Be Live In RealtyInvestments
Real estate investment starts with the right numbers.
Buying an investment property requires more than finding an opportunity. It means analyzing location, income potential, property condition, costs, financing and the exit strategy.
Properties for income and appreciation
Our team helps identify and evaluate residential properties, multifamily buildings and opportunities with renovation or appreciation potential.
We consider purchase price, estimated income, property condition, recurring expenses and potential return.
Massachusetts landlord rules that start applying the day you own tenants
Massachusetts is a strict landlord-tenant state, and most of the strictness is procedural: deadlines, accounts, forms and notices. All of it is expensive to discover late.
Security deposits
At move-in you may collect first month, last month, a security deposit no greater than one month's rent, and the cost of a new lock and key. That list is closed. A deposit goes into a separate Massachusetts interest-bearing account, the tenant gets a written receipt naming the bank and the account, interest is owed annually, and a statement of condition has to reach the tenant within ten days of tenancy. The penalty for getting the deposit wrong runs to three times the deposit plus interest, costs and attorney's fees.
Lead paint
A dwelling built before 1978 that will house a child under six has to be brought into compliance, and disclosure is required at sale and at let. In a three-family that is three units of work rather than one. Put it in the acquisition budget.
You buy the tenancies with the building
Existing leases and tenancies at will transfer at closing, on their existing terms. There is no self-help in Massachusetts: no lock change, no utility shutoff, no removing belongings. Only a court moves a tenant out.
Water and sewer, and whether it is legally submeterable
On most of this stock the bill follows the building, not the unit, and in these cities it is not a rounding error. Massachusetts allows a landlord to bill a tenant for water only under specific conditions, including certified low-flow fixtures and a written agreement, so assume the building's bill is yours until somebody proves otherwise.
Five units is a different loan entirely
Two to four units is residential financing. At five the same building becomes commercial underwriting: different terms, usually a shorter fixed period, and often a balloon.
The unit that is not on the card
A finished attic or basement apartment that was never permitted is a risk. An appraiser may refuse to count its income, a lender may decline the file, an insurer may exclude it, and the city can order it back out. Whether the building's legal use matches what you walked through is a question to answer before the offer.
Advertising a vacancy is regulated too
Massachusetts law protects more classes than federal fair housing does, including sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age, ancestry, military status, and receipt of public assistance or a housing subsidy. Refusing a Section 8 voucher is unlawful here. How a vacancy is advertised and screened is part of running the building, and we go through it with you.
Which of these is worth an hour of a lawyer.
The tenancies and the deposits, every time. What a particular tenancy at will requires, and whether the deposits you are inheriting were handled correctly, is a question for a lawyer: inheriting a mishandled deposit means inheriting the liability. We flag it during diligence.
Short-term financing
Hard Money
When an opportunity requires speed or a property does not yet qualify for traditional financing, hard money may be an option.
Terms, rates, timelines and approval are subject to the project review and the financing provider.
Who the lender is.
The lending described here is done by the broker through Crowd Lending Inc., a separate company from this brokerage. It is lending on investment property for business purposes, not on a home you will live in. Price a competing quote before you take that one.
Get it in writing before you plan around it.
Programme rules move. Whatever you are told on the phone, ask for it in writing, from the lender who will actually write your loan.
The numbers
Buy, renovate and sell
A successful flip starts before the purchase. Investors must calculate the total acquisition cost, renovation budget, holding period, selling expenses and expected value after the work is completed.
Be Live In Realty’s experience with properties and renovations helps investors identify risks, evaluate potential and build a clearer exit strategy.
Load a starting point
Round starting numbers, not comparables. Replace them with the deal in front of you.
- Cosmetic Two-family, paint, floors, one kitchen, six months.
- Systems Single, new heat and electrical, kitchen and bath, nine months.
- Gut Cape taken back to the studs, eleven months, permits throughout.
What the deal says
- Total costPurchase plus rehab. Financing, carry and closing are not in this line.
- $580,000
- Gross profitSale price less total cost, before financing, carry and closing.
- $95,000
- Margin on sale priceGross profit divided by the sale price. The number a lender asks for first.
- 14.1%
- Capital tied up per month heldPurchase plus rehab, divided by the months you hold it. Not what a month costs to carry: taxes, insurance, utilities and interest are not in this figure.
- $96,667
What comes out of it afterwards.
Points, interest on the drawn balance, taxes, utilities to keep heat in the building through a Massachusetts winter, and closing costs on both ends. And the one people meet late: a homeowner’s policy does not cover an empty house under renovation, so it needs a vacant-property or builder’s risk policy.
The walkthrough is where this stops being a spreadsheet.
The broker is part-owner of a painting and construction company. The walkthrough produces a scope: what has to be done before a lender will fund it, what can wait a year, what a contractor will charge for it in this market, and which of the items the inspector flags should change your offer.
If that company ends up doing the work, you get it in writing, and you should still take two other bids.
From the property to the exit strategy
01
Find
Identify properties that align with your investment goals.
02
Analyze
Review price, condition, income potential, renovation needs and costs.
03
Structure
Organize the purchase, financing and professionals involved.
04
Execute
Navigate the negotiation and prepare for the sale or long-term ownership of the property.
Considering an investment in Brazil?
Be Live In Realty also assists clients interested in real estate opportunities in Brazil or transactions involving Brazil and the United States.
Legal, tax and currency matters should be reviewed by qualified professionals in each area.
Comprar à distância: oito regras de prática no Brasil · Buying at a distance: eight rules of Brazilian practice
Escritura não é registro, e no Brasil quem não registra não é dono.
A propriedade se transfere no Registro de Imóveis, não na assinatura da escritura no tabelionato. São dois cartórios diferentes, em dois momentos diferentes, e a compra só está terminada quando a matrícula sai com o seu nome nela.
Title passes on registration at the Registro de Imóveis, not at the signing of the deed. Two different registries, two different moments. The purchase is finished only when the matrícula comes back with your name on it.
Sem CPF não há registro.
Todo comprador precisa de CPF, inclusive quem mora fora e inclusive quem nunca morou no Brasil. É gratuito e sai pelo consulado ou pela Receita, mas leva tempo. É a primeira coisa da fila, porque quase todo o resto depende dele.
Every buyer needs a CPF, including non-residents who have never lived in Brazil. It is free and it comes through the consulate, but it takes time. Almost everything else in the process depends on it, so it goes first.
A procuração precisa de apostila e de tradução juramentada.
Se você não vai voar para assinar, alguém assina por você. A procuração feita aqui tem de ter a firma reconhecida, ser apostilada (o Brasil é parte da Convenção de Haia desde 2016, então não é mais legalização consular) e ser traduzida por tradutor público. Feita na ordem errada, volta do cartório.
If you are not flying down to sign, someone signs for you. A power of attorney executed here has to be notarised, apostilled and translated by a sworn translator. Brazil joined the Hague Apostille Convention in 2016, so consular legalisation is no longer the route.
Quem vende é quem está na matrícula.
Matrícula atualizada e certidões negativas antes de qualquer sinal. É onde aparecem penhora, usufruto, inventário não terminado, dívida de condomínio e a metade do imóvel que é do irmão de alguém. Vendedor de boa-fé também tem imóvel com problema.
An up-to-date matrícula and the negative certificates, before any deposit. That is where liens, unfinished probate, a usufruct or somebody's brother's half of the property show up. Honest sellers own encumbered property too.
ITBI e custas de cartório entram na conta.
O imposto de transmissão é municipal, muda de cidade para cidade, e é pago antes da escritura. Somado às custas do tabelionato e do registro, é a diferença entre o preço combinado e o dinheiro que sai da sua conta. Você recebe esse número por escrito antes de assinar.
ITBI transfer tax is municipal, varies by city, and is paid before the deed. With notary and registry fees it is the gap between the agreed price and the money that leaves your account. You get that figure in writing first.
O câmbio tem de passar por instituição autorizada, e o contrato é o seu recibo.
Mandar o dinheiro por fora sai mais barato no dia e mais caro depois: o contrato de câmbio é o documento que comprova de onde veio o valor pago pelo imóvel, e é dele que você vai precisar no dia em que quiser trazer o dinheiro de volta ou explicar a origem ao fisco de qualquer um dos dois lados.
Transfers run through an authorised institution, and the exchange contract is the receipt. It evidences where the purchase money came from, and you will need it the day you want to bring proceeds back out.
Imóvel urbano é livre; terra rural e faixa de fronteira não são.
Estrangeiro compra apartamento e casa na cidade sem restrição. Imóvel rural tem limite de área e em vários casos exige autorização, e a faixa de 150 km da fronteira tem regra própria. Descobrir isso depois do sinal pago é caro.
Urban property is unrestricted for foreign buyers. Rural land is limited by area and often needs authorisation, and the 150 km border strip has rules of its own. Finding that out after the deposit is expensive.
Os dois países vão querer saber, e não existe tratado entre eles.
Brasil e Estados Unidos não têm tratado de dupla tributação, então aluguel recebido lá e ganho de capital na venda são tratados por dois sistemas que não conversam. Imóvel no Brasil em nome próprio não entra no FBAR. A conta bancária brasileira que você abriu para pagar por ele entra.
Brazil and the United States have no income tax treaty, so rental income there and capital gain on a sale meet two systems that do not talk to each other. Directly held foreign real estate is not an FBAR item. The Brazilian bank account you opened to pay for it is.
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