BRRRR is a real estate investment strategy that is increasingly being employed with great success by people wishing to gradually grow their real estate portfolio. It is also a preferred method for people who want to build passive income over time. BRRRR is an acronym that stands for Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, and Repeat.

Table of Contents

• Buy

• Rehab

• Rent

• Refinancing

• Repeat

• Benefits of BRRRR Strategy

• Cons of BRRRR Strategy

• The Risks of BRRRR Strategy

• Is BRRRRR Strategy Right for you?

• Conclusion

Buy

The first letter ‘B’ stands for buy. This is the first stage of this investment process and thus plays a key role in determining the profit margin the investor will realize.

Deciding on the right property can make or break the potential for a profitable venture.

Factors to consider while checking for a property suited for BRRRR strategy:

1. Location of the property: Ensure that the property is located in an area that will provide potential tenants within the expected rental income.
2. Potential rental income: Ensure that the rental income in that neighborhood matches the value you expect based on the purchase and repair price.
3. Condition of the property: Determine the expected repair costs and use that to determine the best price you can offer for the property.
4. Variable and fixed expenses: These are costs such as property management costs, insurance, security among others that you’ll incur after the property is repaired and rented out.
5. Property management: Determine if you want to be hands-on or offer it to a management company. This should determine how far from your residence that this property can be.

If a property is in a good rental area and you have determined the repairs cost and the estimated rental income, you can then proceed to determine your offer price. Most investors use the 70% rule while coming up with an offer price. The 70% rule dictates that the investor should not make an offer of more than 70% of the after repair value minus repairs costs to be incurred.

For instance, if the after repair value is estimated to $150,000, and the repair cost is estimated at $40,000; the investor should not pay more than $65,000 for the property.

Calculations:

(After Repair Value * 70%) - Repair Costs= Max offer value

(150,000*0.7) - 40,000 = $65,000

The remaining 30% ensures the investor gets a profit and also covers miscellaneous costs. However, this is not a binding rule for investors; ultimately, the investor can have other positive factors attached to the property that makes them break the rule and go above the 70%. By using 70% you ensure that the profit margin is protected.

Rehab

The second letter ‘R’ for ‘Rehab’ represents the second step of the BRRRR investing strategy. This is a critical step that requires the investor to balance between the cost of repairs and the value they will add to the property. The investor’s best-case scenario is to have each repair undertaken to add more value than the cost.

The rehab process is meant to make the purchased property livable and functional. You want to ensure that the house is good enough to charge rent that makes the venture profitable in the long run.

To achieve this the investor should avoid adding luxury items that would unrealistically raise the repair cost. Instead, focus on adding value at a lower cost. Rehab Tips:

1. Engage the contractor you intend to use before purchasing the property. This will ensure that the estimated rehabilitation cost matches or almost matches the actual repair cost. If you estimate the costs without a contractor, you might be shocked by the actual cost charged by the contractor you engage. Ensure you select a contractor with a good reputation and experience in handling your specific type of repair.
2. If you can be able to remodel the house by adding an extra bedroom or bathroom at a reasonable cost, always do it. These are known to add value to the property as well as increase the chances of getting a tenant fast.
3. Make security plans for the property to ensure it is not vandalized when the contractor is not on site. This can set back the complete schedule as well as increasing repair costs.
   

Rent

The next step is Renting out the property. You need to decide on whether to use a property management company or directly handle the rental process. Some investors prefer to use property management companies in order to get a tenant fast and also avoid future vacancies. This is because these companies have potential tenants contacting them regularly and can therefore handle a tenant's vacating and another tenant planning to come in simultaneously. In some areas, an individual may have difficulty attracting the specific type of tenant that they are looking for. Ensure that you thoroughly screen potential tenants to avoid future conflicts or loss of rental income. Potential problems from a bad tenant include:

• Unreasonable damage to the property
• Illegal activities in the property
• Failure to pay the rent on time
• Being a nuisance to the neighbors
• Inability to maintain the property in a clean and livable condition

All these problems can negatively affect the value attached to the property during the appraisal process. Bad tenants and vacancies can lead to the property being listed for foreclosure. However, this is not to mean that the BRRRR strategy is not very effective; it is to make one aware of the need to be keen on every step of this investment strategy.

Refinancing

Refinancing is the fourth step. There are two refinancing options that are commonly offered by the banks.

1. Cash-out refinance: Under this option, the bank offers a new higher mortgage on the rehabbed and rented property to replace the old mortgage. This allows the property owner to gain some cash from the deal. Some of the benefits that an investor will gain with this option include:

• Reduced interest rate
• Renegotiated repayment period
• Decreased monthly payments

2. Debt pay-off option: Under this option, you pay off the existing loan only and negotiate new terms attached to the new rehabilitated and rented out property. This allows the investor to get out of the unfavorable terms and negotiate new terms that are favorable.

As an investor, you should choose the first option as it sets you up to repeat the process.

Things to consider while choosing the lender:

• ‘Seasoning period’: this is the period that the bank will require that the borrower owns the property before they can consider refinancing it.
• Refinancing pre-approval: it is always a good idea to get pre-approved by the bank you are planning to use before you buy the property. A delay or failure to be refinanced can stop the BRRRR investor from expanding their portfolio and leave them cash strapped.

This is very important with single-family homes that are not easily approved for a refinance.

How to prepare for an appraisal

The appraisal process is very important and will play a big role in determining how successful the investment was. At this point, the investor gets to know how much their property is valued by the mortgage market. Their goal all along was to ensure that the property fetched as high an appraisal value as possible. Below are some tips that can lead to the property getting a higher appraisal value:

• Ensure the property is clean on the day of the appraisal
• Ensure the appraiser gets access to the property to avoid drive-by appraisal
• Ensure that you inform the tenants of the upcoming appraisal so as to gain access easily

If you do not know the banks that are offering refinancing options, you can easily find them on websites such as CoreLogic or ListSource.

Repeat

After you have successfully completed your refinance process, it’s time to analyze the whole project and the lessons learned. The whole process will have accumulated a lot of paperwork.

As a  real estate investor with a growing portfolio, execos.com helps you keep all your paperwork, documents, and any other important information securely in one place. We have helped thousands of real estate investors organize their documents and access them any time they need them when pursuing the BRRRR strategy.
To ensure all your documents are well-organized use execos.com for ease of access and guaranteed security.

Benefits of BRRRR Strategy

1. Scalability: it is relatively easy to build a profitable real estate portfolio with BRRRR. You start with one property and can use that property to gradually acquire more properties one at a time.
2. Growth in skill and experience: with the first property, you might feel overwhelmed but as you continue increasing your portfolio you learn more about best repairs, best contractors, value addition, among others. As the investor gains more experience they make better decisions on the property to buy, the estimated repair cost, and the items that add the most value to the property.
3. Passive Income: When well-executed, this strategy can guarantee an investor a consistent income contributing to the growth of their net worth.
4. Does not require a lot of capital to start: If you get the right deal, you can start with very little out of pocket cash. Your passive income can then grow as you increase your portfolio without injecting more out of pocket cash.
5. Potential to attract quality tenants. After rehabilitating a property using the latest trends in house design, the potential to attract high-quality tenants who are willing to pay top dollar increases.

Cons of BRRRR Strategy

1. It is not easy to get a good contractor who’ll give a repair cost estimate that matches the actual cost of the repair. In many cases, contractors have ended up inflating the repair cost while the work is ongoing by adding new items that need to be replaced.
2. If you are purchasing a property out of State, the property may be vandalized while still being repaired. This happens if the property is in a neighborhood with a higher security risk and the contractor takes too long to complete the repair.
3. It can sometimes take too long to find a tenant, even for a good house, because the price is seen as too high or the economy is not doing very well. In most cases when this happens, the landlord has to lower the rent while still incurring lost rental income when the property is vacant.
4. Getting the right tenant at the set price is not easy and can sometimes take too long. Landlords however prefer to wait for a tenant who’ll meet their requirements and not lower the property value by causing unnecessary damages or present problems when it's time to pay their rent. Even with a thorough screening process, some bad tenants can still pass as meeting your set criteria.
5. High interest rates: Expensive mortgages/loans can scuttle even the best laid BRRRR plans.

The Risks of BRRRR Strategy

1. Long renovation period: This can be caused by a dishonest contractor or other factors outside of anyone’s control. For instance, extreme weather will cause a project to be delayed for the safety of the contractor’s staff as well as the quality of the work. It is therefore important that you consider the season before starting out on a renovation project. Renovations projects stopped halfway for long will sometimes cost more as some of the repaired and exposed areas might be damaged. Contractors who are not fully invested in the project can also delay the project by limiting the manpower working on the project or by being absent from the site for many days. Delays in renovation translate to a loss of potential rental income and can affect the refinancing plan. Since the investor has already tied his capital to the project, it would be best for the rehab to end as soon as possible and for a tenant to settle into the property. This way they are able to cash out first and move on to the next project.
   
2. Economic Upheaval: Economic upheaval can cause vacancies or cause tenants to be unable to pay their rent on time. Lack of consistency in income can make BRRRR strategy ineffective in the long term. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government banned eviction of tenants under some income categories. This order did not extend to the banks foreclosing on properties and is expected to have a long term impact on investors holding BRRRR guided property portfolios. It is therefore important for an investor to take into consideration the market status before venturing into this investment strategy.
   

Is BRRRRR Strategy Right for you?

Based on the information we have discussed up to this point, what is left is deciding whether the BRRRR strategy is right for you or not.

This strategy works best for people looking to grow their passive income from their real estate portfolio. It is a slow process and you have to be patient and ready for hiccups along the way. However, when done right, you can be sure of great success in the long term.

In addition, investors willing to go through this route must be ready to get their hands dirty. You must be willing to do a lot of research, engage contractors, and monitor renovations.

If you do not have the time, will, or ability to keep with the demands of this strategy, you could still partner with somebody to make it work.

Conclusion

BRRRR strategy is a very effective method of growing a profitable real estate portfolio gradually. When implemented well the investor is able to secure passive consistent income that keeps growing as the market grows and their portfolio expands. Before deciding on the property to buy, the investor should do their due diligence to understand the rental market in that area, refinancing options for the property, and the repairs required to make the property livable and functional. Failure to do due diligence can lead to high repair costs incurred, low rental income, or low appraisal value. The investor should keep in mind how much the property is bringing in and the possibility of short term vacancies when negotiating refinancing options. This strategy remains one the best real estate investment strategies for investors looking to grow their portfolio gradually.