All Forum Posts by: Taylor Shapiro

@Peter Tverdov We had a small team that made up the on-site management group. Property manager (myself) who was responsible for the higher-level duties i.e. maintaining a certain occupancy level, checking in with contractors/superintendents, rental collection overview, etc. We had an office manager who was responsible for recording rent collection into quickbooks, sending our notices to tenants, etc. and a part time Leasing Agent who would show the units, collect tenant information, run credit checks, and fill the units. 

Buildings in this particular area are older, as old as 1920, which this one happened to be. You can imagine the deferred maintenance that we had to deal with on a daily basis :). We had 2 full-time superintendents who were responsible for daily work orders and a general contractor with his team of 3-5 who took care of the apartment turns. 

Salaries from what I can remember

Property manager: $40k

Office manager: $37K

Leasing agent: $15/hr

Superintendent(s) $11-$12/hr + free rent

GC: paid per job

This was an older building which the owners were unwilling to re-invest money back into. If CapEx was allocated the way it should've been, it would've only needed 1 superintendent and maybe only 2 people working in the office. Hope this helps

Does anyone currently invest in Columbus GA? I was sent the financials on a 30+ unit apartment community which appears to have some good upside apart from cashflowing if purchased as-is. All units are 2/2, 1000 sqft and rent for an average of $675. I'm seeing anywhere between $725-$750 for a 2/1, 1000 sqft in the surrounding area. 

Can anyone share some thoughts on the area? I know Fort Benning is a staple in the area along with a handful of larger companies including AFLAC. Is this an area worth looking into? 

@Timothy Winfield DOM = Days on Market. Fewer days on market generally implies a more desirable area. 

@Anton Taylor There comes a point in person's life where they're just sick and tired of their current situation. I was broke, working in an industry that just wasn't for me, and desperately searching for "something better". I had $300 in my bank account when I bought my first house and rent was due :) . I made more money from that one deal than I did my entire salary that year. The project took 5 months, purchase to sale. 

To answer your question, I needed money, and fast! Flipping was a way to accomplish that goal. Now that I have a few bucks saved up, my focus has changed to a longer term strategy i.e. apartment buildings. 

All of my deals have come from the MLS. Just like the gym, it's all about reps. Reps, reps, reps. Look at houses, pull comps, look at houses pull comps. You do that a few hundred times and you'll begin to understand different neighborhoods. You'll know the good areas, the bad areas, and everything inbetween. Repetitions my friend. I recommend getting your RE license. Start pulling your own comps. It just takes time. The time's going to pass anyway. Might as well get started now :)

Thanks @Timothy Winfield. Great questions. I haven't flipped any houses in low income areas and probably won't ever. The thought of boarding up windows and setting up security cameras to deter people from breaking into my properties isn't something I'm interested in dealing with :)

I want to minimize risk and sell my product to the largest buyer pool out there- first time home buyers. In my area, the average sale price is between $180k-$225k so this is the price range I choose to play in. 

Deciding criteria: 3+ br, 1+ baths, 1000+ sqft, no "unique" style houses or layouts, residential areas (busy streets take longer to sell). Areas where DOM are less than 60, < 30 DOM preferred. My typical rehab is $30k-$40k and takes 2 months to complete.

Find 5 towns that cater to first time home buyers. Learn what the ARVs are for those areas and get an understanding of repair costs. Don't forget to underwrite for your holding costs (atty fees, taxes, insurance, etc.) and profit most importantly. 

ARV-Rehab-Profit-Holding Costs = Max Offer.

Get after it!

Thanks @Ritch Bonisa!

@Rolanda Eldridge Thanks for the message.  Flips are fun for sure! Like anything else, once you get the hang of the systems, things get a little easier. 

I have a great team who I've mostly worked with since my first project. I'll text my painters on a Monday to let them know "sheetrockers will be done on Thursday and can they get started Friday?". Sometimes it's a yes, sometimes it's a "Next Monday". Done. All of my subs are responsible for purchasing and bringing their own material. We work material costs into their price and I cut them a check afterwards. I'm only responsible for purchasing the finishes such as tile, vanities, mirrors, light fixtures, etc. This saves a bunch of time and headache. 

I had 5 rehabs in various stages going earlier this year. Just pay attention, ask your guys to send you pictures if the projects are too far away, and always plan for the next step ahead of time. Hope this helps

@Marc Hoeppner At this point in my business I'm responsible for finding deals and getting them under contract. I got my RE license when I started and the MLS has been where I've found all of my deals to date. I'll create a CMA and SOW to send to my investors. They trust my underwriting at this point and know I'll never waste their time with a bad deal. Once I get the "OK, let's do it" we close on the property and I then schedule the rehab with my contractors and order material. I'll create the listing when the project is finished and list that sucker. Long story short, I find deals, order material/manage rehab, then list.

@Rick Santasiere Good to see you on the site! That windsor locks property was a good one lol! Fun times. Looking forward to grabbing a coffee and talking shop 

@Cody L. Just gotta do it brotha! Thanks for the message.

@Will Barnard Nice to hear from you! You had some great success stories last time I was around. I'll be hangin out and sharing whatever I can. I'm changing gears a bit and diving into commercial RE. Looking forward to making some new connections. 

Boy, time flies! It was just a few short years ago I was reaching out to flippers, asking as many questions as I could until I ran out of questions to ask! I've been in business rehabbing single family houses in central CT for the past 2.5 years and have had some great success due in part to Biggerpockets.com and everyone who helped along the way. 

This week I accepted an offer on my 20th flip. We just took photos of another finished project that I plan on listing tomorrow. I'll be wrapping up another one in the next week or two and have a HUD property under deposit and scheduled to close in 2 weeks. It's been a fun ride to say the least!

I took a job my first year managing a 300 apartment community knowing that I'd be getting into apartment buildings sooner or later. The experience was tremendous. Stressful at times yet a phenomenal education that I've been able to leverage when raising private funds from investors. 

For anyone starting out and looking for some inspiration, the age old adage "If I can do it, so can you" applies here. Feel free to reach out with any questions. I can only hope to give back as much value as I received from this site not too long ago. 

Best wishes!

Hi everyone, I just recently got an offer accepted on a package deal for two apartment buildings. 56 units total, stabilized, strong rental town, linear market. They're not "home-run value-add" deals by any means, but as my first apartment building acquisition, I wanted to show my investors a safe(r) property, in our own state, with strong cashflow and favorable returns for their investment. 

Some of my guys are asking for spreadsheets so that we can play around with future rent increases, inflation, expenses, deprecation, etc. to see how it affects our returns. 

Is there a software program that allows us to plug in the basic numbers and manipulate them as needed? I've had a few people tell me excel is the way to go but I'm terrible with these sort of things!

Thank you @Alan G. and @Ryan Herald!