All Forum Posts by: Andrew Freed

@Jonathan Greene - Thanks for the introduction!

@Robert Vardaro - My team and I are happy to see what is out there if  you are looking in Western Mass. We are investor focsued and specialize in and around the Worcester market and given your price point, that may seem like the best fit. Are you looking for a single family flip, multifamily? Given your capital, it sounds like you would have to go hard money so they can cover the renovation of the property. Happy to jump on a call and see how we can help you find something that makes sense. 

For next steps, I would highly recommend you get in contact with a hard money lender and get your lending in place so you can start making offers. At that point, it is simply determining how many properties you need to walk each week, making offers (you do not need to offer list price, you offer what makes sense) and eventually you will find a deal. It's a numbers game and the more shots you take, the higher liklihood you will find something that makes sense. 

@Tre DeBraga - In addition to the Simplified REI meetups (I host the Worcester meetup - next one is on 4/17), Enis Shehu also hosts a solid one in Framingham, White Acres. I'd definitely check that one out. There is also a really great meetup at Patriots place once a month, Cocktail connections and real estate. Those are some of the bigger meetups in our area.

@Michael Greer - Theresa had a lot of good points. To add to it, not sure about your state, however in Mass, families are a protected class hence we cannot discriminate tenants or applicants based on their family orientation. If we did discriminate based on the number of children or pregenancy, that would open me up to lawsuits. You should also review your state's laws to see what protected classes are for future reference as well. 

@Travis Call - You can target commercial properties which are more based on the income of the property and less so you're income. If I were you, I'd focus on commecial assets (5+ unit multifamily) and possibly partner or JV with someone who is stronger on paper to outweigh some of your weaknesses.

If you were targeting residential properties, you can also get a co-signer who can help get you over some of the barriers you face. These are a couple options I'd look into if i were in your shoes. 

@Tyler Case - You could offer someone a promissory note or a debt play, e.g. someone brings the downpayment and renovation costs and you pay them a flat 10-12% interest on their money with the plan to refinance their funds out down the road. Since you will basically be doing all the work including finding the deal, doing the construction and leasing/renting it out, that might make sense from a structure standpoint. They could have a lien on the property in case you default for some reason to provide the investor some assurances. Based on what you are looking to do, this might make sense. There are a million ways to slice an orange, it all depends on what you are looking to do in the short term and long term. 

@Sonia N. - Awesome! Yes, I'll definitely be going to BP Con, can't wait! I also host a local real estate meetup in Worcester if you want to connect before hand. My next meetup is on 4/17 at the Bay State Brewery in Worcester from 6:30 to 9 pm. We normally have a good 50 to 60 people. Looking forward to connecting soon. 

@Joseph Wojciechowski - You can also do a FHA 203K loan which requires a small downpayment of around 3.5% and they cover the renovation costs. I believe they have streamlined FHA 203K loans when the rehab is less than $35K which has less red tape associated with it. Definitely a question for a lender however this seems like a good option given your capital situation.

@Eric Edling - Have you considered selling your property to give you some breathing room? If your property is worth a million, your return on equity in small at best. You could use that equity to buy way more proprety that spit out cash flow as opposed to a single family which is purely an equity play. I would consider selling, using those funds to get yourself back on your rent, rent and look to redeploy that money into cash flowing real estate. Just a thought. Better to get paid for your house than to lose it to the bank. 

Lastly, do you have a 401K you can borrow from or cash out? That is also another option given your situation. 

Awesome, looking forward to it! 

Both the seller and buyer pay for closing costs, but they are different depending each side. For instance, buyers normally have to pay for origination fees from the lender, insurance, appraisal, attorney/title fees etc. Seller's also have to pay an attorney/title company to close, complete a smoke cert, recording costs etc. Normally closing costs amount to 1-2% of the purchase price for each side. One strategy I like to do is build in seller credits into my offers so the loan covers the closing costs, e.g. if you wanted to offer $500K for a property, offer $510K with $10K towards closing costs and that $10K is supported by the loan and can be used on the costs I mentioned above. I hope this helps!