Starter Kit Portfolio

This deal is where the wheels really started to turn.
Strategy:
Buy and hold

About the Property

starter-kit-portfolio-huntsvilleAL

About the Deal

Why I liked it

This was a great “starter kit” portfolio with diversification through different property types in different areas. Almost fully leased with plenty of rent upside.

Deal structure

Four-person partnership. Rather than getting a commercial loan for the portfolio we split them up into 5 separate, conventional loans to lower our interest rate (increasing cash flow) and down payment (increasing our cash on cash return).

Because we took out individual loans, we were able to assign prices to each property as long as the total met the overall contract total. We chose to assign the single family homes at much lower prices since we plan to hold those for a shorter time period than the multi-families.

Deal outcome

We saw little to no cash flow in the first year due to improvements we made on each unit, most of which cost more than projected.

The under-estimates were largely due to inexperience, but also some team decisions to do full renovations on certain properties as opposed to standard repairs on move-out.

By the end of the first year our total monthly rent across the 10 units increased by over $1,000. Property values in the area skyrocketed that year, and that combined with our improvements added roughly $140,000 in equity across the 10 units.

Single Family Home 1

Projected Numbers

Purchase: $68,000
Rehab: $4,000
Rent: $715

Actual numbers

Current Value: $95,000
Rehab: $13,000
Rent: $1,000

Single Family Home 2

Projected Numbers

Purchase: $79,000
Rehab: $3,000
Rent: $800

Actual numbers

Current Value: $110,000
Rehab: $8,000
Rent: $950

Single Family Home 3

Projected Numbers

Purchase: $84,000
Rehab: $0
Rent: $850

Actual numbers

Current Value: $105,000
Rehab: $0
Rent: $900

Triplex

Projected Numbers

Purchase: $189,000
Rehab: $7,500
Total Rent: $1,930

Actual numbers

Current Value: $225,000
Rehab: $16,000
Total Rent: $2,125

Quadplex

Projected Numbers

Purchase: $236,000
Rehab: $5,000
Rent: $2,335

Actual numbers

Current Value: $300,000
Rehab: $6,000
Rent: $2,745

Deal Outcome


Win!

Lessons Learned

1. Flood zones can kill cash flow and FEMA flood insurance is ridiculously expensive (and government mandated…)

1b. There are a lot of options to get around the FEMA flood requirement. Click to blog post for more details.

2. There’s always a “dog” in a portfolio.

3. It is a BEAUTIFUL thing when your rent increases and your mortgage doesn’t change.

4. Have clear expectations for standard operations and the eventual exit in mind with partnerships.