Can you help me analyze this deal?

I am in the process of purchasing a 16 unit apartment building and I would like to get you guys to analyze it with me. This property has a tremendous upside because the current rents are way under market rent, but it actually seems to be a good deal even at the current rent. The entire complex is in excellent condition. All of the units are individually metered for water, electricity and gas. Here are the numbers:

Effective Gross Income (after 5% vacancy) - $50000
Expenses (Tax, insurance, maintenance, etc.) - $10,500
NOI – $39,500
Price $400,000

The owner is willing to do owner financing with 20% down but the terms are not good at all. He is a hard money lender, and he wants to do the financing at 14% and then have me refinance once I get established and get my rents up. After running the numbers with the 14% I immediately said there was no way I could do this because it will cause me to have a negative cash flow. But, I did tell him that if he would add money to the selling price and escrow it for me to use as coverage for my cash loss for the six months I may be able to do the deal. He agreed to this. My assumption is that after I get rents up just a little bit, the property will appraise at a minimum of $550K, allowing me to get ALL of my cash back with the refinance. So, while it would produce a negative cash flow for 6 months, after the refinance, I would have none of my own cash in the property and it should be cash flowing (after debt service, expenses and everything) around $2000 per month.

I feel pretty good about this deal, with only one exception. I am new at commercial real estate (I have done several residential) and I want to take my time with due diligence. The seller wants to move fast and close in just a couple of weeks. I am a little nervous about that, but the deal looks good to me. What do you guys think of this deal?

I think the expenses at 20% are very low for a property of this size. What is the unit mix? I would start focusing in on expenses. I would use your own numbers and only take seller numers as a guide.

good luck
lance
realvestors

I agree with chili, i allways use my own numbers, knowing what i can do with the property myself, using the sellers numbers only as a guide.

Thanks for the input guys. I agree that the expenses seem a little low. Here is what has been given to me so far:

Vacancy - 5%
Insurance - 208.33
Taxes - 158.33
Trash - 87
Electric - 25
Grounds - 75
Maint.- 250
Legal fees - 50
Advertising - 50

These acutally add up to a little less than the $10,500 listed. This is not including any management fees, which I wouldn’t begin using until the refi was completed and cash flow was better. So, what do you think is missing here?