All Forum Posts by: Chris Egan

This is a tricky situation for an agent. From what it sounds like the bank just rescinded their verbal acceptance which like other have said is totality legal because its not in writing. As an agent its tricky because every buyer wants to know as soon as the seller has accepted their offer even if its only verbal. Its hard as an agent to have the knowledge that the seller accepted the offer verbally and not to share that with the buyer while you are waiting for the seller to sign the purchase agreement. They should have stood by their word and accepted the offer in writing like they said they would but unfortunately theres is noting really an agent can do to force them to do that. 

hahaha this drives my wife crazy too. She hates getting those calls. Me as an agent I am used to getting calls from odd numbers so it doesn't bother me. I just tell them that we are not selling anything but then I always ask what they have for sale right now. I did notice that after transferring the properties to an LLC we get far less calls from than when we held the properties in our own names.

I started putting some money that I intended to be for real estate into index funds about 4 years ago. I just figured I didn't want a lot of cash sitting around and I am comfortable (at least I think I am) with market volatility. The other thing that I considered was the current RE market if there were deals to be had around every corner I would have kept more money in cash but since good deals are harder to come by I felt I could be more picky with what real estate I purchased since the money was already invested and not just sitting in cash.  Even if the S&P drops quite a bit I still think I'll hold my RE purchase money there and just hope a great deal doesn't pass me by while the S&P is down. 

I recently moved a driveway from one side of the house to the other and added a garage on to the back. In our city you have to get what's called a "curb cut" permit in addition to the driveway permit so check with your city on what they allow. That driveway cost about $11,000 but it was about 50'. As long as adding a driveway to the front of the house doesn't make it look weird or stand out in the neighborhood as the odd duck, then I think it is a good addition. I think houses without any off street parking are much harder to sell and rent.  

It sounds like you are in a pretty good position. That's a good amount to start with. I agree with what others have said I would use a low down payment loan like FHA or 5% down conventional and get a single family or duplex, house hack and save up more cash for the next deal. I think its really good to keep your personal overhead low when you are getting started, that way you can focus as much of your income as you can on the next deal. House hacking not only allows you to keep your biggest expense low but maybe even make some money. I remember when I bought my first two houses I had roommates and I was a few bucks positive at the end of the month. That provided the momentum to get some other properties because I could save the majority of what I made from my day job.

Thanks for the replies. I always appreciate getting other professionals opinions on things like this.

What would you do in my situation. I have a tenant that has been with me for about 2 years her lease just came up so she in currently month to month. For the most part she has been decent. A few months back she called and said there was a leak in the basement it was the pressure relief valve on the water heater. I had one of my repair guys go fix it. Then about a month later she called and complained about mold on the on the sheetrock and a little on the baseboard about a 10x10 room.  I went to check it out and there was. I had it cleaned with a mold cleaner and then had them put Kilz on it and repainted. I have gone over there since and do not see any mold or smell any musty smell. Now she is telling me that she did a Pro lab test from Home Depot and there is mold in the air. She wants to have a company come out and do an air quality test and it the mold levels are elevated then she wants me to pay for the work and the test. So my conundrum I could just give her a 30 day notice and have her leave (that would be fine). At the same time she has been a decent tenant and if there really is a problem I do want to take care of it. So what would you do?

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $60,000
Cash invested: $120,000

Single family renovation in Omaha NE. House needed a ton of work. I made a video with the before and after photos as well as the budget so people can see how my real numbers compare to the house flipping shows.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

It is in a really popular area with a good ARV.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I knew the owner and she wanted to sell quickly and did not want people to come in the home for traditional showings.

How did you add value to the deal?

Had to do a bunch of work to make it a house someone would want to live in.

What was the outcome?

I toyed with selling it, but my is to keep it as a rental.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Always build more money into the budget. I had some extras built in but not enough.

@Christina Colon There are a lot of good areas to invest in the Omaha metro area. Of course it does depend what you are looking for and what type of property you want. In the city core you will tend to find homes built between 1910-1960ish. The city tends to get newer the further west you go from the Missouri river. Then in the outskirts and suburbs is where you will find the newer housing stock built 1980's ish through today. That includes Bellevue, Papillion, LaVista, Millard, Elkhorn, ect.  Like others have said it really depends what your goals are, there are still good opportunities here. I personally try to buy in the midtown Omaha area but thats just because I am most familiar with those homes and you can still get a good rent to purchase price ratio. 

@Josh Miller That was great to be able to read a lot of your back story. Even though we have gotten a chance to work together on some of your deals, I didn't know a lot about the behind the scenes that were happening with your company. You and John were always great to work with. Whatever your next endeavor is I am sure you will find success.