All Forum Posts by: Tim Wheeler

@Nathan Grabau thanks for all the great insight! If we decide to move forward with this property we would definitely have it inspected. In terms of the warranty, are you referring to an "implied warranty of habitability", or an actual warranty that was purchased? I will also do some more homework on the builders, haven't found a ton so far other than the LLC they built the house under. I'll have my agent ask around as well.

Still on the fence as to whether this will be worth it in the long run, thanks again!

Hey everyone,

We're currently considering a new construction investment property that, according to the listing agent, had a foundation issue that has since been repaired and signed off on from a structural engineer. There's a report from the structural engineer that will be sent to us later this week, and if everything checks out and the foundation is fine, is there anything that could come back to bite us in terms of reselling this property down the road? 

Since it's a brand new build, is this something that would need to be outlined on a seller's disclosure in the future even though it was remedied before the home was ever sold? I am asking because presumably many things might need to be fixed on new builds before the property is first sold.

Outside of the foundation issue, is there anything else to look for on new builds? Is this a major red flag?

Any thoughts or guidance is appreciated! 

@Sara Frank thank you -- that's great insight! We've pivoted to looking at properties in better locations that command higher rents. The idea of spending $100k-$200k more is definitely daunting, but the numbers seem to make more sense. Still not sure if this is the route we will end up going for our first property, but at the very least it's another avenue for us to explore.

@Tom Wagner that's great info! These are exactly the type of things I was hoping to pick up from this post.

@Christian Ehlers thanks for the reply! We're aiming for either South Coast MA, or the East Providence, RI area. Originally I was only finding deals that would cashflow after we hit the point where we could drop PMI, but after analyzing deals non-stop and going to a number of open houses (to help calibrate our expectations) I'm finding more that seem to make sense. Thanks for pointing out all of the other items - all great things for us to keep in mind. I also never realized "off market" deals were a thing.

@Jonathan R McLaughlin Thanks for the advice! Seems like there are plenty of ways to get creative with a deal. My wife & I have also started to entertain SFHs that are livable but could use some updates (likely via 203k). Given our minimal down payment it seems like it might work out better to go this route to start but we will keep our options open.

I just came across this post which gave me some good info as well, for any future readers who stumble upon this thread: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

That's what I'm seeing based on all the properties I've ran numbers on so far. Am I missing the forest for the trees though in terms of cash flow? In my particular situation with the min down payment are there other things to look for?

I'm very green with all of the so please excuse the obvious questions, I'm learning something new everyday.

In terms of short-term rentals, I will see if that might be feasible for us as I have not considered it 'til now. 

Thanks for the response!

Hey everyone,

I'm new to real estate investing and my wife & I have started looking at multifamily properties in MA & RI that we will live in for at least a year in hopes to purchase a single family afterwards. The properties we're eyeing are move-in ready, but not all of them are newly renovated. We'd be willing to put some work into any of the homes that made sense.

Using tools such as the BP rental property calculator and Mashvisor, I'm only coming across properties that, with the minimum FHA down payment of 3.5%, will be cash flow positive after a number of years (lowest I've seen is 3 years, up to 15+ years which would likely be a no-go/red flag).

In today's market, is that something that's typical with this type of down payment? I'm inputting the general rules of thumb for vacancy, maintenance, etc. I just want to make sure we're not putting ourselves into a hole that we can't get out of on the first property in our portfolio.

Ideally we'd be in a solid cash flow position right away, but I'm unsure if that's realistic when putting the minimum 3.5% down.

Thanks in advance, and happy to provide more details.

Tim