All Forum Posts by: Tim Ward

The comps I've seen... I just followed up with asking anyone I thought knew more then me about pricing.

You don't think they were blowing smoke on the valuation in hopes that maybe I would list with them upon completion?!

REI, what do you mean by the rents not lining up?

Like I said in a earlier post... those values are coming from real estate agents and area comps. The rents are based on what I know I can get in the area based on my other building.

Sorry... I forgot to answer this part of your reply.

Its been listed since late December. I've had under 10 showings. I don't remember exactly how many have been here but I've probably had an average of 1 a week.

There is no doubt that I'm a little high on the price at 80k, but since there is a mortgage on the property I wanted to be able to have some wiggle room to work out a deal without losing money.

I'm going to have to look into that more and ask around. I'm going based on what I've been told by 3 or 4 realtors realtors and area comps. As for how confident I am in my costs... pretty confident. If anything I've often thought maybe I had it too padded and as a result too inflated. I've had the last 2 years thinking and talking about it. I've also had a couple of people who I would consider to know more about this then I do tell me "its a $80k to $100k job". I wasn't going with a contractor for the job... instead I had all my trades people picked and my brother was going to over see (and do some of the work that he can do) the rehab.

I had a married couple who moved in and 4 months later came over telling me they had a horrible flea problem and that it was my problem. I explained to them that there were no fleas in the apartment when they moved in or they would have been over sooner. They called anyone who would listen to them trying to get me in trouble. Even going as far as saying I had RATS and MICE running around the building.

I gave them their notice to get out and luckily enough they left within a week of the notice. I had the apartment treated by a pest company and inspected for any rodent activity... which they couldn't find any droppings or other reason to believe I had a rodent problem.

Also, these same people had a thing that if a light bulb would burn out that they would expect me to replace it. I told them no and when they left they took all the light bulbs with them. :roll:

I should add that obviously that's based on 4 units... if I go with the plan to change it to a 6 unit I would have four 1-bedrooms at $550 and two 3-bedroom units at $750.

The monthly income on the 4 unit is about $3300 and around $3700/month for the 6 unit. I believe I can keep my costs low by keeping it a 4 unit. The cost to add 2 more units by reconfiguring the current 4 units is going to be costly for a small $400 a month increase in rents.

I also think that the large size of these apartments is a real draw for people and its what makes them so easy to rent. In this area of the city its common to find small apartments with tiny rooms.

Based on the market rents right now... for the $900/month/each for the 2 upper units (1600+ sq ft) and about $750/month for each of the 2 lower units (about 900+ sq ft). Tenants would pay their own heat and lights.

I'm also thinking that if I create some of street parking I could probably get a little extra per month from the tenants.

Hi Everyone!

I just happened to stumble upon this website this afternoon and its already been quite educational.

Looking forward to reading and learning more from all of you.

I would also consider looking on the east coast where prices are much much lower and there has been a boom in the energy sector. I'm in Saint John and for 2007 my little city was in the top 5 (maybe it was top 3) cities in Canada for real estate growth.