All Forum Posts by: Alejandro Ruiz

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Summerville.

Purchase price: $205,000
Cash invested: $15,000

Pre-foreclosure home for my primary residence. Found this property and made and offer after walking it. The house was on the market 6 days and already had 11 offers. Asking price was $189,000. Knowing that there was multiple offer on the table, I offered $205,000 and paid closing costs. Knowing the market and the area this was still a good deal.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

it was great price for the location. and I was looking for a good school district for my daughter.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

found it in the MLS with my agent at the time. I asked him to look for pre foreclosures and houses that needed to be fixed. I saw this property and he did not want to show me because it a pre-foreclosure and it would take too long to close a deal. I fired him and got another realtor who showed me a few properties including this one.

How did you finance this deal?

I was looking for a 203K loan but since this house was in good enough condition to live in it, I did an FHA loan and put down 5%.

How did you add value to the deal?

Still updating a few things like kitchen, floors, bathrooms, curb appeal. Comps in the neighborhood are around $120 - $130p/sqft and I purchased at $91/sqft.

What was the outcome?

Still living in it.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

not all agents are good agents, I fired my agent and it was and awkward conversation but glad I did because the next one was quick to show me this property and wasn't scared of doing extra work in the case it went to a short sale.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Summerville.

Purchase price: $205,000
Cash invested: $15,000

Pre-foreclosure home for my primary residence. Wanted a good location with good school district. Found this property and made and offer after walking it. The house was on the market 6 days and already had 11 offers, I was the 12th offer. asking price was $189,000. Knowing that there was multiple offer on the table, I offered $205,000 and paid closing costs. Knowing the market and the area this was still a good deal. I was all in for $210,000. I am slowly updating and fixing the property and keep it as a buy and hold. I'm building some sweat equity so it can fund future deals for me.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

it was great price for the location. and I was looking for a good school district for my daughter.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

found it in the MLS with my agent at the time. I asked him to look for pre foreclosures and houses that needed to be fixed. I saw this property and he did not want to show me because it a pre-foreclosure and it would take too long to close a deal. I fired him and got another realtor who showed me a few properties including this one.

How did you finance this deal?

I was looking for a 203K loan but since this house was in good enough condition to live in it, I did an FHA loan and put down 5%.

How did you add value to the deal?

Still updating a few things like kitchen, floors, bathrooms, curb appeal. Comps in the neighborhood are around $120 - $130p/sqft and I purchased at $91/sqft.

What was the outcome?

Still living in it.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

not all agents are good agents, I fired my agent and it was and awkward conversation but glad I did because the next one was quick to show me this property and wasn't scared of doing extra work in the case it went to a short sale.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Summerville.

Purchase price: $205,000
Cash invested: $15,000

Pre-foreclosure home for my primary residence. Wanted a good location with good school district. Found this property and made and offer after walking it. The house was on the market 6 days and already had 11 offers, I was the 12th offer. asking price was $189,000. Knowing that there was multiple offer on the table, I offered $205,000 and paid closing costs. Knowing the market and the area this was still a good deal. I was all in for $210,000. I am slowly updating and fixing the property and keep it as a buy and hold. I'm building some sweat equity so it can fund future deals for me.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

it was great price for the location. and I was looking for a good school district for my daughter.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

found it in the MLS with my agent at the time. I asked him to look for pre foreclosures and houses that needed to be fixed. I saw this property and he did not want to show me because it a pre-foreclosure and it would take too long to close a deal. I fired him and got another realtor who showed me a few properties including this one.

How did you finance this deal?

I was looking for a 203K loan but since this house was in good enough condition to live in it, I did an FHA loan and put down 5%.

How did you add value to the deal?

Still updating a few things like kitchen, floors, bathrooms, curb appeal. Comps in the neighborhood are around $120 - $130p/sqft and I purchased at $91/sqft.

What was the outcome?

Still living in it.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

not all agents are good agents, I fired my agent and it was and awkward conversation but glad I did because the next one was quick to show me this property and wasn't scared of doing extra work in the case it went to a short sale.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in Cabot.

Purchase price: $150,000
Cash invested: $1

Duplex I house hacked for a year before moving out of state again.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I wanted to cut my living expense and house hacking was the best way.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Found this deal with a realtor. I asked her to show me all multi family properties in the area and this one made the most sense. Asking price was $155,000 and we agreed to $150,000.

How did you finance this deal?

Since I'm military and the house was in good condition, I was approved for a VA loan 0% down.

How did you add value to the deal?

Nothing big was wrong with the property. I did a little yard work fixed the back door and was able to get it rented within the first month.

What was the outcome?

Still own it and rent both sides out. I now live in South Carolina and have a property manager looking after the property.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Learned a lot on how to screen tennant properly. I went through 3, 12 month leases the first 6 months. lol that taught me a few good lessons and how quickly a unit can get damaged in a few months.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

My lender Lee Welfel, is an investor himself he does it all and is very knowledgeable about loan process and real estate. My agent was Diana Dominguez, she is crushing the Little Rock market out there.