My name is Ricardo Serrano, a recently retired biologist originally from Peru South America and living in San Diego, CA. I'm a multifamily investor, currently own 3 single family investment properties, one in northern California (east San Francisco) and 2 in Memphis, TN. Currently evaluating multifamily apartment from 5-100 doors, my markets are Memphis, TN; Lousville, KY, LUbbock, TX and Reno, NV. Blessings to you all !!!

Today I visited a property to assess it as a potential deal. The house is located in a revitalizing area that is appreciating in value. There are newly built homes all around this one, to the left and right of it. The potential ARV is approximately $250,000. I was very hopeful that this would be a great deal! However, it's in bad, bad shape. The house would need heavy demolition and to be gutted. There is asbestos siding (which has special instructions for discarding), but it can have siding applied over it, which costs less. All major mechanical systems would have to be completely replaced (electric, plumbing, HVAC) along with subflooring, all new kitchen, bathroom, all walls and ceiling need new drywall, the oil tank currently used for heating, and more. My contractor wasn't available today for the walkthrough, but I may just pass on this deal anyway due to the likelihood of finding additional issues that would drive up renovation costs and potentially delay the project (adding to excessive holding costs) to get proper permits and inspections. Generally, my calculation for an offer that I intend to Buy & Hold is 75% of ARV - Repairs = Max Allowable Offer. In this case it would be $250,000 - $138,040 = $111,960. The repair cost that I used was a general total of about $140/SF. I found this deal by Driving for Dollars. On my drive in a good neighborhood, I had noticed a For Sale sign with a phone number attached to the front porch of this property. The number wasn't in service, so I did a public record search of the owner's information and found a P.O. Box for him. I sent my hand-written letter about two weeks ago, and last week his daughter reached out to me. The owner, her father, had passed away a couple of years ago and the property just got out of probate. So, I arranged to walk the property today. I'll need to crunch exact numbers on what renovations/repairs for this property will cost and speak with some hard money lenders, then I can make a decision about whether to renovate or pass.

What are you guys working on these days?