All Forum Posts by: Andrea Castor

I had my first "emotional" no a couple months back. We had a property on the market to sell but as it was getting close to winter, we were planning on taking the property off the market and trying again in the spring. Military family came to us, would make GREAT renters, but they only wanted a 3 mo lease. I was fine with that since I wanted the place back on market in 4 mo anyway. All was going to work out perfectly. Until we got an offer (for asking) the day they did their smartmove application. There was no signed agreement, I had been very clear our ultimate goal was to sell, and the property was still on the market. She was REALLY mad, pregnant and saying I put her in the hospital for stress to the baby, all kinds of harsh words. At the end of the day, I helped her find another rental even after all the nasty words, BUT, I had to do what was right for me. Tough sometimes...

I've experienced first hand the troubles on financing a condo as a rental period. When we bought our first property in 2009 we had to take a loan from family. We hated this idea but after talking to 12 local banks, it was our only option. Thankfully, we bought another condo in the same complex in 2012, banks eased up a bit and we were able to cash out refi, finance on both together saving on closing costs. We've learned the hard lessons of HOAs (letters about work trucks parking an 1") on the grass, sports "memorabilia" on the porch (it was a decorative plantar), etc. 

For this condo we have requested a copy of bylaws. Asked to see their financials and trying to talk to property manager. We *think* it's the same as our other properties. My biggest worry is that there is a special assessment coming up we don't know about and for an exit strategy whether they qualify for FHA financing (our other condos don't so hurts resale). We still managed to double our money on one though (purchased $42k and sold for $88k 2.5 yrs later).

Well the husband finally got inside to take a closer look. Substaintial dog damage. Even at close to asking price and with $10k in total rehab (rental comps do not require high end finishes) and a low $750/mo rent, looking at a cap rate of 16%.

Yes, exit strategy could always be to sell, most likely with owner financing or rent to own type thing, but this is more something we plan to hold at least 5 yrs but more like 20-30 (we are 32). We are not new to rentals but new to renting in this area.

Only comps:

2 bed, 1 bath 910 sq ft $42,500 12/2015

2 bed, 1 bath 910 sq ft $36,000 10/2015

2 bed, 1 bath 910 sq ft $45,900 7/2015

3 bed, 1 bath 1222 sq ft $48,000 4/2015

HOA fees, I'll admit, I typically do not like. Our other two rentals also have HOAs ($150 including trash only, no pool/clubhouse, just snow/lawncare/etc. BUT, HOA is $165/mo again, doesn't include a pool, club house, tennis courts. But, even with HOA $165/mo and taxes $120/mo I still like this deal...

If I couldn't refi some of the cash out, would you still move forward with the deal? $20k + $10k isn't a deal breaker for us, but also lowers the cash I have on hand for buy and sell properties.

looking at a condo in a B/B- neighborhood. Asking $24,900 but fairly confident a $20k cash offer would close the deal. It's a 3 bed, 1 bath (1300 sq ft) plus attached 1 car garage. Needs about $10k to get ready to rent. Will be able to rent between $700-$800/mo. 

My question is whether I'll be able to refinance? Comps in the area used to go around $50k, there is one listed for $46k but has been on the market for some time. The rest of the comps in a fairly large circumference have all been foreclosures around $25k-$35k. Assuming that's all it's worth, can you refinance for such a low amount? Is it even worth it? 

Two things to consider, but really not part of your question.

1) I'm not sure if the laws are any different there than Ohio, but assuming she doesn't have a large sum of cash stored away, and something happened and she'd have to go into a nursing home, they go back 5 years. If the house was in her name in the 5 years, she would have to sell it to pay for the nursing home before switching over to Medicare. If this happens, I think you could actually lose the money you are paying because the house was in her name during that period.

2) I'm not sure what the situation is with your other two siblings but assuming all of you live out of town and all of you equally care for your mother, they really should get a share of the house (assuming there isn't some other large stash of cash). Personally, I would have a plan in place to pay them the $250k in equity divided by 3 people. BUT, this should also be written out in her will.

Thank you for this answer! This is a way I hadn't thought about it yet. I really do want him to succeed in the business and I want a long term relationship with a good realtor for my benefit as well, so this seems like the perfect solution should it come down to it. Thank you!

We are working with a new realtor. He's only been in the business a few months but has a lot of experience. Overall, he really has been a great realtor on the few properties we've looked at/made offers on.

The issue is that he's looking to build his clientele and looking for other investors. The issue I have is when multiple clients of his are looking at the same property. What if both of his clients decide to bid on the same property? I feel like he couldn't really be in the best interest of both, knowing what both offers are.

This situation has not yet happened, but if it does, I'd like to be prepared.

Still new to REI, but feeling frustrated today. I know we can't win them all but still.

We bid on a bank owned property the first day it hit the market. Husband wanted to start low ($52k cash for $59,900 asking price) with ARV around $116k. I wanted to put in out REAL.offer of $59k we were willing to pay. Our realtor figured they would get multiple offers, the bank would ask for best and final.offers, then we could go to our $59k max.

Today we found out bank got multiple offers, all very close, but ours was not chosen. I'm obviously disappointed because we wanted to pay more. Is it typical to just choose one of the offers or more typical the banks give everyone another chance? Just trying to learn fornthe next time....