HELP FROM THE PROS!!!

[Corey Williams]

I am going to spill my guts and provide you with as much information as I have. This is for a personal residence and not and investment property although our current home could become a rental property.

For starters our house (by our house I mean my wife and I) is not on the market yet and the house we are looking to buy is teetering on the edge of foreclosure. It was schedule to begin foreclosure on April 1st but has been given a little extra life by the owner. Any offer is subject to the bank’s approval, but the owner still has to sign the paperwork. Plus the bank will not accept a contingency offer for us to sell our house first, and the house is being sold “As-is”, which I am familiar with “As-is” and have no problem with that. All of this is information provided by the listing agent.

I know; we could sell our house and hope the other one is still on the market, but I don't think we have that much time for this particular house. Plus there are additional details with the financial math, which is why I am here. This may be the perfect project to springboard me into REI.

Here are the details: We owe $137k on our house and I would market it for $150k - $155k. (I don’t have detailed comps but I would consider this a moderate price). The equity we have is our only source of cash for the new purchase, which if we list with an agent wont leave us with much for a down payment after paying the commission. Plus I would love to rent it out until the market picks up but we couldn’t get approved conventionally to carry two mortgages.

The house we are looking at is listed for $239,900, down from $259,900 when the owner first listed it. Even at $260k it was at the low end of a $260k to $280k neighborhood. The “As-is” part of the sale wouldn’t require major expense up front and the value could get back up there with a little TLC, which quite frankly, I would be looking forward to.

I realize cash is king and if I had it, I would make the deal and buy the house. My credit score is excellent, but all of our extra cash is paying down debt right now, which isn’t a lot, but it is still debt. I have a strong desire to invest in real estate and if this deal can’t be made right now then so be it. But I would love all of your opinions on how to make this happen. Please feel free to contact me via private post if you can help or simply post your thoughts to help me out on future deals.

Maybe, at the very least I could point you to the house for a finders fee!

THANKS!
Corey