All Forum Posts by: David T.

We have a property on the market in Lawrenceville GA for over 6 months now. It's a really nicely finished home on a corner lot, but with pine trees all around. It comps at $140-$160K and we're offering it at $139k 

In summary, The offer is $3000 down, $1200 per month for three months and then close in 3 months at $135k. they want 3% toward closing costs, a $5000 damp proofing upgrade on a former flood issue in the basement and also assuming anything else fixed they might find while living there. 

Of course we also have 6% Realtor fees to cover out of that. 

I have my own ideas about this, but where better to get real world feedback and experience than from the BP community!

Thanks in advance for your input.

@sam hadad, it is very difficult to acquire property through a Realtor unless you want to pay full retail retail price, that's why so many Investors have their own realtor licences or have that level of control. We've been in Atl for over a year and have not bought anything through a Realtor yet, but we will look at what they offer.

Rather than spend so much time trawling through listings, it might be a better approach to put yourself out there (as in detail about what you're looking for) as an Investor looking for a deal and get yourself onto wholesalers lists. It might take some time, but even a one eyed blind squirrel will find the odd nut - as long as it keeps hunting!

Good luck with your efforts.

Well, this is all interesting. For those of you who say one is as important as the other, that's just fence sitting which is also risky because you can get splinters from doing that - and deservedly so! Fence sitting is also a risky business, don't you know? 

For those of you who say the plan is more important than execution, why have so many people come into the business (and still do) without any plan and still manage to be successful?

Without diminishing the importance of a good plan, it looks as if 'tis the execution that will ultimately win through on a deal?

Fist thing i would do is get title insurance - if you have not done this already? Congrats and good luck with it, looks like you're on a steep learning curve which is cool. 

All I would say is be very wary of Auction.com and check with a knowledgeable local Realtor before you jump. Also ensure you are able to get title insurance on the property before you bid. Best of luck with it.

Many Economists are becoming concerned at the possibility of negative interest rates becoming a real possibility. I wrote about this in a recent blog;

http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/4226/blog_posts...

This was about a month ago and several articles have appeared since...

A lot of people seem to get into difficulty when borrowing from relatives and friends for their first property deal, so I wrote a blog about it; 

http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/4226/blog_posts...

It would be interesting to hear from the community about your experience with this particular situation. Thanks!

Thank you all for some very interesting posts, but maybe we're losing sight of the proposition. We're talking about property rehabs and flips, not building a software solution or a trip to Mars. Is investing in property as complicated as that? What does it take to put together a plan? what does it take to execute that plan? And which is more important? Is it fair to say that many people who come into the business don't really have a plan and are just trying to focus on the execution?

I've been in a debate with a colleague about this subject lately and wanted to see how the BP community feels about it. So when you've found you're deal, which is the more fundamental - your plan or its execution?

If your hard money loan for a six month flip comes in costing more than 10% of the retail (ARV) value of the property, you're probably paying too much for your money.

All pro hard money lenders are pessimists, they don't expect their money back and will lock up the deal accordingly.