Good afternoon,I have a seller who has a situation that I have yet to cross.Seller is going through divorce, 6 payments behind, Home is vacant, typical 3 bed 1 bath home in Urban America.1st is with Wells with approx 55k owed2nd is with GMAC with approx 62k owed.FMV is 115kSeller contacted me to purchase property by Short Sale.

Now that I got mom and baby in bed I thought I would catch up on a little business.

Deal completed on December 1st, 2010:Townhome (REO) - 3 bed, 1.5 bath, 2 Car GaragePurchase Price: 38,800, Repairs = 7,000 (This includes a new roof, siding, and a furnace)Total investment = $45,800Rented at $850 a month on a 2 year lease.We financed this conventionally for 30 years @ 4.875Comparable sales in the area for the same townhome range from 65,000 to 85,000.

A space heater on a bed.

Edit- Heading to bed almost 1am my time but I think people who want to count every single transaction have a need to boast or make themselves appear greater than they really are or more experienced or a host of other things I cannot think of right now.

It's currently 2 bed / 1 bath.The second one is a turn of the century 3 unit residence that's currently fully rented and generating around $1200 / month.

I put all the home information on the voice mail message including the #Beds/Baths, rent, deposit, application fee, pets, and so on.

Also the property is very close to an expensive private college and I think a few large 2 bed 2 bath units (combined 1 bd 1 ba) will make a killing as they would be the only ones of that type in the neighborhood.Also im looking to owner occupy as well so I would like to have access to lower rates available for a 1-4 unit property.As an aside, I know rule #1 is not to get emotionally attached to a deal. this house is perfect though as it has a large parking area and 3 car garage in the heart of a dense turn of the century area, quite hard to find in the city here.

You could rent out Lincoln's bed room!

A majority of the rentals are 1 units.What happens is one units people move a lot.With a 2 bed unit even if it's a couple with 2 kids you can put a bunk bed in there and the space is fine.With 1 units rents don't appreciate as much and the turnover frequency is very high which is probably why partly the cost are so high.Another key factor is are the utilities separately metered and billed or does the landlord have to include utilities in the rent payment.I specialize in multifamily and this is a key component and a concern for buyers.With utilities rising it can eat into future profit margins.I will also expand on the 3 to 6 months point.The lenders I know at a decent rate won't touch something at 3 months.They will want 6 months to 1 year of average rents and occupancy levels.Now in your situation you can use hard money and the points and rates will be high but you can even get rehab money built into the loan.Then you can refi once stabilized or sell off or exchange into another project.These type of value add plays we call "forced appreciation" deals.A regular bank will not touch stuff usually below 85% and some want 90% occupancy average over time.The reason is if they lend at 50% occupancy and it needs repairs the bank looks at it with risk you will not be able to turn it around and they will have to foreclose or take a big loss.Most banks unless they just opened in the last few years have a bunch of crud on their books they want to unload already.So to take down this deal you will need all cash,some partners with cash put together,or a hard money lender.In these 1 bedroom situations we look at "highest and best use".Even though it was built as one bedroom the highest and best use might be to tear down a wall between the units and convert a majority of the 1 beds to 2 bedrooms.Rent might be a little less than 2 bedrooms but you will have less turnover.Laundry is a big issue as well.If the tenant has to drive down the road to do laundry your rents will be less.If the building has a laundry facility that is on site that is better.The best and highest rents is when you put In-suite laundry in each unit.Pro-formas are CRAP.You NEVER and I mean NEVER pay on a properties potential.If the seller wants to sell based on that they need to put the hard work in.Otherwise you pay on the actual numbers going in.When you do the rehab it's important to get the city or county involved ahead of time.When updating they might require sprinkler heads,fire rated walls,etc.