I would just like to get some advice from you smart people. I am currently in the process of paying off some minor debt and would like to purchase my first home here in the next few months. I was thinking about a four unit apartment building in which I can live in one and rent the other three. I don’t mind doing minor work on it either as long as is minor.
What should I look for in a four unit building or whats the most important thing to consider?
How do you find investment properties or spot which have equaty build on them?
Can anybody give tips as to how what to look for in duplex or multi-unit apartments?
Whats the best way to finance this type of investment?
Anything you guys can tell me will be highly appreciated.
Goto the library, get some free books on real estate investing. read the articles on this site. Breeze through past posts on here and other REI sites.
Things to look for in any structure is obviously, foundation, plumbing, electric, location.
Having equity in a property has to do with your own due-diligence in checking the area and property out. Call a few realtors as well, ask them simple questions about their experience with real estate investments - not all realtors are created equal.
The most important thing to consider, probably will be
Cash - how much do you have to operate the property - don’t include any projected rent collections - how much do you have or how much can you get from other sources?
Asset Ownership - who will own the property? You personally? Not recommended.
You - how handy are you? how confident are you in dealing with people?
Resources - who can help you with this operation?
The financing of the property.
The location of the property.
These are not in any particular order - but cash, ownership and financing of property are incredibly important for any property.
I would start there. Answer these questions honestly. If you don’t have cash, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it is risky because if anything goes bad, and I mean real bad - if you can’t make payments, you could find yourself in serious trouble, but again, there are always ways out of serious trouble.
Thank you guy dude for the reply…I am thinking that by ownership you mean LLC just in case I go belly up. Also, regarding equaty somehow I am thinking you mean doing a market analysis for prices around the area. To be honest, I don’t want to put anything…I just want to finance 100% a 4 unit building and use the cash reserves for repairs or emergencies…then I want my tenants to pay for my mortgage loan and in a couple years used my equatiy for another. I guess thats what part of my plan.
Thats the sound like something that can be done or what?