All Forum Posts by: Zach Robbins

Hey @Account Closed ,

I've lived in Centre County (State College) my whole life. I know the area very well. State College has had a lot of rebuilding in the last couple years. I've seen more cranes in this little town in the last 12 months than I probably have in most cities! They call it Happy Valley and the college definitely supports the area. The major ups and downs of the economy feel like rolling hills in this area. 

I know a lot of real estate agents and could also point you in the right direction of a management company. If you'd like to chat send me a PM.

Hey Carrie,

This is in my back yard. I've PM'ed you my email address. Please send details of the property.

Thanks!

Zach

Hey Tyler,

Welcome! I'm also from the State College area. Grew up and graduated from Bellefonte. 

When you say you're scouting properties what kind of properties and deals are you looking for? Single family, multi-family? Rentals, flips?

Are you looking right in State College or an outlying town? 

So it's been a lot longer than I wanted since I've last responded. I'm nearing completion of fixing up the four vacant units and figured it'd be a good time for an update. I've read so many stories of people saying "it's going to take longer than you think" and I'll admit every time I read something like that I never took it into consideration. Lesson learned. 

I'm sure every story is different but for me it wasn't so much my lack of effort of trying to keep moving forward but the contractors I was trying to work with. If this was in my hometown I may have had some better success but being about an hour away I had to start from scratch to find paint guys, flooring guys etc. I probably called close to 10 contractors, was lucky to have half of them answer or call me back and then half of those who actually followed up with meeting me and giving me a quote on the work. I'm sure if there's is a deal #2 in this area it will go much smoother now that I have a small network started. 

I also went over budget. Looking back at my original budget number in this post I'm not sure how I ever expected to stay within $15,000. I did end up going with a more expensive floor than i originally wanted but I still didn't have a chance. Another lesson learned!

Final (as of today) Costs:

General Cleanup: $1,000

Flooring: $17,426

1 Fridge & 1 Stove: $1,136

Final Touches (in progress): $3,600-$4,400

Total: $27,094-$27,894

This will bring my original CoC return from 16.5% to 14%. The plus side is I actually think I underestimated market rents some and may end up with a couple hundred extra a month. Time will tell.

Here are some before pictures as well as two after pictures I took a week ago. I'm on my way over this morning to meet with the contractor who is doing some general finishes and to take more pictures. Time to get these 4 vacant units rented!

I've tried doing a lot of searching around for an answer to this question, both on BP and just Google searching in general. There's so many questions regarding what CRM that I feel like my question gets drowned in the search results.

I'm trying to setup and start using a CRM. My goal as an investor is to find deals and either rent or flip (no intention of wholesaling unless I come across a deal that for some reason does not interest me). I've looked at and spent many hours playing with both Zoho and Podio. Not trying to start a Zoho vs Podio war but I tend to like the way Zoho displays information better and I think it does an excellent job of maintaining and organizing lead communication history (the most important feature in my opinion).

With the introduction out of the way my main question(s) could actually probably relate to both systems. How does everyone prefer to setup their CRM's? How do Leads tend to flow throw your CRM? Where I get kind of hung up us, most CRM's start with leads and as you work the deal and close they are converted to contacts. What I don't like about this is, who's to say that person doesn't come up as a potential lead again? Do you maintain mailing lists that are generated from both your leads and contacts (I doubt it)? 

I have some thoughts that say keep it simple and some that say take the time to set this up the way I think it should be the first time. 

Simple Example: Create a new lead for every new deal opportunity. Downfalls with this is if you're ever dealing with someone who has multiple properties you now have multiple lead records for them and communication is scattered across many records. 

Detailed Example: Have modules for contacts, properties and deal opportunities. No such thing as leads that get converted to something else. Contacts that are leads are simply marked as "sellers". Properties module contains property information. Inside the property module would be a related field to associate a contact as the owner.  What (I think) is nice about having the first two modules is you could come across one or the other first and start history on them. So say you are driving for dollars, you can add a property instantly as you're parked along the road and when you get back home run a report for all properties that have no owners associated with them yet to complete the record and begin marketing to them. Having these first two modules allows you to maintain history forever on both contacts and properties instead of leads that get through the funnel and just die away. 

The last module would be deals (or call it leads, opportunities, whatever you prefer). Any time a contact and/or property has a deal opportunity a new record would be created here. So if a probate opportunity comes up you would create a new record associating the property record and the contact record as well as marking the deal type which in this case would be probate. Having a centralized deal area with deal type identification allows you to continue to market towards that one specific deal until you either get it or mark it closed (dead). All that information is stored back to the property and contact records because of the association. If the same opportunity comes up for that property or contact again you'll easily be able to see that history which could give you a head start the next time around. Also, if you maintain a property module you can identify which properties you own and use your CRM to help keep tasks, reminders and history on items for that property (new hot water heater installed on this date, etc).

The purpose of this post is to jump start a conversation on how you USE your CRM and how you decided to set yours up. 

Sorry for the late response to everyone. I've been following on my phone but not always easy to respond with my phone. 

@Ro Maga  - It is on the tighter side of a budget but one I think we can meet. Floors and paint are the only things the need to be done to make the units rent ready. One unit does need a refrigerator and stove, all other units are already equipped with those items. One thing I am not a fan of is there is basically no ceiling lights in the units except the kitchen and bedrooms. The living room and entrance ways are very dark. The only source of light is lamps the tenants supply. I questioned what that was like try to show the units to get them rented. Nothing looks good in the dark. So we'll be adding ceiling lights as well, just not sure what kind yet (it's all drop ceiling). 

@Henry LiChi - Thanks for al lthe great tips! I'll be sure to look into all of these

@Peyton Avrett - Thanks!

@Anna M. - I'm glad you are just as excited for me as I am! (lol). The previous owner actually started building out a 9th unit in the basement. That's where all the windows are along the ground level on the right side of the building. Code came in and shut him down due to there not be a 2nd way of escape (within their rules). A 9th and 10th unit will be the first thing I look at and more than likely will be back here at BP asking for help on how to overcome code and other obstacles to make it happen. 

@Mike Sloan - Thanks! The bank I used is a small community bank called "Kish Bank" (www.kishbank.com). Good luck with your deal. I'll keep a look out on BP for an update!

@David Moore - This building is located about 45-60 minutes south of Bellefonte in a town called Lewistown. 

I bought my first rental property in early 2015 (a duplex) which continues to be a success almost 3 years later. For one reason or another, unlike most, I felt a feeling of being content and went back to the sidelines. Today I'm kicking myself for the lost time and opportunities that I have missed but after today I'm officially back in the game and eager to stay in it. 

Today's deal breakdown -

Description: An old school house that was converted in the 70's to an 8-unit apartment building on the upper two floors. It consists of (5) 2BR-1BA and (3) 1BR-1BA units. Each floor has it's own coin operated laundry and dryer. A new roof was put on in 2012 and while you'd expect it to a flat roof because of it being an old school house they actually replaced it with a pitched roof. The building is currently half vacant after the previous owner replaced the property manager in the spring of this year and the new managers felt it would be best because of poor tenants. The owner decided to sell the property shortly after this. The units were never going to attract quality tenants in their current condition and with the owner choosing to sell he had no desire to put more money into the property. There is a basement that is almost fun in itself to see as it gives you a sense of history (for example an old fuse box that still has "teachers lounge", "boys locker room" etc labelled on the fuse box door). The basement is big and offers potential for additional income but that will be a phase two after the top two floors are stabilized. There is an 8 stall parking lot in back of the building. 

The Purchase:

Purchase Price: $224,900

Loan: 25% down ($56,225), 5% interest, 5 year term, 20 year amortization

Closing Costs: $6,150 (received $5000 sellers assist)

Repairs Budget: $15,000

Total Cash Invested: $77,375

The Income:

Gross Rents: $4,500 (estimated after repairs and full occupancy)

The Expenses:

Property Taxes: $500

Management (10%): $450

Insurance: $225

Natural Gas (both clothes dryers are gas and surprisingly they're the only things running on it): $40

Vacancy (5%): $225

CapEx & Vacancy: $405 (estimated, don't ask why I have $5 at the end instead of an even number..I'm going off my previous work so who knows what I was thinking at that time)

Electric (common areas): $100

Water & Sewer: $375 (there is a very small water bill to me as each unit is separately metered. The bulk of this is for sewer)

P&I: $1,114

Total Expenses: $3,434

Monthly Cashflow: $1,066

Cash on Cash Return: 16.5%

I'll post some more pictures later on with the inside current conditions and continue with updates as we progress with the rehab. Rehab begins tomorrow when I start removing all the old carpet from the vacant units (which I'm replacing with vinyl).

Let me know what you think!

- Zach

This is interesting. I'm closing on a property tomorrow (was going to make a post once official) where two of the units were vacant due to evictions but each units door had power termination notices hanging on the doors from the power company. I questioned my realtor if the owner would be responsible to get the power back on or if that's something the power company deals with. She couldn't answer that and was going to try and find out. I'm assumed the owner would be ultimately responsible but I never did get an answer. I guess I'll be finding out very soon.

Hey Beth, I'm from the State College area. Don't currently invest more than an hour away from my area but we visit Pittsburgh multiple times a year (it's our long weekend getaway spot). I'm curious what neighborhood this property is in and why it's your favorite. Currently not investing far from home but often like the idea of looking in more dense population areas.

Hi Lillie,

Could you send me an APOD on this property?

Thanks,

Zach