All Forum Posts by: Sam Alpha

@Luis Cardona the deal was great had it worked out.  It would have given me $30-40k equity on a property that cost me $140k.  

What is done is done.  I am comfortable with the fact that it wasn't meant to be. 

I have started to search for other properties, so if you have a C/D property in an A area that you do not want for whatever reason, do get in touch.

Thank you for the kind words.

@David Ramirez thank you for the vote of confidence.  The lessons have to be learnt and we live another day to tell a better story for the future.  

It was a bummer that it fell through because of ONE person.  I guess that in itself is a lesson that, no matter how strong a team you have around you, one person is all it takes to unfold the hard work of many.

I will PM you his details.

@Eric H. you can always mention the seller here and I'm sure someone from Orlando here on BP may be able to give you an idea on their reputability.

Eric, you may also want to consider that one person can get the job done for $25k, where as the next has good contacts for cheaper labor and good workmanship and can get the same job done for $10-15k.  Sometimes, investing in building a good team is the key.

@Justin Stamper I would be a little more comfortable buying from someone on here (not that it guarantees anything), than out on the streets.  Being on BP kind of forces people to be a little more ethical as their reputation could go downhill pretty fast.

I want to thank all the generous contributors (esp Wayne Brooks) for answering my questions and throwing out advice here on the thread.  My motivation to pursue this, comes from knowing that there are giving people out there and that I will not be alone when I need that moment of calm.

It looks like after all said and done, I will be walking away empty handed from this deal-to-be.  It's disappointing to have lost it the way I did.  I slept on average of 3 hours a day for the 12 -14 days that I was trying to work on it.  I contacted various people for advice and questions, I got my finances set, as well as had my backup plan in place and I had everything covered on my end to close on this.  

Even though I missed out on this, I've dusted myself off and am back to searching and educating myself.  I will be analyzing the "what I could have done better" and what systems to implement to avoid a repeat of this.

In short, the whole deal was screwed up by the attorney we hired.  Someone on here had suggested we get one and it sounded like good advice, based on my lack of experience, sensitivity of time factor and the returns on this deal.  He fought us in every way he could until the last two days before auction.  He was slow in his action (but told us that the counter party was not responding), reluctant to do what we asked of him and lied on things that he could have done by saying it was not a possibility.

In short, a team came in on the last day and got done what I tried doing over two weeks.  I feel aggravated as I (and everyone i worked with) had done my part, only to have an attorney drop the ball in the most unprofessional of ways.

I'm meeting the ex-owner tomorrow over coffee.  We built a good relationship over the short period and he will tell me how the deal was done with this team.  It is not for any reason, but purely educational purposes.  Truth be told, I admire the way they completed the deal so swiftly and I command them on that.  

On my side, this was a hard lesson learnt.  I lick my wounds and come to fight another day.

@Wayne Brooks it looks like I might have missed out on a great deal in exchange for some very good and hard lessons!  I will be posting the happenings on that property in more detail with the aim of extracting "what could have been done differently/better" and what I will implement to be better prepared for the next time a situation such as this arises.

For now, I just want to say a very sincere THANK YOU to you for your time.  You took a great deal of time to show me and help me search for the appropriate information.  It was a moment when I was in need and you helped me through that little storm. You really are a top guy!

@Erin Legler that is a nice little pick of choices you have there.  I agree with on them.  However, I am not familiar with T.P. and D.P.  Btw, what do you think of downtown (as in, the heart of down town)?

Wishing you the best with the case and here's to a fast approaching Feb.

Glenn, THANK YOU for the wise words!  There is a lot of value in what you say.  Most of my goals are aligned with what you have done.  However, I have a weakness in one area that you have mentioned.

"Don't over analyze looking for the perfect deal!"

I don't over analyze much, as I run my numbers pretty quick and decide on "yes" or "no". However, I am a sucker for great deals.  There are a couple of reasons to this.  The first is that I take it as a challenge. It is the game that creates excitement for me, esp if the outcome is a good one.  

The problem is that with being a newbie, the outcome may not be a good one most times. That equates to lost time, money and energy.  I am very aware of the fact that it is overall a losing game, but I have to work on my psychology on this.  

Like you said in your post, "Buying and holding is a long term strategy...............focus on the end goal"

The second reason for trying to get good deals is that if you can get a 10-20% built in equity off the bat, it has the advantage of:

- taking a big part of the risk factor off the table

- built in equity that can be utilized as required

- better cash flow

There are a lot of people on BPs that say that "money is made on the front end in RE". I have not looked into the details of this, but it sounds like good logic.

On the other hand, I can see where you are coming from.  If you end up paying market value (let's say an additional $30k), you may end up paying slightly more interest and monthly payments.  The numbers in the long run tend to be significant.  However, they are negligible on a monthly basis and it is better to have someone paying down that mortgage earlier than to have to wait for that perfect deal at a later time (and they are far and between).

I would love to hear what you have to say about the above.  Feel free to start a new post or PM me as I do not want to interrupt this thread, that is here to celebrate your success and freedom.

Once again, CONGRATS and thank you for taking your time to answer my post.

 The margins in Orange and (esp.) Seminole county are slim for a reason.  There are many areas that are classified A and have the advantage of having good rents with decent cash flow, "good" tenants and VERY LOW vacancy rates.  This combination allows properties to become low maintenance  and require very little attention.  You save a lot of time and hassle with properties like this, which indirectly also equates to $$$.

I am not as familiar with O.C as I am with S.C.  Besides, Lake Nona, College Park, Dr. Philips and Celebration, which areas would you classify as A?

Hi @Erin Legler I really like your optimistic and collected attitude.  It's true that in RE unforeseen circumstances do come up.  However, this situation here is one where you can't move forward until the "tenant" moves out.  

Are you going through the eviction process? 

Does the Obama tenant law protect the "tenant" in this case?.  

Regardless, at least you will be an expert at the eviction process so your future tenants better watch out ;-)

Wishing you an easy out on this and keep us updated as I think there may be a good lesson or two to learn from this.