RE Encouragement during Virus so just ASK !!

[Todd Powell]

These are very crazy times! My stock portfolio has dropped $200,000, W2 commission sales are in the tank, and some tenants are freaking out, but you can still work your business during these times! I wanted to share a couple of stories as encouragement in these fearful times. My motto, Just Ask.

I have two owner carries 4 plex deals, and I approached both sellers weeks ago when I saw non owner occupied refi loans were around 3.6%. My current loans are 5% (with a 8 year balloon coming due), and 4.75% for a balance of 28 years. I contacted my mortgage note holders and decided to ask; namely, if they would work with me or I would refinance. MY one note of 5% and a balloon in 8 years, Gloria had totally forgot we even had a balloon. She had recently told her daughter it was a 30 year loan and her kids would have some monthly income. My real goal was to refi now while rates were low and not risk 8 years from now. OF course, she opened the door by saying, "you probably want a lower rate too, huh?" OF course, I walked through the door. She took a couple days and had agreed to a rate reduction of 4% that I had asked for, but did not want to give up the balloon in 8 years, so I said on the phone call I would have to refinance her. She quickly said, "okay, lets cut to the chase here," and agreed to do a loan modification at 4%, drop the balloon and refinance for another 30 years, which dropped my payments roughly $170 per month, while also saving me tens of thousands on my loan over the years.

I thought, hmmmm, why not ask again, so I contacted Steve who also held a loan at 4.75% with 18 years still owed, and got him to drop down to the same 4% just refinancing the 28 year term, which dropped the payment $70 per month. I just decided to ask, as both of these older owners did not want the depreciation recapture as well as capital gains.

I also have a house flip I am buying and the wholesaler and I met with the seller 3 weeks ago and she was firm at $250,000! The house needs $40-50K in rehab and the ARV is around $350,000. Sadly, her son got on meth and destroyed the house she was letting him and his friends live in. He took a sledge hammer fighting "demons" and messed up the entire drywall of the house, along with massive trash and garbage everywhere. With the Virus I decided to tell my wholesaler that I was getting cold feet, which frankly was true, and to ask for a price reduction. I decided to ASK. I was hoping for a $5-10,000 reduction and he was able to get a $25,000 reduction!

So, during these crazy times, I helped myself purely by asking. There is a lot of fear, and sometimes that can help you in some RE situations. Just ASK!