Were we greedy?  

The incredibly greedy truth is that we are looking for both free rent with a bit of work-free profit and the long-term benefits of investing in RE.

Do not get greedy.

I know this sounds greedy, and I don't mean to come off as such, but if I can get the seller to agree, think I could still ask for a commission?

I started buying some local real estate, some commercial, mostly single family homes.I guess I got greedy and finally topped it off last year with an ocean front property at a great price.I now own 5 properties, most heavily mortgaged.I have been trying to sell the ocean front for the past several months and not getting any bites, have dropped the price by $400, 000, still no takers at $1.500,000.I have about $100,000 left in the bank, my monthly nut for all the properties and my overall expenses is around $26,000.My current income from rentals is about $5,000.I am going through a relationship split from hell, with my ex coming after 50% of the net worth, which of course is only on paper values.She has no legal standing on this as we are not married, but I feel the judge will make an emotional decision.My question is, should I file for bankruptcy, let some of the properties foreclose on the chance that something might sell in time to bring in enough income and/or just pay my own house and expenses, which would give me about 10 months time.Should I look for another investor to come in and fix up the ocean front as a vacation rental?

Don't get too impatient or greedy.

So if you ask 650 and get 625 with no concessions you are talking 3,550 divided by 75 is almost 48 months ( 4 years ) to break even from the higher rents on what you spent upfront.Might be a little sooner if you raise rents each year after the initial increase.The problem with being in the top tier of your rent bracket is the tenants expect a lot for the extra they pay.When they hit rough times with the job and income their is no cushion to pay the higher rent.Turnover is much higher and you get crushed on reconditioning costs.When buying an apartment complex you will need to factor months of lost rent if you raise the rent due to vacancy,moving,and reconditioning.Even though it would cost a tenant more to move they do not think like an investor does.Many live day to day.They don't think if I move I have to pay for a moving truck,first and last months,security deposit,and the place I am moving to does not cover utilities like where I am now.All they see is where I am now is going from 550 to 625.I can move somewhere else to 550 and SAVE MONEY.It's not the reality but how they process stuff.The name of the game is to keep good long term tenants and make it hard for them to leave.Yes raise rents annually to keep up with costs but do not get greedy.

you are exactly right.Those numbers are actually pretty close, there is another member of BP that can verify that as I allowed him to listen in on the call with the seller, its up to him if he wants to speak up and validate.here are the actual numbers:1st = 95,770 @ 6% and $789 w/ PITI2nd = 17,289 @ 8% and $172total of $113,059.00 and $961 a month PITILow comps are at $140k range, high range is $160kI'm not greedy so I'll work off the low range.I'm working on getting the seller to handle the 2nd herself and just Subbing the 1st.....

The Condo will easily rent because of our location, I just feel a little greedy because it seems like Im taking all the risk and all the partner has to do is manage it?

There is another popular saying that goes "be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful".Maybe using quotes to make million-dollar decisions is not the best idea.In short, I do not know whether housing prices will go up or down and by how much.