All Forum Posts by: David McBrayer

@Account Closed that could be a problem.  I put them in my Trust so the family does not have to probate them.  I am getting old. LOL  I do appreciate your input as well as Jay's.  He is just being BLUNT. LOL  I like it.  I do plan on doing bigger deals and more deals.  I have a friend who wants to sell his portfolio in W.H. and I would like to buy them.  But one deal at a time and I need to get this house taken care of first.  I may just put rehab on hold and rent it out for a while.  And do one project at a time.  I was just wanting to get it done pretty quick.

I do have friends and I do live in South Florida.  And my cousin works in Orlando at a few subdivisions I am sure you have heard of and knows a few of them that invest.  I just don't want to call on a friend.  Or trying not too.  But I will. LOL.  I am trying to build business relationships.  But I need to be a little more understanding and probably not so blunt and open.  But I have been made to feel like a meal ticket.  And as John was saying, heck, they only make a few thousand and have to work hard to get it back if something goes wrong.  I just have not dealt with many lenders. LOL

As you know @Jay Hinrichs, I like to be blunt and appreciate your answer.  It is tiny and it may be riskier.  I am not on that end.  And the expense of doing a deal.  I am looking to build a relationship and this was the deal I had.  I do understand it is dinky.

But I am paying $55k cash for it, putting $30k to $40k in it.  So to get even $50 to $60k quick out of a deal that went South?  But again, I am not a lender so I do not understand that side.  I will be honest.

@Jay Hinrichs and @John thank you for the comments.

The house was the collateral.  I might have put a condo up but two?  LOL.  Within two blocks of this house are homes for $300k to $500k and more.  It is two blocks from the lake.   The houses across from it and beside it are $150k and one is not rehabbed.

I do understand there are certain conditions on the first few deals for most companies.  And the rates can be kind of high.  I can deal with that.  They were just too high to me.  And yes, $30k is laughable to a lender.  Please, get that tiny deal out of here.  So I do understand that and I can appreciate that.  I was willing to borrow $72k.

Thank you both for the comments!!!

Hello everyone and happy 4th of July!!!  I am getting ready to close on a house later this month. 7/15/16 is the closing date right now.  I was planning on doing some financing on this one but it has become a little difficult as the closing date is close.  So I was looking at Hard Money.  I had just bought a used truck and put it on a credit card and some dental work on a credit card and I wanted to pay them both off before applying for a conventional loan.  You know, make the credit score go up.  And yes they are paid off.  Even Hard Money Lenders like to see your credit, so I wanted to pay off the credit cards first and look the best I could for them.  You know, for our first date.  LOL

Well I have talked with a bank to start with about a line of credit and then a few Hard Money Lenders that happen to hear about here on Bigger Pockets.  The first one I just felt the rates were to high and I shut down talks with them without giving them a chance to see what else was out there? I did send them another e-mail saying I would like to see if they could do better?  They did not reply. But if that was their starting point? I don't think we could do business anyway.  But I was going to give them another chance.

Then another HL happens to be local to me and I chatted on the phone with the one guy.  Told him a little bit about what I was after and he said no problem.  So I thought i would pop in to go over my situation a bit more.  Well the way I was greeted in the office and the way they just assumed I was someone else and told me to take a card and get some information from my boss and send it to them.  I looked at him very strange, as I don't have a boss, and he said "Who Are You"  I am David McBrayer of McBrayer Investment Trust and I pointed at my tee shirt with that info on it.  I am looking to borrow some money for a project.  We spoke on the phone for a few minutes the other day.  He said, well we are about to have a conference call and I don't have time to talk with you right now, you need to let us know you are coming by?  Which I said, I totally understand, that is why when I was replying to your e-mail this morning at 5am and I mentioned I would stop in today around 2pm.  Ghee look, it is 2:05pm.  Funny, I did not get a reply saying don't stop by or make an appointment.  But I understand you are busy.  

So I took a card a left and I could see they were busy.  I sent them an e-mail and told them I was sorry we got off to a bad start.  In which I got a phone call to help straighten things out and get us back on track.  But then I go over the deal and what I am looking for and they think I am off my rocker or something?  Well this is a prime case of me knowing the area I invest in much better than than the potential lender does.  I need $30k to $40k to rehab a house that I am paying $55k cash for.  The Tax Value of the house in 2015 was $82k, and we know it is worth more than that!  The Zestimate right now is $80k and that is with it the way it is and them not saying it is a 3-2.  I am going to rehab it and make it worth $120k or more.  I figure on the low side with that estimate, it could be worth $150k or better.  But they were scared to lend $30k on something like that?  Or offer me any kind of deal.  They said I could offer up my two condos as more collateral!!!  And they can go take a hike.  I did not just fall of a truck and I was not born last night.  Thank you for your time.

Look, I do not mind giving up some of the profits to borrow some money.  That is business.  But don't play me for a fool.  The fee's and interest rate you pay a Hard Money Lender are pretty steep to start with, but it is all about what kind of profit you want to make at the end, how much of it you are willing to part with?  How fast you need the cash and how long you need it for?  Also a big plus is not as much paperwork as a rule or not as many people to approve the deal.  I offered up a good solid deal.  I was looking to finance the whole project or part of it?  I could put a down payment and finance the rest, I could pay cash for the house and finance the rehab?  But neither has happened yet.  Put I do have some plastic and properties paid off.  So I am not that worried.  Someone is missing a deal.

I have assets and money to pay for the house.  2 condos paid off and a piece of vacant land paid off.  Credit score is good and I do not owe much money at all.  My to credit to debt ratio is tiny.  Yet the Hard Money Lenders act like I am the risky one?  Well, it looks like you make $0 dollars on this deal.  How is that working out for you?  And a great chance you make $0 dollars on my next deal and the one after that.  It would be nice to be treated as a human and an investor! Rather than your next meal ticket.  As it looks like you are not eating.  Get those DOLLAR SIGNS out of your eyes.  It is not helping.  

The closing on this deal on the 15th regardless of rehab money.  I am taking bids on the work I want done and by the first of August I hope to be going strong with the rehabbing.  If I have to do the projects one at a time? I will.  I can refi a condo or something?  The bottom line is, I am trying to build up some business relationships.  Part of my problem is being a ghost for 8 years.  I show no activity on my credit report.  But yet I own properties and have money coming in.  Someone will get wise and want to partner with me or lend to me.  I do my research and I know the area where I like to invest.  The 2nd problem is, I am blunt and it can rub people the wrong way.  But just because you have some money to lend that I would like to borrow, does not give you that much control over me.  After all, I got the deal, not you.  And there are other Lenders out there that do just what you do.  Just like plenty of Investor's  out there that do what I do.  I just have not put my situation in front of the right lender yet.  So don't think I must have you.  As those are the deals that generally don't work.  The one's where the borrower is willing to walk away from?  Those generally do!

Everyone keep up the great work and invest wisely.  I hope you all have a safe and Happy 4th of July!!!

This is what the land looked like right after I got it.  I had it cleared just a bit.  But that has grown back over and brought some friends with it.  But they will get a tractor down there and have it looking better than this.  It is great farming soil and a great place to keep some live stock.  I know, a bad hair day.  Hey, I had been working some.

@Mike Rodriguez thank you for the comment and the nice words.  The children are our future.

I think that giving back to the community is a good thing to do, how about you?  Last year I had purchased a piece of vacant land behind Winter Haven Christian School in Winter Haven, FL.  The property is 1.5 acres of wooded land.  It is zoned .5 acres residential and 1 acre of low lying.  But that is easy to work with.  My plans were to clear it and put a rental piece of property on it and give someone an 1 acre for animals or farming.  That was my plans.

One day in November or so I get a letter asking me what I planned on doing with the property and would I like to sell it? For a cheap price of course.  Well I wrote them back and said I could consider selling it but not at that low price.  And what was their plans for the land?  I soon receive an e-mail telling me their plans.  They were going to use it for the school.

JACK POT right?  I got some land the school wants.  I am going to make some money off this baby.  But as I read further down the e-mail, I see the land is going to be used for their new FFA program.  That is Future Farmers of America in case you were wondering. The school has now added a high school to their middle and elementary school.  They now can take the children from the beginning of school until they go to college.

Hmm, it will be used for the FFA program.  Teaching the children how important farming and agriculture is to our plant.  Now that is some powerful info to have.   As it just so happens I was looking to do something to honor a great friend of mine, Mr Munir P. Benjenk.   You see Munir has taught me more about business, politics and life than I learned in all my schooling days.  You see, I was a jock and books were not important to me.  Where as for Munir, education was the staple of his life.  He started at a very young age and has continued learning his entire 92 years of life.

Munir retired from the World Bank as a VP over the European Division.  He has been written up in the Who's Who in the World and rubbed elbows with the elite.   He was educated at the London School of Economics and was right at the top of his class.  He had worked for the BBC and the OECD before the World Bank came calling.  But while at the WB, he helped some of the smaller countries develop land and use it for agriculture to support the region.  You would be surprised how quick you can kill a crop by over watering it.  So they had to educate them on how to use the new found water from the wells properly.

So after reading the letter from a rep of the school, I contacted them and told them I would not be interested in selling the land anymore.  But I would be interested in DONATING THE LAND in Munir's honor.  Well they about fell over backwards.  So Munir and I went down to meet with them at the school so they could show us the school and tell us their plans.

Well the day we arrive to do the signing, they had the school gathered in a special room and they gave us a show.  The 2nd grade sang us a song, another class read us something, the FFA read us their creed, the local Police Chief gave us a special coin for partnering with the community and then there was the gift baskets and 100's of Thank You cards from the different classes for the donation of the land.  It was enough to bring tears to my eyes.  It was that powerful.

Then a few weeks later I get copies of the local Agriculture news and low and behold there is a picture and article done by the editor.  Soon after that plaques come in the mail.  OH and they are donating a bench with our names on it to honor us for the donation.  It has really been a great experience.  They put a quote I gave them in the article, "The Children are our future.  We must love them, educated them and honor them.  Our future depends on it"

I must say, it makes me want to give more.  Right now that land sits at the end of a dirt road and is all grown over.  They will now plow it and turn it into something useful and teach the children about our ECO System.  Maybe even a few cattle.  I was donating the land to honor my great friend Munir P. Benjenk, but I got honored as well.  Our names on the sign by the road, up above the door as you walk into the school.  I mean really, it was just a piece of land.  I am glad you can use it and I hope the children learn a valuable lesson.  Munir has taught me a lot and it was the least I could do for all he has done for me.  Did I mention I happen to own another piece of vacant land between that one and the school? JACK POT. LOL

Giving back to the community and educating our children is always a good thing!!!

But they do hold a great race there every year in Sebring.  It is a nice area.

I am planning on cutting down a tree and trimming the others, putting a new flat roof on it, the pitched roof is still good for another 8 to 10 years.  Replace the AC unit and bring it down on the ground.  It is up on the flat roof now.  Along with some big Oak limbs.  I am planning on putting double pain windows in to say on energy and cut down on noise.  I will be replacing the fence and making 2 to 4 parking space out back coming off the alley way back there.  For the little rental back there to give them their own parking spaces without coming through the back yard.  Plus I can give them their own little yard.  Then do some other little repairs to spruce it up.  Some drywall work, painting and minor electrical.