All Forum Posts by: Chris Hanisco

@Mark Burlison
Thank you! Yes - that's what I'm thinking. 

@Scott Mac
Oh yes, I totally understand about working people's messes. I work full-time myself. My current apartment that I share with my 2 teenage boys is not neat as a pin - I'll tell you that. The slob comment was because they have trash all over the yard. Empty buckets and a broken down 4-wheeler and all sorts of yard trash everywhere. They wouldn't let us into the unit yesterday after requesting almost a week prior. I do know that they have 2 dogs as well. I heard one bark and it sounded huge. I have to admit that I'm worried about what I might find on that side with 3 people and 2 dogs in a small 2 BR rental. 
Thank you! :)

@Joe Scaparra
Thank you for your pep talk! That really helps. I was so worried I'd wake up this morning, look on here and find people telling me to run from this deal. I'm glad you think it's a go. :)

Thanks, Mark! Yes. As much as I'd rather have a SFH, this might be a better idea. I'm a little nervous about being a landlord, but I'm willing to learn. I'm very handy too.
I forgot to mention that even after putting the 10% down and paying closing costs, I would still have about $25k to cover any repairs or remodeling. 
I'm just worried about the numbers. I'm don't really understand what the calculator is saying. I'm hoping someone on here will say, "Yes, the numbers work for your situation. Go for it!" :)

Hi everyone! I am totally new here, so I hope you'll excuse my newbie-ness.
I am located in Southern NH (about an hour north of Boston). I've been looking to buy a home for myself and my two boys. It's been very difficult to find anything in my price range, which for a single-family home is $275k. I've already lost out on a couple of fixer-uppers even though I offered above asking and little to no inspections. Also, I'm trying to stay in my sons' school district - which is rural and has little to offer for homes in my price range.

An opportunity to buy a 1985 duplex just came up. It's listed at about $325k. Each unit has 2 BR and 1 1/2 BA. It's a mirrored-floorpan townhouse style with 2 floors and walkout basement in a nice country setting. The yard is manageable for me at less than an acre. My mortgage broker says I would qualify and we will finalize a pre-approval tomorrow. I saw one side of the duplex with my realtor today and aside from some minor updating, it seemed fine. The other tenant wouldn't allow us access with several days notice, so my offer would be contingent on that and condition of the unit. (Red flag regarding that tenant not cooperating.)

I'm attaching what I got from the calculator. I treated it as if I were not living there, but technically the rents for this place should be $1600 and $1500, according to both realtors (mine and seller's realtor). Currently, the tenants are paying $1100 and $1200. I'm not sure why this is, because there is a shortage of rentals here. 

So, if I'm reading right, as investors, you all like to have the Cash on Cash ROI be over 12%, right? But if I live there, is it okay that it's just shy of 8? (I was generous with the expenses estimates.) I really just want to be able to subsidize some of my own "rent". My mortgage payment for the whole thing is estimated at $2238/mo from my mortgage broker fees worksheet.

Any thoughts would be so helpful! This is a big step for me and I'm nervous. I'm also not a numbers-whiz, but I'm trying. Do these numbers work? Thank you!

Hmmm. I don't know what's going on then. This HUD form stipulates how much money they need during which dates. It says "Program criteria require that "net" amount payable to HUD as a result of this sale after allowable expenses will be at least $92,400 from 12/1/09 to 1/1/10, $90,300 from 1/2/10 to 2/1/10 and $88,200 until the expiration date of 3/1/10." which is tomorrow.
We didn't have this when we made the offer for $83,500 cash. We did up it to $85,000 cash.
We're looking at other houses now, so I guess we'll just let this one go. If it falls through we'll try to grab it at auction I suppose, if we don't have another house.
Thanks again!

Oh, and thank you, Scott!

For some reason, the bank had already agreed to certain price reductions at certain times. It's all spelled out on a HUD form called "Approval to Participate, Property Sales Information, Property Occupancy & Maintenance, Pre-foreclosure Sale Procedure". The form also says that it was appraised and has a value of $105,000, but the realtor states that nobody ever came in to appraise it. The inside is a mess and needs updating.
I'm new to this and am just trying to purchase this home for my family. It's interesting though and I'm glad I'm learning in case another SS comes along. :)

I hope you get it! I am having the opposite problem. My husband and I are trying to buy a certain house with cash (pre-approved short sale) for our family to live in, and outbid (by $6200) by someone with a Rural Development loan, which I understand is the same or more stringent than FHA. We offered over the asking price with cash, as-is, no contingencies except a home inspection for peace of mind. Before this the house sat for several months.
The sellers picked the other riskier offer because they offered a little bit more, but they are up for foreclosure on March 1st which is in 2 days! We then put in a backup offer for $85,000 cash in case the bank rejects the other. We haven't heard yet.

The house might pass the inspections. I know of a couple of things that it won't pass but they're minor, like putting GFCI outlets in the kitchen and installing a couple of downspouts. It's definitely a fixer-upper but I'm not sure if there's anything bad enough to ward of a RD loan.

So, I'm kind of hoping the bank won't go for a FHA/RDA-type loan in this case. I'll be interested in seeing what others advise you. So far it's been really helpful. Again, I hope you have more success with buying with an FHA loan. Good luck!!

Ted - Thank you for the info. Very helpful! I wasn't sure where to find out about the auctions. I found some local auctioneers here that do some, but not all. We would certainly pay our Realtor if we bought at auction anyway. She's a good friend.

Jon - Thanks for your informative post. We're not just looking for any old short sale house. We are looking at regular listings and this happened to be a short sale. (So I probably won't put offers in to a dozen. lol We're not investors - YET. This is fascinating though and we may start!) I believe it's a pre-approved short sale. The bank had already stipulated the listing prices and when it would be reduced, etc. so I'm thinking that the bank will accept the other offer unless they balk at the fact that it's an RD loan. I wish the bank knew about our cash offer because I think they would have taken it over the other. We have a backup offer in, but it's only good during the short sale period. I didn't want to continue the offer into foreclosure just because I heard about IRS liens and stuff and wanted to research things first.
Thanks for telling me about how you got calls later when the other sales fell through. That gave me a little bit of hope. :) Also, you're right - we're in a great position if it goes to foreclosure. I hope it does, but I also want to get in there asap. Our rent is killing us.