All Forum Posts by: Christopher Gilbert

@Will Rohan

Hey Will, we are moving into flipping manufactured homes on land after doing single family houses for the past decade.  We have our first two in-process and always look forward to meeting other folks in the area.

Thanks,

Chris

I have the newest version of "deal on wheels" and it had some Dodd-Frank info in it but most of what I have found has been very general or hear-say from people that have done it but never had it questioned in court. 

If you only plan on doing one owner finance sale then it is not too big of a deal, just make sure you do your credit checks and find a good title company to make sure the lien is done properly against the structure AND the land. 

With the Dodd-Frank act it made owner financing a little trickier.  The second and third properties that you sell have to be fixed rate, etc. and have some more restrictions.  The forth property (in a 12 month period) has to be done by a certified loan originator, which you can probably pay a loan mortgage broker to do for you but will cost some money.

I do not rule out owner finance sales but I always end up making my flips FHA loan qualified and let the buyer get their own financing. Less headaches in the long run and I get my money back faster.

@Michael Bigler

If the home is your personal residence, tied down to the foundation and qualifies for an FHA loan you might have a shot. We have not had any luck getting equity out on any of our manufactured houses but they are all investment properties so they typically follow different requirements.

Let me know if you find a lender that is willing to do equity loans on investment manufactured homes.  We have been flipping them but would be interested in a buy/fix/refi/rent model as well.

I would recommend installing gutters.  It is more of a future cost avoidance rather than a value add but could save you some real problems if you are having any drainage issues.

In the few houses that I have washer/dryer for the tenant I buy the cheapest one that I can find that is decent.  Most of the time I will buy a set off of craigslist that is matching and in good shape for a few hundred dollars.

The HE version front loaders just don't seem to last very long under hard use or by people that do not care very much.  The front gaskets are a weak spot and whether people just pull the clothes out and drag them across the gasket or kids pull on it they tend to wear out.  I also have seen a lot of sensor and board issues with the HE versions, not sure why.

Stick with the cheap but solidly built ones that are easy to fix or replace.

@Account Closed

Hey Erez, I sent you a message with my recommendation for a property management company.

@Account Closed

Almost all of my tenants have pets and I and charge a non-refundable fee using the standard Texas Association of Realtors (TAR) form.  It is indeed non-refundable regardless of whether it is a "deposit" or "fee" and should stand up in any litigation if it comes to it, that is why the form uses that specific wording.  Since it is non-refundable it is considered income and is basically a pre-payment for future anticipated damages such as extra cleaning.  The real dilemma is how much do you charge the tenant for carpet cleaning etc. when they move out if they already paid a pet fee?  I generally do not charge them anything unless the carpet needs to be replaced or something other than pet damage.

Whatever your PM says in their contract is what they will charge and unless it specifically states something about non-refundable deposits/fees then they will try to skim their percentage off of it.   I actually had a PM try to keep all pet deposits saying that they took care of the cleaning when the tenant moved out but I pressed them on it and they ended up giving it to me without anything withheld.  I didn't keep the PM very long and that is one of the many reasons I started managing my own properties.

I won't buy an investment property where I am forced to use a certain manager (ie, condos, vacation rentals, builder HOA's, etc.) as I feel that they are just setup to skim profits for a certain amount of time before the owners wise up and move services.

@Marina Wedge

Both my wife and I are investors and real estate agents in Austin.  We run a couple of house flipping companies as well as personally own a handful of rental properties.  We decided to get our real estate licenses because it was surprisingly difficult to find any real estate agents that actually owned and understood investment properties.

If you have any questions or want to run some investment ideas past someone please feel free to contact me.  We have been investing in Austin for over a decade and know the market and area pretty well.

@GL L.

Look at it this way, if you find something in the inspection that you really don't like and is a show-stopper you just spent the best $200 of your life.  You get to walk away with your earnest money and look for another deal.  If you find nothing it should be applied to your down payment and you lose nothing. 

The reason that this was put into place was so that people do not lose their entire earnest money deposit to get out of a deal.  It has nothing to do with the agent or anything else, it is there to help protect the buyer and allow them time to inspect the property. 

I buy a ton of house at foreclosure auctions and do not get the benefit of having an option period so when I buy a house through regular sales methods I take advantage of it whenever I can.

Hey Robert,

My wife and I run two flip companies as well as own a handful of rental properties in the Austin area.  We have our own real estate licenses since we were never really able to find many real estate agents that did or understood investment properties themselves.  I also manage our contractors on our flip houses and we usually turn 2-3 houses a month. If you ever have any questions or would like to run through some options please feel free contact me.

Thanks,

Chris