All Forum Posts by: Fausto Carosella

@Bill Gulley to sort of piggy back @Jeffrey Hayes's question, would it be a good practice (once we've figured out our best HML for our needs) in the offer we submit in our "Finance" clause to put a contingency of maybe 3 or 5 days for a loan commitment as opposed to the default 30 days? (I usually have closing date 45 days from effective date for conventional loans) Most listed houses state "Pre-approval or Proof of funds must be submitted with offer" and since we won't be getting a PRE-approval like conventional funding would that be the best way to be taken seriously? If we can't actually follow through with a Hard Money Loan like we thought we would be able to it seems that our offer may be still attractive enough since the seller would only be "at risk" for only a few days. Hope that makes sense....

@Jake Recz Unfortunately he's probably telling you the truth... The banks usually take their sweet time and the listing agent is subject to their whims just as you are. As far as him not returning calls... definitely unprofessional. If it's really starting to bug you have your agent call up his broker and try to get some info.

Hey @Patrick Kelly,

A great website you might want to try is Rentrange.com . It is a pay site, BUT you can pay a couple of dollars for each individual report, or a subscription (I believe). That being said I think it is still only one tool that you should use in your evaluation.  Use Craigslist and even Zillow to see what is being advertised similar to your particular property. As @Jeff Bridges said the MLS is definitely the best source, but if you don't have an agent you can turn to for that info, use all the sites you can to help you narrow down what your property should be bringing you.

Luckily that didn't happen... your insurance company would've paid for the home, (hopefully!!) but I'm not sure I'd speculate on who would take responsibility. Something like that could get pretty messy very quickly, there's the agent, the inspector, pointing fingers here and there, etc.... I'd just look at the silver lining and chalk it up as a lesson learned a lot easier than it could have been.

Hi @Grace Wang,

I have to agree with @Richard C. if that's your horror story you're pretty lucky! It seems to me your dissatisfaction is a bit unbalanced as it seemed both these agents dropped the ball. Your agent (the seller's agent) is supposed to basically have your best interests in mind.. your representative. Every inspection I've been at (at least for a conventional or occupied home) the seller's agent has been there to at least touch base, and ensure things commence smoothly.  As far as leaving things on and messy etc. that is definitely the buyer's agent at fault, HOWEVER, again... the sellers agent should have gone back after everything was said and done to make sure everything was on the up and up. No one was innocent here. I must however clarify what I think many people have a misconception of... that an agent (in this case you state the buyer's agent) doesn't or didn't do much. I'm not defending his sloppy handling of the situation, he's just a poor agent, but buyer's agents are paid to bring a buyer... they might have brought that buyer to 50 different properties before they finally came to yours.. and then it's a lot of hand holding to the buyers from that point on... usually for the next 4-6 weeks or more. Unfortunately there are less good agents than there are bad ones, and as terrible as it is, there aren't many people who will respect your things like you will....

Hey @Matthew Fragassi,

You're looking for an agent to have on your team, they should know exactly what your goals are so they can help you find the properties you are looking for and can help you reach your goals. Ideally I'd try to find a real estate agent who is also an investor, or who works with investors regularly, so they have a grasp on what exactly you're trying to achieve. They might even be one of your best sources of partnering up on deals in the future. If you search BP you'll probably find such an agent in your general area.

Hey all,

I've been consistently going by a house while driving for dollars that's been pretty rundown. Upon my research I saw its owner is listed as "John Smith Est". Upon further research I discovered HUD took back the house from JP Morgan Chase after the owner died for the amount of 129,000 (when it was last purchased for 33k). I went to Hudhomestore to see if it's listed, which it's not. Is anyone aware of a way, or process to attempt to acquire the house before it goes on the website? I'm also wondering why it may not have been put on yet... is it possible HUD is holding onto it until property values rise enough to recoup their loss? A relatively nice home in that area goes for a little less then that 129k, so there's no way I would pay anywhere even close to that... It probably needs close to 50k worth of work.

Thanks!

Anyone have a good investor friendly General contractor they can recommend in the Fort Myers down to Naples area in Florida? Thanks.....

Hey @Kim Vandermark I just got my license this month myself, and the MLS access alone is invaluable... I'm just trying to learn how to integrate wearing the investing hat with the agent hat. Investing is obviously the primary goal, but personally I would definitely like to build up some more capital behind me, I'm hoping the license will at least give me some side money.

Thanks for the advice @Chris Williams and @Jason Windholz. Up to this point I've only been a buy and hold investor, but I know my area is very ripe for fix and flips so i'm hoping to to find a small  project to get my feet wet. I planned on getting my license (which i now have) anyway to help me but I need to close a couple of properties to get a little more cash behind me for any unexpected costs. So now I have my license I guess I'll have to re-order new "investor" cards just to disclose I have my license as well, since my old ones only have the subtitle "Owner/Investor"?