All Forum Posts by: Yuki Inui

@Vera Herlihy There is a HUGE tech boom called "Silicon Slopes" happening here along Wasatch Front along I-15. It's becoming the new Silicon Valley. Utah has the highest birthrate and lowest median age in the nation because of the mormon religious culture (big families with 5+ kids aren't rare here in Utah) plus all the increasing tech, education and health care industry jobs are bringing thousands of people from all over the states every month. The population is doubling by 2030, housing demand is outpacing supply by 2 to 1. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865672564/Deman...

The home value has been going up 1% a month for the last 2 years in Utah. 

It looks like there are some incentives and tax credit:

http://business.utah.gov/programs/incentives/edtif...

http://business.utah.gov/programs/incentives/

If anyone wants credible market reports PM me :)  it looks like a lot of people are having hard time finding them. 

@Andrew Frishman Sent you a message :) Also if anyone here is looking for a knowledgable investors agent, talk to @Sam Levin  By working with him you'll get all my market knowledge and insight for FREE ;) 

@Vera Herlihy You're very Wellcome! I'm glad I could help :)

It would be worth mentioning that there is a very large 85 acre shopping center being built in Herriman/Riverton right now. They are anticipating it will become the center of a lifestyle in the southwest side of the Salt Lake Valley. Herriman/Riverton rental properties will be in the perfect location to take advantage of possible increased value once this project is completed. This development is in the area of 13400 south and Bangerter. This new Riverton center is envisioned as a mix of shopping outlets, restaurants, offices, a hotel, movie theaters and villagelike public spaces, all perched on the suburban city's western border with Herriman. It will be a place to eat, find entertainment, office space for work which will turn into employees looking for a place to rent. Construction on the shopping center has already begun and it is expected to be complete late 2017. Now is the time to buy in Herriman/Riverton area. I know that there is also new condo/townhome/SFH communities in this area that are great investment.

Also, Real Salt Lake professional soccer team is building their World Wide indoor soccer training facility right next to one of our Herriman communities. This training facility also has the potential to attract increased renting possibilities. 

This article might be helpful:

http://www.nreionline.com/multifamily/how-multifam...

I personally like to have shorter leases because in this market rent adjustment could be done at a much faster pace. The newer/well maintained the property is the more I can increase the rent and the easier for me to find tenants (and everybody is looking for something new, even if they had to share it). Time it well if you're increasing the rent. If your property is old, I suggest putting a little bit of money to fix it up or upgrade appliances in order to match the competition (newer apartments). If your apartments are old and costs you a lot to upgrade it, just sell it or refi and buy a new construction weather it's single family/townhome or a multifamily. 

@Mike Robb

Nice to meet you :) I'm glad I can help you better understand the market! When I was looking for reliable and specific market info for the interest of investors like fellow BP members and myself, I couldn't find any. So I thought I'd do it myself, and that's how I ended up meeting this group of genuingly good hearted, honest, hard working people who specialize in helping us smaller/medium size investors down here in Provo :) Whoever you're working with, I know their agents pretty well and the property management team is awesome. They have a great leadership. 

Herriman is definitely one of the hottest growimg spots. If you're even just thinking about getting a fourplex from them I have to tell you, get qualified with Lane with First Colony today. The competition is high. The last project in Saratoga Springs sold out in a month. You would want to be ready to pull the trigger when it releases, and it's definitely worth your time and money.

@Jared Carpenter Thank you! Extensive market research/analysis is what I do every day :) I do a lot of leg work myself but luckily My partner is one of the best investors agents in Utah County so I get to learn a lot from him. I also work very closely with financing and tax professionals who specialize in investment properties, so I'm in a very fortunate position to be able to have access to the very valuable and the most up-to-date information and knowledge :) 

As you probably already know, there is very few new multifamily properties in the silicon slopes proximity. There is one group of developer/builder who builds and sells a great quality, smaller new construction multifamily to individual investors pre-construction (completely turn-key), and this line of product has by far the best ROI I've seen (100% ROI in 2 years), and it comes with about $100K immediate equity bump upon completion. But it takes 25% down, great credit and a good amount in reserves. If you have $105K-$200K to put down and have the patience to wait for a year for it to complete, it is definitely worth looking into. The Easton Park Triplex mentioned in this post is being built by the same group (unfortunately this project is sold out, but they are releasing a new project in Herriman, which we are planning on buying a pre-con duplex). My partner works at the brokerage that builds and sells this line of product, so we have personally bought a brand new Fourplex in Provo & a duplex in Vineyard ourselves and EXTREMELY happy with the return and the value (we flipped the duplex for 80% ROI in just 3 months using a 10% down investment loan with no PMI).

As for Lehi, my favorite approach is using a custom home builder that you can trust to build you a brand new condo or townhome. They are not multi-family but definitely a much better investment option than buying an old, rundown duplex that will cost you tons of money to maintain and repair. There are a couple great communities that have townhomes from base price $265K and condos from $195K. 4 bed townhomes are renting for $1,800 and 3 bed condos for $1,400. 

My 2 cents when building a custom build is definitely to use a good investors agent who is familiar with the product as your buyer's agent and DO NOT go directly to the in-house agent unrepresented a when you do so because 1) investors agents know the most profitable configuration and location. 2) Most builders agents are like residential agents and often don't think about what the best approach is for an investor. 3) Investors agent will do everything to look out for your best interest, and they cost you ZERO money for all the insights, market knowledge, tips, shortcuts, tax saving strategies, etc that they can give you. Just ask them questions and see how much they know. 

My partner is currently in the process of buying a townhome in Lehi and a condo in Vineyard. He's also planning on buying a pre-con duplex in Herriman this summer.  

Send me a colleague request if you want more info, I'd love to share any info, market knowledge or connection that I have :) 

Hi @Jared Carpenter 

Lehi & AF are definitely one of the spots that I believe are the best in Utah. There are also other areas that I'm keeping an eye on, such as Vineyard, Herriman/Riverton, Bluffdale, Draper, Sandy, Cottonwood Heights, etc. But Lehi/AF is by far my favorite because it is the heart of the next big tech metro. The population is rapidly growing, land and home value are appreciating FAST. The renters demographic is high-paying tech & education industry employees/families (UVU, BYU are minutes away, and they are both expanding their campus). The prices are definitely going up but not as built out as Vineyard or Herriman, thus cost to value ratio is great right now. Adobe is doubling the size of their office. There is going to be a huge retail growth surrounding Traverse Mountain & Thanksgiving point, the ongoing construction of the new mountain view corridor and the future transit projects will dramatically improve the access to uptown and the new suburban retail core. (which is another reason I like Herriman/Riverton area, because it will be much easier commuter access to the Lehi tech area) http://udot.utah.gov/mountainview/dld/MVC_MAP_Marc...

I hope this answers your question :) 

Here are the links to articles/report that might be useful.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865669497/Futur...

https://pointofthemountainfuture.org/#home-section

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/583320c02e6...

https://www.lehi-ut.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/07...

Hi Mike, I am very familiar with the Easton Park project :) I work with an investors agent who works in the brokerage that builds and sells those triplexes and have helped a client buy a twelveplex and 2 triplexes. 

I do a lot of market research for Utah rental market and I can say that American Fork and Lehi are by far the best spot for investing.  

 I also know of a couple townhome/sfh communities that are almost as good investment options, and a couple other new multi-family (duplex & Fourplex) development in other growing areas in Utah that are coming up in the next couple months. Unless you're already working with an agent for the triplex and need info please feel free to send me a colleague request :)

@Matias Pereyra is right, there are other options. I like pre-con/new builds because it's easier to refinance and get the PMI off because of the built-in equity bump.

I'm not sure how useful this is but just so share what I know as an individual investor (I'm not a licensed agent, but work very closely with a group of great agents who specialize in investment properties who are also investors themselves) who's fairly familiar with this market, here is a good real-life example. 

So I just found this 5 bedroom EDGEhomes townhome resale (with finished basement) on the market for sale for $285K, and it was bought pre-construction for $229K in 2014 ( I just confirmed with the listing agent. The base price $210K for the 3 bd floor plan + the cost of adding the 4th bedroom upstairs and the 5th bedroom and a half bath in the basement). 

5 bedroom newer townhome resale is rare so there is a good chance it will sell fast for the asking price or close, making about $50K in proceeds just in 3 years.

Here's a couple more examples of recently sold "resale" townhomes in the same community (same floor plans, less bedroom, different type of unfinished basement). These were probably sold pre-con for around $220 in 2014.

There is a 4br 2.5 ba built this year in another existing community in the area: https://www.rentler.com/listings/ut/lehi/condos-to... (very similar base floor plan but with unfinished basement) that's renting for $1,800K+, so with the 5 bed 3 bath with finished basement it will probably rent for more, especially in the new big Lehi community that's coming out in a couple weeks which I hope I can get myself in before it's gone (looks like the base price for townhomes will be in the mid $250+ and above, which I think in today's market will probably be worth over $280K upon completion with an additional bedroom or two)

You don't get that with an old rehab duplex. Whether I house hack or not, I'd much rather own a brand new building in a booming neighborhood that gives me an instant equity bump with no repair expenses for the next 10 years, even if it meant a small cash flow in the first year of househacking, than owning an old duplex in a B-C neighborhood that gives me an OK cash flow but also eats more time and money to insure, maintain and repair the whole time I own it. I hope this is helpful :)

Hi @Andrew L. My partner and I live in a brand new fourplex (2 bd 2 ba) we bought for $550K with FHA loan 3.5% down a few months ago. We bought it right before it finished, and had tenants ready even before we closed on it so we had rents coming in before our first mortgage payment due, we didn't even have to pay a dime except for the downpayment and the closing cost. With PMI our monthly mortgage payment is about $3K, and each unit is renting for $1,050/mo, and that is in the somewhat rundown neighborhood in Provo (the city has a improvement plan for this area so there is a big possibility of appreciation). With the operating expenses (which is very small compared to rehabs because everything is brand new) our cash flow is not positive, but by the time we move out it will be renting for more and we'll have positive cash flow, which we will be using to pay for the mortgage payment of our next house hack. We were extremely lucky to be in a position to be able to house hack a brand new construction fourplex that fits under the FHA limit, so our case is a bit extreme and is a rare case, but there are ways to house hack successfully, and the ideal scenario is to buy a new build, pre-construction or right before completion and keep the purchase price lower than resale. This way you are acquiring a whole lot more equity than buying a rehab, maximizing your income by gaining the highest rents and the lowest expenses possible. I wouldn't do it any other way. The key is to work with someone who has done it, specializes in new build/pre-con, has connections and strong relationships with other professionals who can help you make it happen, and knows where to find those deals. I would definitely recommend connecting with @Sam Levin.