All Forum Posts by: Brian Stein

Just to update so... Offer went in Monday and its Friday and I haven't heard back yet...

On Tuesday they dropped the listing price from $47,800 to $44,800 so I'm not sure if that's a bad sign or good sign or what.

I talked to my agent today he said hopefully we'll get word on Monday whether they accepted or countered...

Here's a question for people who have bought bank owned homes. My offer had a stipulation that it would be pending a inspection. Is this something that deters banks? Are they more likely to accept if you skip out on putting that in on the offer?

Thanks for the reply Eric!

I will be doing almost everything myself.

My biggest cost savings will be carpet, as I have a family member who sells carpet I can get at their cost.

I can get good quality 100% nylon carpet (better than the polyester) for about 70 to 80 cents a square foot. I can get the good 1/2 inch 8lb pad for cost too. Over 1900 sq ft that's a big savings as compared to having someone else put it in.

It is my first rehab, so perhaps I have not figured in some things or underestimated.

I will do all the other work myself with a little help from my brother and brother-in-law... except I might take bids on the new vinyl windows. The vinyl siding is maybe 8-10 years old and in good shape except for a few minor cracks. The roof looks like its newer but there are a few shingles that are out of place so I wonder if they did a poor job. That's my biggest concern about the property.

This house sold for $78k in 2005, which I know doesn't mean a whole lot. As far as comps, I've checked out other houses sold and I would say $70-$80k is pretty reandasonable for the area. Its lot is bigger than other lots, and the fact it has a full basement and two car garage are pluses. Perhaps even a little higher for ones with 4 bed, 2 full bths.

Obviously perhaps there's a good chance if they're asking $47k they might not even accept my offer of $35k so who knows. I know I could not see myself paying any more than $35k or $36k for it.

4 Bedroom 1 1/2 bathroom 1900 sq ft REO

Needs all new flooring (smells like dog!), paint, and lots of vinyl windows replaced. Basically all new bathrooms (I think I'd put a standup shower in to make it 2 full bathrooms). Kitchen Cabinets are all real wood in good shape that I would paint, put on new hardware, new sink, and new countertop. Lots of new lighting fixtures, doors, and garage door also needed.

I'm estimating repairs to be $14k but could be $18k if I need to put on new shingles.

Asking price is $47,800 but its been on the market 87 days.

I'm coming in with an offer of $35k.

There is a 3 bedroom one bath 1400 sq ft home for sale next door for $85k. My agent says that if I do what I told him, he thinks $80k would be a realistic listing price and "worst case" sale would be $70k.

So ($80k * 70%) - $14k = $42k Max Purchase price in "best case"

or

($70k * 70%) - $18k = $31k Max Purchase price in "worst case"

Thoughts?

Its really crazy that the democratic votes don't count in Florida or Michigan.

Lots of people here in Michigan were really upset to know their votes don't matter to the Democrats.

I know lots of people who come November won't vote for the democratic candidate for that reason.

And yeah basically Obama is getting a ton of positive press, as is McCain.

I still think Clinton's name will be big come Super Tuesday in States where these guys haven't been constantly campaigning.

If you're gutting a house and not saving any flooring, and remove trim than spraying can be great.

My sister recently built a new house and to save money ($10k) we did all the painting and trim staining ourselves.

We rented a sprayer for all the primer. It saved so much work on a 2200 sq ft house.

There was no flooring in yet, or trim or anything. All we had to do was tape off the windows.

We primed everything with the sprayer in a day. It was 10 times more work adding all the colors she wanted by roller.

I too have a fear of starting out.

I only have decided that I was going to do this about 2 months ago.

I've done a lot of reading these past two months, and have worked a little in residential construction but I still have a lot of things I worry about.

I've already lined up financing, got a real estate agent, and looked narrowed about 30 drive by's to 5 or 6 properties I've looked at and I'm pondering making an offer.

The thing is these properties are not in the best areas. They are pretty old and pretty worn down. I worry about things piling up on the repair costs that I didn't plan for. I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed by the whole process. I can't afford to lose money on this house. I worry about putting money in and not being able to sell with so many foreclosed properties in the area.

I feel like I could rent it out as a worst case scenario but that would be after putting so much hard work into it to make worth more for resale. I worry about renters being careless with the property that isn't theirs and ruining all my hard work.

That said within the next week I'm going to hopefully be putting in my first offer. I am willing to put everything I have into this, work 70 or 80 hours a week if I have to. Which makes the idea of not being successful even more scary.

- Brian

Hey this might be a stupid question, but I was wondering if old aluminum siding has any value being sold back to someone who buys scrap metal.

Does anyone do this on your flips if you're updating from old aluminum to new vinyl siding?

Make sure if you're buying from Lowes or Home Depot you always use 10% off coupons. You can have them sent to you any time for free or you can buy them on ebay for about $1 each.

They can really add up after a while.

I wouldn't buy the 20% off coupons because they are fake and you may have issues using them.

They were originally given out for Christmas 06 for use by employees and expired in 07 but people have scanned them, altered expiration dates, and print them out and sell them.

Also its good to hear this is a good loan... being that I am completely new to this.

This is the only loan I've looked at and sat down and talked with someone about. My family is trying to tell me to "shop around"... you're supposed to get at least 3 offers...

But I try to tell them I got exactly what I need and not everyone is going to give me repair money up front.

My family is trying to tell me I'm paying to high of a % at loan plus 1.5% but they have only taken out conventional fixed 30yr loans so they don't really understand that things are different when you're looking at it as an investment property loan that you only hope to hold for a few months.

http://www.execmortgageofmi.web-loans.com/

Their website looks pretty lame.

Basically as far as I know they only loan in Michigan and Florida.

- Brian