All Forum Posts by: Christopher Meis

Christians Insurance Restoration in Chanhassen are excellent! http://www.christiansinc.com/

@Andrew Parr Welcome to BP! I'm glad you didn't spend big bucks to sign up for a Guru class, lots and lots of free info here and lots of experience. You might also want to check out http://www.mnreia.com/ They meet the first Tuesday of every month, with the next one on 12/05.

Scenario: My neighbors moved to another state and abandoned their home, they stopped paying the mortgage about 6 mo ago so that they could move on. The house is underwater with two mortgages to the tune of about $160k, which is about $20k above the current market value and about $5k behind. The property is distressed, but is mostly cosmetic, dirt and some deferred maintenance, $10k to $20k  would make it highly salable if I could acquire the property at a discount or even at all. I am still in contact with my neighbor who is willing to work with me, and I have the keys to the house with permissible access. The primary mortgage is $140k, held by Seterus and is not assumable, I'm not sure if they would short sale for enough of a discount to be able to do anything. I though about trying to get the note, but have yet to call seterus, I have heard they are difficult to work with and was hoping to find someone with a resource there. Ditech holds the 2nd lein and may be willing to deal if I owned the 1st and told them I was foreclosing. My neighbors would deed in lieu if I held the note. The market is Norwood Young America, MN, rental is not strong, but contract for deed would work very well. Any thoughts on how to approach this deal, or resources that I could leverage to get there?

Congratulations!

@Dylan Beckwith House hacking is a great first opportunity, I believe you can buy up to a 4-plex with FHA financing. That being said, I am a home inspector and have been doing a lot of inspections on duplexes in MPLS latlely. Many of them have issues that would preclude FHA financing without seller financed repairs. So you will need to shop wisely or find something turn-key. You might also consider a downtown condo and Airbnb as an option, BP had a great podcast episode on it not too long ago. Lastly, I would invite you to attend our local REIA (Real Estate Investors Association), we meet the first Tuesday of every month, this month is weird because of the 4th of July. Our next meeting is this Tuesday the 11th. https://www.mnreia.com/

Make sure the basement is dry!

Looks like electric baseboard heat in several units, could be expensive to heat.

@Jason C. As a home inspector, I meet many kids of people, and there are some definite stereotypes out there. Sounds like you've got a buyer who wants a new home but doesn't know it yet. I've seen buyers take my inspection report and hand it to the seller and tell them they want it all fixed. Which of course is simply not practical, here in MN I test for radon and sometimes mold in addition to the home inspection. That is usually done in a single visit, with the exception of needing to return for about 5 mins after 48 hrs to retrieve the radon monitor. The seller is required to certify the septic is in compliance and that is usually accepted as rote, since they provide the certificate from the septic inspector. Water testing is recommended for the buyer to do, but they don't always do it. As far as a contractor inspections, I'm not sure what you've got there (Doesn't sound like anything good). I will sometimes recommend that the buyer have a licensed contractor go to the property during the inspection period, to provide a price estimate for a defect that was found during the home inspection. That way the buyer knows what is at stake, and if a repair is required they can show the seller the estimate.  That tends to help them not ask for way more money than the repair requires as often happens. Selling a home can not be easy, especially when everyone is trying to tell you things are wrong with it. Grit your teeth and get past this buyer, at the end of the day the final word is yours. You will find a buyer who appreciates your home and wants to make it theirs.

@Finale Uptegrow I too am passionate about affordable housing. You are correct that there are many aspects and pitfalls of providing affordable housing. I am working with a builder to make new entry level housing available, I am hoping to be able to market these homes to some of the non-profit affordable housing programs to provide a path to home ownership in lieu of renting.