All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Thanks all for your advice, especially Joel. We will actually pay cash for this purchase, so at least no fraud from lender perspective. But I understand your point and I have instructed my agent to hold the offer for several more days. Thanks Joel for putting a specific $ amount on each item. We also estimate around $40K for the repair. But it is based on our experience with SFH home repairs. We spend around $10K for SFH homes in similar condition, so we figure $40K for this property.

The rent for this complex is between $600 to $650. Each unit is a 2 bedroom 2.5 bathroom side by side townhome style quadplex. Have not seen one below that range yet. Originally I did not think I feel comfortable dealing with renters in this price range. However, the return is too good to pass. The location is very convenient and the school is almost top-notched. However, not sure renters in this price range care about schools or not. As a principle, I only buy properties in good school districts.

I also have the same concern about those other 20 quadplexs as you do. When I check CMAs, almost none of them provide washer/dryer, other than washer/dryer connection. If I do get this property, I plan to provide washer/dryer in each unit to make my units stand out and charge $600. Hopefully that will be enough to beat the competition besides keeping the place clean and safe. There are some distance between those 20 quadplexs. At lease the ones just surrounding this one look ok. Even though I will not want to live in this complex for sure, I still think it is a safe place to live for other people.

By the way, my husband and I are professionals with full-time jobs. We started investing in RE last year. Some of our SFHs are currently handled by a property management company. As I learn more and more about this rental business, I have taken over some front end management and so far so good. It is not so much as saving the money as I feel I could do a better job. We have a trusted handyman who takes care of most of the repair since neither my husband nor I know much about repair. After many trial and error, I think we finally reach a point now that we could kind of differentiate good repair from bad repair and how much it will cost. When we first started, we only dared to buy homes in very good condition with minimal repair. Fortunately our timing was very good. I don't think I will ever be able to buy those homes in those prices again. Not even now.

That is too bad. So I guess I need to wait several more days.

More question. Submit the offer yesterday. My agent got a call from the listing agent today and ask us to sign an Owner-Occupant addendum. Apparently Wells Fargo has a homebuyer priority program and only consider owner-occupant offer the first 12 days. My question is if we only rent out three unit and keep one unit vacant for one year, could this be a workaround? We do have a primary residency nearby, which has been fully paid off.

Thanks for your advice. I want donut too. But donut is too expensive. Besides, there is no SFH below $100K in this A- area, including C neighborhood.

The house was forclosed on 9/6/2011. Not sure whether the lease of all tenants expired now. The house was built in 1982. Don't see any major structural problems.

Also I just checked the history of this property. It was sold last time in 2004 for $320K. No wonder it is forclosed now.

The taxes will be around $3000 and insurance around $1500. The tenants will pay the water, gas, power bills. There are seperate meters for each unit. Based on CMA and MLS, that is how other tenants pay in this complex. There are about 20 quadplax in this complex.

We really don't know a good GC at the moment. But we do need submit the offer quick. Based on the MLS, the DOM in this complex seems very short. There are only 4 sold records in the last two years, around $150K, $120K, $80K, $60K. The reason I would like to pay more than $75K is that for one sold record, the list price is $96K, but the sold price is $120K. One record, the list price is $75K, the sold price is $80K. There are two other listed for sale, one is $260K, the other $150K a pending short sale.

I have bought several SFH in the past. Alwasy hesitant to buy MFH because of unknown. Just run across a seeming good deal. But not sure how much to pay? It is a bank forclosed quadplex with all 4 units vacant. The quadplax is in a B- to C neighborhood within a A- area. Lots of apartment homes nearby. The rent is between $600-$650 with tenants' paying all utitilies. Only lawn care and pest control will be landlord's responsibilities. The bank has already put new carpet and new paint in every unit. But still some work to do. The siding will need to be replaced. The roof is also questionable. The HVAC units are old. The listing price is $75K. I am really interested in buying this property. But not sure how much to pay? I plan to offer $90K cash with $20K downpayment. Not sure whether I should increase my offer to $95K or even higher?

Thanks for your advice in advance.