All Forum Posts by: Wayne Marques

@Peter Carboni I have lived in, and right outside of, the city for many years, but I never invested there.  The reason I didn't invest there was because we wanted to invest in Maine where we will be retiring, but I have some insight into the city.  As you are house hacking you will want to be real careful which parts of the city you choose to buy your property.  I'm not sure how familiar you are with the different areas, but there are many high crime neighborhoods.  A lot of these questions can be answered by your Reatlor/Agent.  

After you find a potential investment, you would need to have a home inspection to identify problems with the home.  I would never skip the inspection. 

Act professionally, but don't worry too much about what you wear as long as you are presentable.  The area isn't a high net worth market where they need to see you in designer clothes before you are taken as a serious buyer.  

As far as which specific streets or areas to avoid?  There are so many, but there are also nicer areas too.  The far North End is generally safer than most of the central part of the city.  The South End, as you mentioned, has nicer areas down by the beaches, but it also has bad areas a short distance away.  Though all this is subjective so I can't say for sure what you are looking for in a neighborhood.

Nearly all of the triplexes are old, but many have been updated over time.  This is where an inspector can tell you what is to code and what will need to be updated. 

As I haven't invested in MA, I can't speak to the tenant laws.  The only thing I would say is that there are never many multi-family homes for sale in the city, compared to how many there are in total.  The rental market has been strong for a long time and landlords aren't trying to sell.   This tells me that tenant laws aren't as restrictive as other inventors might lead you to believe, but please confirm this with your agent.  Hopefully your agent is an investor as well.  If not, you may want to consider finding one.

If you have any other city specific questions, please reach out. 


  

Just my personal opinion... I love tiny homes, but the only thing that would make that living situation horrendous is by having such a tiny space while having other people that close to me.

Are you realistically able to manage it properly?  Out of state doesn't speak to the distance you are from the property.  Since it is out of state, would you have contacts than can address tenant issues if you aren't available, or are you too far to handle it properly / quickly?

Wouldn't you re-key all the locks after a tenant moves out anyway?  I know its an added cost, but I wouldn't trust that past tenants don't have a copy.  Or did the PM re-key the locks  and you never got a copy?

Like @Will Stewart said, definitely find a Realtor to work with.  I would find one that is an investor themselves and that can get you in to walk the properties quickly.  I addition to the main websites, I have found that there are off market properties on craigslist and various Facebook groups.  You could also post what you are looking for in these sites / groups.  This is less labor intensive, though very passive, until you have time to pursue direct mail.  I plan on driving for dollars in some of the larger towns in Maine, there are many properties that seem to be good targets to reno.

Congrats on the child! 

I know the quote that "time in market, beats timing the market" generally refers to the stock market, but I'm sure the same applies to real estate if you buy the right deal. 

@Robert Willard regarding your concern about cities restricting or limiting new STR's, I had this same discussion with my fiancé and we decided would only consider a STR if the property would cash flow if we had to switch it to a MTR or LTR. The supply of LTR's would increase considerably, or there would be more homes listed for sale, within an area if STR's were banned out right. With that being said, I know some areas already have restrictions, but are we finding that bans and, or, limitations are increasing in some areas?

@Eric Brewer we found the same when looking at investing in southern Maine.  I'm guessing its more of an appreciation play, but that's not what we were looking for.  We have a duplex further North that cash flows well, but it is in a very small market so there are more inherent risks and few larger unit properties.  We are looking at other markets further North for our next property as well.  

@Sara Levy-Lambert  I am a fan of Rod Khleif's Lifetime Cash Flow Through Real Estate Investing.

We all know that institutional investors have always targeted large commercial residential assets and, more recently, they have been increasing their rate of acquisition of single family homes.  My question is, why haven't I heard of them acquiring, or building, portfolios of residential multi-family homes?  I know some investors prefer single family over small multi-families, so I would assume there might be institutions that prefer one strategy over the other.  

Is it already happening but we generally only hear of single family acquisitions?   Why wouldn't they target the small multi's?  Is this on the horizon?   Or is there something keeping them from buying?