All Forum Posts by: Benjamin Rogers

I had a very positive experience recently with Rocket Dollar and Solera National Bank. A time-sensitive deal required me to open a SDIRA, transfer my assets, and fund the investment within two weeks. A leading national SDIRA provider told me that there was insufficient time to do this; RD and Solera, however, made it happen! They were both accessible, responsive, and accommodating. Solera even sent a cashier's check overnight half-way across the country to get the deal done. I'd recommend both companies. 

Try calling a local building supply store. They will give recs about local contractors. I've had mixed results going this route. 

Hey, Stacey. I live in Cullman. My property manager is Larry Crumley of Continental Realty. His business is in Birmingham, but he and his family live here. Message me if you would like his cell number. 

Another option is Wes Warren at Happy Homes. Excellent realtor who also manages rentals here. I have his cell as well. 

Benjamin

@Patrick Smith For asset protection reasons, I put the property in an LLC when I purchased it. That decision has limited my ability to do a cash-out mortgage. The two lenders I've approached don't offer conventional mortgages to LLC's. They want to give me a 5 year ARM, which isn't appealing to me. Thanks for the encouragement to raise rents; that needs to be done.

@Jaysen Medhurst Thanks for mentioning ROE. I'm not accustomed to thinking in those terms. I'm favoring selling and harvesting the equity in this property for other deals. 

I'm trying to decide whether to sell the first SFR I bought or to continue to rent it.

Purchased at auction in 2017 for $84,500. I have a tenant paying $1,350/month since I've owned it. Market value $175,000. Other houses in the neighborhood are listed for $1,695/month. I've not pushed the rent since I didn't want turnover and my tenant takes good care of the house. 

My thought is to sell and to reinvest the gains, possibly in an opportunity fund to avoid capital gain taxes. 

Any advice?

@Brandon Beatty - Although I got 2 deals through ADC that were very satisfactory to me, it did require an inordinate amount of time to get them. I'll probably keep checking their site from time to time but w/o expecting too many deals there. And I doubt the market here is nearly as hot as DFW. 

I once read something on BP from a lady who bids on ADC for people. She didn't claim to have insider information, though. Might be worth pursuing. Knowing that a property had a lower reserve amount wouldn't help you in the bidding process. If it's a good deal and there are multiple interested parties, the bidding will just shoot past the reserve. ADC will just drop out of the automatic bidding once the reserve is met. I think, however, that there is a way to submit an offer on a property before bidding opens. If you met the reserve, the owner might sell it to you and cancel the auction.

Apologies for the delayed response; I've not been on BP much the last few months.

@Robin BoyerMost of the houses being auctioned on Auction.com in my area need a lot of work. It is surprising, given that fact, how high the bid will go. As others have mentioned, however, the computer/auction.com will bid against you until the reserve price is met. And since you often don't know the reserve price, you can be bidding against yourself. I've often bowed out as prices sky-rocket and wonder why anyone would bid that high, only to see the house relisted a few days later. Obviously the computer was bidding and no person actually is bidding that high. I've bought 2 houses online through auction.com and both were quite good deals. In both cases the final, winning bid was below the reserve price. I got an email saying I'd won, but the purchase was contingent on the bank accepting my final bid, which they did. My assumption is that the bank may have gotten tired of that property or my final bid was close enough to their reserve price. And regarding Auction.com's requirement that it be an "all cash" purchase, the seller just wants a fast closing that isn't contingent on financing; they don't care where the cash originates. On the smaller deal I did, I had the cash. On the deal above I borrowed the money but paid "cash" as far as the seller knew.

@Chris CamugliaBoth of the houses I've bought were vacant. After studying the area on Google street view, I drove the neighborhoods. I may or may have looked in enough windows to feel comfortable about the interior of the house. One house was only a few years old (built in 2011); I could tell the kitchen and exterior looked great; I extrapolated that to the rest of the house. The other house was older. The exterior and landscaping were as good as anything in the area. What I could see of the interior was dated but clean. A neighbor told me the previous owner was an owner occupant who died in the house.The paperwork/process was frustrating. I wanted to purchase the second property through an LLC. I emailed my contact with some questions about some documents auction.com wanted. I never got a response until she called to tell me I had a few hours before I would lose the deal.

@Edson Reyes A local bank gave me an interest-only personal loan for the full purchase amount. After 12 months, my plan is either to do a cash-out refinance or do a 1031 exchange. The tenant has expressed an interest in purchasing the property.

Benjamin

Thanks, Brian and Travis. Unfortunately, I've not been able to replicate these numbers despite bidding on dozens of properties on the same site. The bank must have just wanted to get this property off their books

House: 884 sq ft, 3 bed, 1 bath

Location: Birmingham, AL

Source: online auction site

Purchase price: $35,750

Rehab: $2,882

Property Mgmt: 10%

Rent: $850/month

This was my second rental property acquired in 2017. It was very well-maintained by the previous tenant, who died in the house. My only frustration was the length of time (roughly 2 months) it took for the PM to perform basic repairs on the place and get it rented. I eventually realized that they listed the property without pictures, which likely would have made a difference as this is one of the cleaner houses on the street. My failure to manage the manager. Overall, though, I'm quite pleased with this deal. Wish I could find several more like it!

I've reached out to my brother. He liked the contractor he used for a remodel in Huntsville a couple of years ago. Once I hear from him, I'll PM you.