Sunday, August 5, 2007
by Group One Realty Team - Real Estate One
I have to say, one of the smartest investments I have ever made has been to buy residential and commercial income property. The earlier you buy it the better. If you are not in a position to buy property on your own, I would suggest that you get together with family or friends and form a sub-chapter S corporation or LLC to purchase larger properties using your combined credit and purchasing power. Shares, estate planning or future transfers can more easily be accomplished without having to either cash out or divest of your investment property using these company investment shells..
So how does one get started finding and then selecting the best property available? I have a rental worksheet that I have used for many years to help me reduce the prospective investment property to "bottom line" numbers. This really helps in determining which is the best property for you. I would suggest you download the form and make several copies of it. Use the sheet while you are in the field looking at the subject property. Fill it out as you walk through the property, asking questions, noting how many meters are present, who pays the utilities, and confirm what the current rental rates are for the different units. If you have questions about terms like net operating income (NOI), internal rate of return (IRR), cap rate, gross Rent multiplier (GRM), sinking funds, vacancy factors, etc. please do not hesitate to contact me . I also converted this rental worksheet to a excel file file as well should you want to use this medium later on.
So how do you get a list of the better properties? Just click here to search for property and I can always help you find selections that have more potential for income and equity increase. I most often find when doing a property search that whenever you can make a change in the subject's usage, you stand to increase your equity more that others without that option. As an example, I once purchased a 4 unit apartment building that was made up of two bedroom units having their own private laundry rooms. I converted the laundry rooms to bedrooms and was able to offer three bedroom units for rent at a greater monthly rental rate. I spent about $3,000. to make the conversion and increased the buildings annual income $4,800. (100/mth extra x 12 mths x 4 units). Using a 10% cap rate, my $3000 investment increased the value of the property $48,000 (4800. x 10%) and provided an equity increase of $45,000 ($48,000 less $3,000) so a good management adjustment planned as part of the original property investment. The numbers before this plan were only average which is why we have two sets of numbers on the property field sheet referenced above. Contact me for more details because it is a Great Time to Buy!
