All Forum Posts by: Bob Willis

Why not approach the properties directly. Stop on by, meet the owners, and gauge their interest. 

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Silo Mansaray:

I came across a real estate agent that I meetup with in person and wants me sign a "Exclusive right to represent buyer for residential property". I told her that I do work with other agents. As a new investor should I sign it or not. Yes or No, why and please advise.

The agent only gets paid if you buy something through them. There's no point in spending time/energy/money working with you when there's a chance you could make the offer through another agent and leave them hanging high and dry.

If you aren't willing to commit to me as your agent, I'm not going to put any effort into working with you.

I think I look at this in a different way (maybe I don't know the definition of exclusivity, but sounds like he can't work with another agent). How does the OP know if this agent is any good or not? They met at a networking event. Why would the OP tie himself down to an exclusivity agreement. If the agent brings him a good deal he will buy, this does not require an exclusivity agreement. Is the agent only working for the OP exclusively, no, seems to be a one way street to me. If the OP doesn't like the deal the agent can take it to someone else. But as I said, maybe I don't know the nuances of what the exclusivity agreement entails.

Is there no Chamber of Commerce, or Economic Development Corp, or even Rotary?

Start by going to the top Menu bar on the BP homepage and click Network and you will see a Meetups option. Also listen to the podcasts. Go for an hour walk every day and just listen to the real estate podcasts. There are 100s available. Many, many, many hours of listening available. Good luck.

Quote from @Rich Hupper:

Quote from @Bob Willis:

My experience relating to insurance and a fire that occurred with a building I own went this way (and this may not be how yours goes based on your coverage). The day the fire occurred both the fire marshal and an insurance adjuster were onsite inspecting the property and interviewing me and my wife (this was a commercial building we owned). That day the adjuster cut us a check for $10k-$15k to help keep the business we had in place running. He also told me that we were insured for replacement value. That meant the insurance company would cut us a check for what it would take to rebuild the building. Replacement cost on the building FAR exceeded actual sale value of the building. We still had a note with the bank on the property. Within a couple of weeks we had that large replacement value check. We paid off the note with the bank and elected not to rebuild. We paid for the cleanup of the site and donated the land to the local Economic Development Corp. We were also paid for the personal property in the building, but that was all paid on a depreciated value. We ended up renting space in another building and ran our business out of there. Feel free to ask any questions.

@Bob Willis

 Thank you for sharing this first hand experience. So you took the check from the insurance provider paid off the mortgage. Interesting. The insurance provider cut you a check directly it wasn't managed by a third party to ensure the building was replaced. I was thinking that the bank would have a say in how the insurance is paid out.

The balance still owed the bank was pretty small at the time the fire occurred. They may have been payee but I don't exactly remember it. And the reason I may not remember is that in addition to the bank having the note on the building/business we owned we also had our business checking account with them. So it may have been a real simple, seamless transaction in getting the money into our account. That being said, I am not sure how you approach the people whose house caught on fire. Good luck with that, I'm curious to hear how it plays out. Good luck.

I think good photos are way more important in marketing your property than any written description (unless there is absolutely something that cannot be shown in a photo). You know the old trope, a picture is worth a thousand words. 

Work in what way?

My experience relating to insurance and a fire that occurred with a building I own went this way (and this may not be how yours goes based on your coverage). The day the fire occurred both the fire marshal and an insurance adjuster were onsite inspecting the property and interviewing me and my wife (this was a commercial building we owned). That day the adjuster cut us a check for $10k-$15k to help keep the business we had in place running. He also told me that we were insured for replacement value. That meant the insurance company would cut us a check for what it would take to rebuild the building. Replacement cost on the building FAR exceeded actual sale value of the building. We still had a note with the bank on the property. Within a couple of weeks we had that large replacement value check. We paid off the note with the bank and elected not to rebuild. We paid for the cleanup of the site and donated the land to the local Economic Development Corp. We were also paid for the personal property in the building, but that was all paid on a depreciated value. We ended up renting space in another building and ran our business out of there. Feel free to ask any questions.

I think this falls under the category of local knowledge. I don't think there is any other way to know. You need to know the area intimately to make that type of determination.

Zoning is local. You need to see what R1 entails in your area to know the answer to that. Why not just lock access to the rest of the house from the in-law suite and rent it out instead of converting to a duplex?