All Forum Posts by: Xiao Xiao

Typically how much do you see these cost including material and labor in total?

Want to have a discussion about rent ready cost, for anyone investing in SFH in Memphis area (SFH about 1200-1500 sqft, rent about 850-1000/mo), what would the investor expect on the rent ready cost? I understand it depends largely on tenants, thus I assume the due diligence in tenant selection works well and tenants don't trash the house after a couple of year of stay.

Also are there keys to saving rent ready cost, if the properties are managed by a property management company? Are there property management companies to recommend that are good at keeping the rent ready cost controlled?

@Abdul Azeez Hi Abdul, now two years later how has the experience been so far? I've read through the thread and I think it's a good one, curious about how it went later. If it went well (as I wish), have you been expanding in Memphis?

Recently I'm starting to look at East Orange, Irvington and Elizabeth for investment opportunities, just wonder how's people's general impression on the safety of these towns (compared to Newark, for example)?

When I check data from different sources I get different impressions, for example East Orange looks great on Trulia:

https://www.trulia.com/real_estate/East_Orange-New...

But in https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/nj/east-orange/c... it doesn't look much better than Newark.

For sure I need to drive by and see to have a firm understanding, but just like to know from people who live or maybe invest in these neighborhoods, how are they really? Are they similar to Newark, where situation can vary significantly across blocks, or simpler and nicer?

Thanks 

@Ray Reed, @Marc Weisi thank you so much for the advice! 

@Dennis M., @Robert Leonard Thanks! It doesn’t really look attractive, and indeed after analyzing a few properties I find 20% total for repair and capex too aggressive, I’ll take 15% instead.

@Guido Sanchez Thanks yeah I'm aiming to start small, kick the ball and let it start to roll, rather than commit big money to my first shot, I drove by the neighborhood today and fortunately I met with an agent who is honest enough to warn me about the neighborhood around the property I'm looking at, definitely worth talking to locals!

Thanks Dan, given my efforts in digging around the 3 towns mentioned above where I think I’m living close enough to make thigs manageable, considering rent, price and tax, indeed the numbers work best at Newark, where prices are relatively low and tax much more reasonable (< 2%) than Harrison and Kearny (2.5%+). Yes Newark is tricky, that’s why I’m cautious and would like to seek suggestions regarding details and specific areas, I would never consider to go for south west part of it and even for downtown I would be very cautious, instead I’m looking at ironbound and north Newark, where the neighborhoods seem to be in a better shape. But yes, I do want to know what blocks to avoid there, after all, getting into a hole is the worst thing can happen to investment !

I'm looking for help to assess a single family 3b2b home as investment property (built at 1900, renovated 2017).

The asking price is 139900, For monthly rent I'm analyzing 3 scenarios: based on what I see on zillow the typical rent for 3b2b with good condition is mostly $1450-$1500, with some asking $1700, so I ran 3 reports with $1200 (worst), $1450 (expect), $1600(optimistic) scenarios.

I assume repart,capEx,vacant 10% each, and management fee 11%.

Are the assumptions reasonable? Any suggestions about the property being an investment option? Am I exploiting myself if I take the asking price, or it would be a better idea just to bid low first and see if the deal can be more attractive?

Thanks.

If list price $75k and monthly rent $1300, indeed seems fine from 1% rule, what killed it? 

Is 6% for 30 year loan on 110k accurate? Sounds on the high side, something like 4.875% now sounds closer to what I heard.