All Forum Posts by: Tory Brown

@Jason Holmlund

Thanks! It’s an extremely difficult market down here! I have another rental in GF from when I was stationed there and bought my first house hack.

Are you pretty involved in the great falls area with real estate?

Also, I do want to say THANK YOU to everyone else who reached out on this post.

It’s a huge help as I leap into the unknown of multi-unit rentals.

-Tory

@Michael Rutkowski thank you for all of those words of wisdom! It’s great to hear from another Montana landlord to put things in perspective.

I like the idea of me paying for water and sewer and trash. But I think that changing the new lease to state that they must notify me of a leak or any issue within a certain timeframe is crucial. When I went to look at the property, the tenants told me about a water leak that the landlord didn’t even know about (but agreed to fix with the deal).

Currently the electric and gas are metered for each unit which is good so they can pay their own. But there are these massive space heaters inside each unit that I think do use up a lot of energy so maybe I’ll look into an alternative heat source.

Are you involved in the local REA in Bozeman? I actually just bought my primary residence in Belgrade and am looking to meet local investors.

Thanks again!

-Tory

Hello all BiggerPockets humans!

This is officially my first ever question posted on the forums which is a bit nerve-racking but I have to start somewhere right?

I am in the process of buying a four-plex in Butte, Montana. My first ever multi-family unit and my third property acquisition to date. I'm hoping that this property will be the sling-shot to really fuel my real estate ambitions. 

I am wondering if landlords of duplexes, four-plexes, and even larger multi-family properties usually pay the utilities for their tenants? The current owner does and I am seeing the expenses for utilites go from $300/mo in the summer up to $800/mo. in the winter with Montana winters getting pretty brutal some years. I am thinking of slightly lowering rent in order to have the tenants start paying their own utilities. I am sure they are all going to freak out about this and I might lose a few but I figured it needs to happen at some point.

If anybody has any insight into this and possibly how to ease the tenants into this new expense on their end, I would sincerely appreciate it!

Thanks everyone,

Tory

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Belgrade.

Purchase price: $350,000
Cash invested: $32,000

My second property that I feel like I acquired by the skin of my teeth. The Bozeman housing market is probably one of the most competitive environments for real estate in the country right now as COVID as caused many many people to leave places with larger population centers to beautiful places like Montana. This property is a testament to how having an actual J-O-B helps you get financing! 4 bed, 2 bath home with beautiful Montana mountain views near the Bozeman Yellowstone Airport.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Love the single family home option at this point. They are always desirable for new families to the area.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I found this deal online and luckily I found eager sellers so it was quite easy to negotiate with them. They didn't have quite enough cash to pay for a lot of the inspections that I asked for during negotiations so I came out with a large lump-sum of cash that the sellers paid out in order to cover any unexpected costs that might arise.

How did you finance this deal?

I used a conventional loan with 5% down.

How did you add value to the deal?

I painted all of the walls and replaced the flooring in order to get it rental ready!

What was the outcome?

I currently live in the home and have roommates. Looking for the next property where I will buy, live, fix up, and rent out!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Belgrade.

Purchase price: $350,000
Cash invested: $32,000

My second property that I feel like I acquired by the skin of my teeth. The Bozeman housing market is probably one of the most competitive environments for real estate in the country right now as COVID as caused many many people to leave places with larger population centers to beautiful places like Montana. This property is a testament to how having an actual J-O-B helps you get financing! You might think that you might not be able to get financing because you don't make enough money. But when you set your mind to it and make sure that you have a bit of cash reserves to afford that down payment (even 5%), you can really make big things happen!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Love the single family home option at this point. They are always desirable for new families to the area.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I found this deal online and luckily I found eager sellers so it was quite easy to negotiate with them. They didn't have quite enough cash to pay for a lot of the inspections that I asked for during negotiations so I came out with a large lump-sum of cash that the sellers paid out in order to cover any unexpected costs that might arise.

How did you finance this deal?

I used a conventional loan with 5% down.

How did you add value to the deal?

I painted all of the walls and replaced the flooring in order to get it rental ready!

What was the outcome?

I currently live in the home and have roommates. Looking for the next property where I will buy, live, fix up, and rent out!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Belgrade.

Purchase price: $350,000
Cash invested: $32,000

My second property that I feel like I acquired by the skin of my teeth. The Bozeman housing market is probably one of the most competitive environments for real estate in the country right now as COVID as caused many many people to leave places with larger population centers to beautiful places like Montana. This property is a testament to how having an actual J-O-B helps you get financing! You might think that you might not be able to get financing because you don't make enough money. But when you set your mind to it and make sure that you have a bit of cash reserves to afford that down payment (even 5%), you can really make big things happen!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Love the single family home option at this point. They are always desirable for new families to the area.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I found this deal online and luckily I found eager sellers so it was quite easy to negotiate with them. They didn't have quite enough cash to pay for a lot of the inspections that I asked for during negotiations so I came out with a large lump-sum of cash that the sellers paid out in order to cover any unexpected costs that might arise.

How did you finance this deal?

I used a conventional loan with 5% down.

How did you add value to the deal?

I painted all of the walls and replaced the flooring in order to get it rental ready!

What was the outcome?

I currently live in the home and have roommates. Looking for the next property where I will buy, live, fix up, and rent out!