Just Qualified for a 3 family house...benefits/drawbacks? : Suzuki GSX-R Motorcycle Forums: Gixxer.com

**Carnage** · 08-25-2006, 12:39 PM

First off...I've never owned a house in my life. But I have the opportunity to snatch this 3 family house who's owner I happen to know. Truthfully she's built like a fuggin' stallion and fine as all hell. But without digressing....

I think I may go for it. There are tenants in all three units and their combined rent more than covers the mortgage payment.

If any of you are landlords and have found it a horrible situation I'd like to know about it. Of course the success stories are welcome too.

**ariesXXtreme** · 08-25-2006, 12:46 PM

Damn, wish my friend here could chime in. That's all his family does is manage their buildings. He hates it. He goes to either weekly or monthly meetings and he absolutely dreads hearing them bitch and bitch about next to nothing for hours on end.

Best advice is to know who you're renting your units too. Do credit checks on them and ask for references at all if possible. I surely would not like college kids living in one of the units and at the end of their lease find out they did a lot of damage, or on the other hand get a tenant that complains and wants you to fix everything every other day.

Good luck though

**CASINO** · 08-25-2006, 12:53 PM

All of what she said... Also vacancies can be an issue also. I don't think you'll have that problem up in MA (where is the house anyway?). At a minimum you'd like for two tenants to cover the mortgage+expenses, to hold you down if there is a vacancy and you have to do the clean up work.

OR

You can move into one of the units and live there for free.

On the primary issue:

You should make a move on the chick after the papers are signed... charge it to collecting addtional information about the landlord game.

.

**bmfgsxr** · 08-25-2006, 04:17 PM

good points have been covered. now, this could be a very good opportunity. are the tenants currently under a lease? and if so for how long? if i had the chance id most likely jump on it. but you want to find out when the major components of the house were last serviced, or replaced. also, you will need inspections done to make sure the house is in good shape, etc.. if everything with the house is good and the boiler, hot water heater, etc. are in good working order where you dont need to think about replacing them anytime soon, and the roof is good for a number of years to come then your only other concern would be vacancies. and usually you can take care of that rather quickly. find out how old the roof is, and make sure that if it was ever replaced, or repaired that it was done in a timely manner because leaking water can cause problems obviously if left unattended. and dont let her good looks fool you into jumping into a deal that doesnt look right. deal with her as if she was unattractive. you need to make a deal like this with a clear head. and if it all works out then do what casino said. good luck.

**Carnage** · 08-25-2006, 05:30 PM

Great points all of you. Thanks! This property was rehabbed (sp?) a few years ago and all of the components have been brought up to date. There's new bathrooms and kitchens in all three units and the flooring was replaced as well. Not really sure about the roof. I'll definitely need to look into that as that's something easily covered up. Rent from 2 units definitely cover the third but I'm not even planning on moving in it. The building currently has 3 working tenants and don't really strike me as the type to destroy the units. Again, I know the owner and I'm sure she would have been kicked someone out if there was a problem. The only reason the owner is selling it is because she needs to finance livining arrangments for her elderly parents. I think I'm going for it. We'll see what happens.

Oh...I forgot to mention that this girl was just recently married.

**Clayton** · 08-25-2006, 05:36 PM

Yea... It sounds like a good deal.. I'd go for it too..

**low.75r** · 08-25-2006, 05:59 PM

I think I would give it a shot sounds like a good opertunity

**CASINO** · 08-26-2006, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clayton

Yea... It sounds like a good deal.. I'd go for it too..

Yeah... given the above info it sounds like it could be a good deal. Just be prepared for better than 30 percent of the sale price in incidentals (not counting closing), it just seems to work that way for all houses. Definitely have an inspector go through it, take pix too.

. Good luck

**Avplayer** · 08-26-2006, 07:22 PM

goo for it..i would

**Harlem Broker** · 08-27-2006, 12:54 AM

Make Sure your Mortgage is fixed (25-30 yrs) Do NOT get ajustable unless you plan on reselling the home sometime soon!

**Carnage** · 08-27-2006, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harlem Broker

Make Sure your Mortgage is fixed (25-30 yrs) Do NOT get ajustable unless you plan on reselling the home sometime soon!

Definitely.