All Forum Posts by: Winston Spence

Hello,

I'm looking to purchase my first duplex with FHA financing. I just want to make sure this is potentially a good deal before going all in. The property is:

Sqft: Over 1,700

List Price: $56,000

Potential (Hopefully) Purchase Price: $50,000

FHA Downpayment: $5,000

Bed/Bath: 2 bed, 1 bath on each floor

Property Taxes: $1,900

Potential Rent: $600

Potential Insurance: $1,400

Maintenance- $1,000 hopefully, not much land

Since the loan is FHA, I understand that I have to live in the first floor. I never owned a home before so I have nothing but a guess on how much the water and electricity will be. Hopefully, I can get the tenant to pay their share of the water and electricity bill. Is this a good deal? Would I be able to live in this property and cash flow or at least break even? If you have any suggestions let me know, all help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks to all for the repsonses! It would be nice to hear from more investors who run an office away from home. Just curious to see how they set up their business from that standpoint.

@Noor Z.-

Welcome to the BiggerPockets community!

I'm a wholesaler from Waterbury and I can tell you that business in this state is tough. I also might be moving to Jacksonville, Florida because of weather, taxes, and cost living. In my opinion, the best cities to look for rental properties in Connecticut are New Britain and Hartford. It's been getting a lot harder to wholesale here since home prices are rising fast and people are leaving.

Is it better to run your business from home or an office? Let me know your thoughts on this!

@Therese V. and @Elizabeth S. - Thanks for the advice, it is really helpful.

@Danielle Charles-

Sounds like a good deal. As @Mark Ferguson stated, you have to live in the property for 36 months. If you can find a HUD home that is a duplex or more units, I would seriously start running some numbers to see if it will work for you. Plus, you will get landlord experience as well.

@Bill Mitchell- In the few wholesale deals I have closed, the buyer always wrote the earnest check out to me but would give it to the attorney to hold for closing. So in your case, I would go with your latter idea on writing the check out to the seller then giving the check to the title company.

Yes, the property has separate meters for both units

Hey BP,

I have a few questions about expenses on income property. I am interested in using a FHA on a duplex and wondering what expenses do I have to pay? Can I pass off the eletrical and water bill to the tenant and I just pay my share of the electricity, water, mortgage and property tax? Or do I have to pay for all expenses? Investors, if you don't mind, share what you do with your expenses when dealing in multi-family properties

Does anyone know anything about lending tree?