All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

well, first off welcom, you are in the right place. Since those questions are pretty broad. I think the first thing to do would be to look around the different forums. Similar questions have been asked several times. check out the threads and the responses to get a little bit of insight, then see figure out which questions would be best for your unique situation. There are many people here that would be glad to help you. It is a great place for good, honest (and sometimes brutal :D ) advice.

Ha Ha, did you ever see Randy Quaid in Caddy Shack 2?

I think the theory on this is that once you have the home on the market. it is more likely to sell, than it would be for a buyer to back out. I can't tell you home many buyers I've lost this summer alone due to things such as illness, decided not to relocate, finances were a mess, changed their investment strategy, realized they needed cash down to cash flow, wanted to buy REO's and non REO's at 50% in a sellers market. the list goes on and on. I actually prefer working with buyers though because it makes me more on top of my game and familiar with trends in the different areas and since I work mainly with investors, it makes me able to represent my clients better. With sellers, you look at one property, with buyers, you see them all!

HA, HA, did he really say 40%. I'm all about positive mental attitude but WOW! I wish I was around to be a part of this thread when it was happening just to have something to chuckle about when I was driving around, but I was too busy out there making 50% :D Heck I'll take 3% of purchase price which is 100% of earnest money, get my irons out of the fire and then take that money and put it in a CD to counter balance the stress of having cash in pre-construction.

Cheers!

You can make money at it but at the same time it carries a lot of risk. First and foremost lets get the terms straight. I think it puts a little more perspective on it. Buying pre construction is not "investing" it is "speculation". With "investing" you are placing your money in an investment that may rise or may fall but some of your money will be there. With "speculating" you are placing your money there with the hopes and speculations that the market will indeed rise and that you will be able to sell the property or assign it for a profit based on the rise in market conditions. If the market has a downfall, then you can get in trouble quick The thing that makes pre-construction "speculation" so risky is you can get into it with very little barriers. you can "buy" a 200K piece of property for 6K and this makes it attractive to everyone. I see people get burned on it every day and if you read enough posts you will see some real horror stories. What happens is everyone at a perspective property does this, and then come closing time, 80% or more of the new construction is for sale and prices are dropping daily because most of the people planned to sell at a profit and can't infact afford the mortgage payment. If you can, do what I did. I found a local project. did a few weeks of research, found what I want, and then put an offer down. BUT before I did that I took the contract to my attorney and had it amended so that my contract was assignable, where as everyone elses (except one of my clients) was not. So, when the place is sold out and near completion when demand is still high (about 3 months from completion) I assign the contract for a slightly higher price so that I'm not being greedy but protecting my self by getting a quick sale. I also had several "out" clauses written in. Things such as approval of appraisal to construction delays. The key is also to catch the project early to be able to get things like this written in. If the developer starts to see that everyone want's a contingency, then he'll stop approving them. Mine took a half day with my attorney and the developer approved them in 3 minutes while he was on the treadmill at the gym

where is it?

Did you search the MLS? If it's with a realtor there it probably won't be on craigslist.

I'm sorry you had that experience. Some realtors just specialize in certain types of properties and she may have not been the right one for your needs. My suggestion would be to find one that specializes in the area you are looking for, or, better yet, specializes in working with investors. Those usually will know EXACTLY what you need and are looking for. They may also know of a better area that suits your needs than the one you are looking in now.

HMM.... are both of these unsolicited offers? did they just show up out of the blue or do you have it on the market? Sounds like they know something you don't and I wouldn't trust that agent. PM me with some more info about your location. I own some commercial property in Dallas and may be able to shed some light on it.

Get a credit card yourself. A new law was recently passed so that being an "authorized user" on another persons credit card WILL NOT impact your credit or help you establish credit. You can thank the people scamming the mortgage lenders for this one. People were doing this so that they could qualify for a loan they would never qualify for in the first place, then they would go into foreclosure. It is not difficult for a college student to get a credit card. You are their most lucerative demographic.