All Forum Posts by: Carmen Massie

I am a broker and investor and have worked with Sean Richway at Infinity Capital and have closed several deals with them. As a broker I constantly see investors coming to me with high values comps they believe will justify the loans they are seeking for their deals. But in actuality their comps are off point.  The comps will be from high prominent neighborhoods, larger square footage properties and not accounting for adjustments, distance of comps is way off and when appraisal comes back wants to cry foul. Some of my investors are realtors as well and they do the same thing pulls comps that are off on values. 

I try not to send deals that will not close. I go the extra mile and review and research properties before forwarding them to lenders I work with. When I do this I keep my clients from spending money on appraisals that will not give them the values they believed were correct. No body wants to have an unsatisfied client that goes irate and spread bad information on social media on that bad deal they presented in the first place believing it was a money maker.

My clients that have gotten loans with Sean have been very satisfied with his services.  

Carmen Massie

@Chris Seveney thank you for the advice of listing the deal in the marketplace. I will also look into the local REIA.

Need advice on how to find a JV partner for my first property I have under contract. I have been looking into private and hard money lenders and had a lot of scammers contact me. Not sure if I am researching in the areas for help.

I have been looking at setting up an LLC in Texas also and have done my research. There are a couple of states that offer a Series LLC for protection for all your properties. The states that that offer the best ones is Texas and Nevada. You will need an attorney to assist you in setting it up correctly though. Do a search for Series LLC in Texas so you can get a better understanding on how it can help you.

@Allison B. I discovered through more investigation that the contractor built the house for $458K in 2013, therefore reason for not lowering selling price. The contractor also has two other properties listed for sale at market prices for around $496K. It seems this contractor is going to have to take a loss on this property cause it's been on market since 2014 and have not sold.   

The short sale I found was for another property located on same street and not this one in question. 

Thank you so much for your advice and I am going to accept it and walk away from this property. The contractor is in too deep and I don't think they will accept a 70% discount on this property even though it has not sold in over two years, which I thought they would possibly consider.  

Ama,

You may want to try the county clerk's office for your area or Courthouse Direct. With Courthouse Direct you sign up, then can access data by entering enter street number, street name and state. If street name includes lane, drive, place or cove do not enter, just use main street name. Once the information is displayed it will list the section #, block # and etc that can be used when looking up in county clerk's website. Also, on Courthouse Direct you can get the owner's list but they charge about $5 for the list. The website allows you to research some items free and some they will charge for individual data or printing and the fees are small. You do have a choice to pay for a membership if you want.  

Hope this can help.  

I need advice or someone to work with on this property deal if it is one. Property located in Tennessee and is listed for sale at $515K from builder. This is a newly built home 5 bedroom, 4.5 bath and 4 car garage. The house was built in 2014, one of the first and is located in a gated community as the builder continues to build. There are two others listed for sale and two occupied.

I discovered the builder is trying to short sale for $360K. An agent has provided a CMA of $450K for the property. The agent disclosed the property has traffic but potential buyers state listing price is way too high and reason for not purchasing. Other houses in the subdivision surrounding the gated property is valued and sells for $200K - $489K.

What is a newbie to do any advice is appreciated?

Hi Christopher,

First, you need to have the homeowner contact the bank and find out if their is a sale date. If bank will not answer I am pretty sure he has received a letter from the bank or foreclosure attorney handling the case. You need to know if sale is judicial or non-judicial. You will also need to find out who is the investor on loan (Bank Owned, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA or etc). That will make difference in the foreclosure process.

Second, the amount that is listed on your property radar may be the amount in default at the time the bank started the foreclosure process. If homeowner claims modification failed remember that can extend default another 1-6 to months due to loan modification application and processing and new default amount has not been reported or seen through property radar.

Third, the only way to assist this homeowner is for homeowner to sale property on their own and keep equity or do a short sale then the lender will control the sale and not the homeowner.

Another note anytime a homeowner does a repayment plan, loan modification, short sale or deed in lieu with their lender their credit is already ruin. One of the guidelines for doing a loss mitigation option with the lender requires the homeowner to be in default.

Hi Tyler,

I will explain the HUD foreclosure process for you if you answer the following questions.

In your original comment you stated the HUD home was owner occupied is that correct? Who did you submit your offer to?

I am a loss mitigation specialist trained by HUD and can help clarify.

Hi Aaron,

Let me see if I can help with some of your questions:

1-The fall and winter is the best time less competition and sellers willing to lower price if on market to long.

2-The credit score is dependent on the loan type you are applying for Conventional 620 & above with income to debt ratio 28%/ 36%, FHA 590 & above income to debt ratio 28%/ 41%. On either loan if you don't have the 20% down payment PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) will added and will be taken off once market value of house reaches the 20% value. On FHA loans down payment is 3% - 5% on Conventional about 10% and above.

3-On both loans best to qualify on your own unless you want a bigger house with separate living quarters then you will need to have rental agreements sign from potential renters to help you qualify for loan and must be submitted with required documents.

4-There are mortgage calculators online that can help give you an idea as to the size of mortgage you will qualify for. I suggest when you are ready to buy get pre-approved from lender and not pre-qualified they are different. Pre-approved the lender will run credit check, employment verification, 3 months bank statement and 2 years tax returns. Request they give you a Pre-approval letter with the loan amount you qualify for so you will know how much of a house you can afford and the letter is good for 90 days and can be renewed. This letter is good when looking for a house it is like cash when buying since you now know the amount of house to look for and because it will take about 2 weeks to close on house. Without that letter the normal process would take about 30-45 days to close and then you would be buying house backwards with having the money in hand and may not qualify for house that way. On pre-approvals bank will run credit check. Do not use credit karma or any of those other credit report websites those sites do not give your real credit score but a consumer score which can be 5 points to 100 points difference. Credit Scoring is industry specific and you can get your real score until you apply to actual lenders. Even the credit score from annualcreditreporting.com from the actual credit reporting agencies will is a consumer score.

5-You should have 2 years employment history with same employer or at least work in same industry/field for 2 or more years. use income to debt ratio in #2. You should be reporting your tips on your tax return if not then you might need some other income and the rental agreement for tenants can help.

6-You would need to have the part-time job for 1-2 years before applying for house to ensure of the constant income. Working part time for 6 months will not help.

Hope this helps and let me know if you have other questions.

Carmen