

Thank you everyone for coming out and reporting your experience working with the Upside team. It's good to hear all the positives & without doubt we will do our due diligence in the process.

I was less concerned about the one property that was discussed and more the overall working relationship. Being an OOS investor has it's own challenges and having a team that you can trust (not blindly) is very important to us.

Thanks @Greg Scott.

I understand that Detroit is a very block-by-block city and those areas look like C-class neighboorhoods. Not being local to Detroit - I was expecting bars on the doors in most C-class areas, was it not your expectation?

Roughly by doing BRRR's around those areas it seems like I could get around 1.2 - 1.5% of Rent-to-Price ratio. That's only on paper though, and reality could be very different.

For the areas that you picked what price point and rent-to-price range do you target?
  

Hello BP community,

My family is evaluating a cash-flow market to get into - and we are close to finalizing on Detroit for various reasons (entry point, >1% RTP, strategic investments in parts of the city, ...)

Based on conversations in my local REI meetups, this will be our first time experimenting with BRRRR's in Detroit with the intent to hold onto the properties long-term. Plan is to buy SFH & Duplexes and start out small and scale quickly once we figure out the market. We have done a lot of reading here about Class-C properties and the risks that come with it, but haven't experienced it first-hand.

We have full-time W-2 jobs and cannot be local in the area and need a trusted team on the ground. Has anyone here worked with Upside investments (https://www.investinupside.com/about.html) - Nader Shariff team? It looks like they promise a hands-off approach (sourcing, rehab management, property management) but wanted to see any experiences here in the BP community.

Besides that, I understand there is no crystal ball, but for Detroit investing - what's stopping Detroit from going back to 2008 pricing in the future?

 Thank you Jeff. What rent-to-value ratio (1% rule) do you target for good blue-collar neighborhoods in the Tulsa metro area?

For context: I don't plan to BRRRR in the area but buy things that are close to rent-ready already.

Glad to connect with you, thanks for the feedback!
Given your knowledge of the area would you move forward with a deal like this?

Being a multi-family investor, what's your criteria/buy-box in the B type neighborhoods? 

 That's good feedback, thank you!

Thank you Dahlia. I did see your episode some time ago on BiggerPockets podcast. I will reach out soon when we start getting serious in the area. 

 Thank you Benjamin!

We are more conservative investors at this stage and plan to using our cash to pay for the properties. The low cash-on-cash return is a little concerning but longer term (10-20+) horizon and appreciation + rent growth is what we are looking at. Agreed on the expansion, we are planning to get a few units (<20) at this stage and aggressively pay it off in the next 5-10 years to act as supplemental retirement income.

 Thank you John! Glad to hear about your long-experience with Tulsa market and insights.

I have been scouting the Broken Arrow area without too much success yet. With the current interest rates being cash-flow positive even with 20-25% down with conservative underwriting has been hard. The appreciation potential in these areas looks promising though.

What is your take on the Pratville area and the area north of the river around 4th and Grant in Sand Springs?

We are new to real-estate investing in the Tulsa area (have a couple properties in CA, MI)

Why Tulsa? Conservative appreciation, reasonable cash-flow and long-term outlook for the city looks good. No crazy growth and hopefully no crazy downfall. The economy looks to be slowly diversifying away from Oil and unemployment is low in OK. I consider it a hybrid for appreciation and cash-flow. We have friends and family in the area who can help out though we will be OOO and use a PM company.

We are mostly targeting SFH, Duplexes, Fourplexes. I am evaluating 2 deals out there, and was hoping to get feedback on.

3/2 duplex - new construction in Sand Springs neighborhood (hopefully low capex for first decade). Purchase price: $365K; Rents: 1600 * 2 (3200); With 25% down - PITI would run about ~$2200; Property Management (8%) + Vacancy (5%) + Capex & Maintenance (8%) - I would cash-flow about ~200/month.

2/2 duplex - new construction in West Tulsa neighborhood. Purchase price: $300K; Rents: 1250 * 2 (2500); With 25% down - PITI would run about ~$1800; Property Management (8%) + Vacancy (5%) + Capex & Maintenance (8%) - I would cash-flow about ~100/month.

Cash-flow right now isn't very important for us (as long as it's not negative). Our plan is to hold long term (10+ years) and likely pay it off in 5-10 years to act as supplemental retirement income which we plan to get to with a couple more properties paid-off in Tulsa eventually.

Would you pull the trigger on these two properties based on our goals? I trust the builder and will get a through inspection done.