All Forum Posts by: Jeff Bridges

I am in the midst of orchestrating utilizing capital from partners and/or private money with notes to submit cash offers for properties. Do I have them create a letter of intent with a defined figure representing the money they are bringing to the table when I submit and offer? How does the bank usually respond to cash offers amongst partners or private money. Do they just need proof of funds from the lender account regardless of who is on the bid contract? I know its a sensitive issue to submit bank accounts and would like to get it sorted in advance.... Thanks!

Most states/ counties have a website for the Real Tax assessments/ Billing. You can literally type in the address and find out a wealth of information including the mailing address for the annual tax bill for targeting mailings and verify that that taxes are what they promise on MLS listings ( I always verify personally). You can also then use super pages/ white pages online to type in the owners full name to further track down their address and phone number for cold calling or mailing.....

Finally this blog article came out a few days ago on how to obtain absentee owner lists from your agent, which is right up your alley. You need to add this blog to your RSS feed/ reader and read daily...

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/08/11/finding-real-estate-deals/

I would argue that the accuracy of the values on renotmeter.com vary dramatically, however it's still a valuable tool to have in your arsenal. Its ability to map all of the recent rents gleaned from CL and other sources is extremely helpful from understanding the approximate ranges of rents to expect in the neighborhood. I was able to use it the other day to analyze a potential deal cashflow and quickly found that the SFH was surrounded by 2 bedroom apartment units in the neighborhood that generally brought the average price down for a 2/bd unit compared with what I should expect for the SFH with the same number of bedrooms. That being said, you cant take them at face value because some 2 bedroom units can be apartments, lower quality etc, which will affect the price you can expect for your particular unit. I had my realtor pull comps for me as well, but the rentals pulled were across the train tracks in a different community and represented a totally different price range that would have given me a false sense of expectation for a higher rent even though they were literally on the other side of the train tracks and appeared to be in close proximity to the agent. Agents cant possibly know the zones on a macro level to know how fast the rent can change between neighborhoods. This is where rentometer can be a boon to help identify those trends on a general level on a map and help you avoid a false sense of security with comps selectively provided by your agent.... I'd argue random agent provided comps from a community are not nearly as helpful as those from your block, which would be much more helpful to avoid catastrophies in rent expectations...

I think the homepath loans are very good for first time investors. I know the homepath investor loan only requires 10% down vs. 20%+ for normal conventional, which is a big plus. also they waive the appraisal and other things to make closing much easier and faster. I used homepath loan for my primary residence and only required 5% down. usually can close in less than 30 days while other loans usually require up to 45 days to close. Not sure if the renovation loan is the same. Only a few lenders deal with this type of loan so you'll need to start looking for lenders. once you find one, the loan could also answer all other questions you have. Wells fargo might be a good shot as they did mine. You will only be able to use this loan on the properties found on homepath.com in case you werent aware. I suggest not taking on a big renovation project for your first property as you'll have big holding costs/ no income and you can get in over your head without experts leading to cost overruns/ time overruns that you might not expect. So I suggest you look for properties in need of minor renovations of under 10k and nothing structural.

The potential "tenant" came to you on the day of move in and said, "look, here is the rest of the deposit, but I'm going to move in next month and prevent you from earning a months income because it's not convenient to my move-out date." That's the same thing as moving in at that time and asking for a month of free rent.... Essentially, the deposit is used to hold the property so that no one else would be able to rent it, but they broke that contract since they are asking to hold it for another 30 days, which was not part of your verbal contract. Unfortunately, you did not have the tenant sign a "deposit to hold" contract or a full rental contract which would have written terms of how the deposit would be handled such as citing that it would be forfeited if move-in or lease signing did not occur before X date. Since you didn't sign any paperwork, I can't advise on how to best proceed with that. It might help to explain to him that it is an unreasonable burden for you to hold the unit for a full month until he moved in without rent when there were other applicants ready to move-in and pay rent immediately. a deposit does not entitle an unlimited hold time for the unit and shouldnt have the expectation. You need to highlight that he was being unreasonable in preventing you from earning that months rent and that you have to pay a mortgage bill. What you actually do with his deposit is your decision, even though I believe you deserve to keep that deposit to cover him breaking the contract for the deposit, which was move-in on x date....

next time read this document below on how to handle accepting deposits and lease signing. I always accept deposit in money order and then first months rent at lease signing, which should be stipulated date after deposit acceptance... There are forms for the deposit to hold form so you have a deposit contract with written date requirements.
http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/01/04/how-to-rent-your-house/

As a new investor, you wont be able to spot the rehab costs and issues associated with an older home. sometimes it helps to bring an experience investor/ mentor with you if at all possible for a showing who could point out any issues they see present. Many investors will advise that until you are able to inspect/ and understand costs/ needed repairs on your own, an inspector is the best investment to save you from $$$$ in unexpected repairs. I've used inspectors on my first few deals, and followed them around to see what they look for and how they check things out. I highly recommend doing this to see how they operate. going around with your contractor might not be as comprehensive.... But once you get a feel for inspecting, you'll be able to call the appropriate contractors to get bids before you put in an offer and know more accurately what your costs may be. Bottom line: if you are taking the plunge and investing in a 400k property in future with an accepted offer, $400 inspection is imperative to ensure you don't miss a very expensive mistake that could bankrupt you. When comfortable, you can find alternatives to paying an inspector each time like having a trusted contractor do walkthroughs with you.

Anne V.

I think you completely mis-read my response the in the same manner you completely mis-wrote your original question. I hope you feel like a buffoon for resorting to name-calling and the online equivalent of hostility.

In grammar, when something is written and followed by a colon (":"), the succeeding text is used to describe the text that precedes it. No where did I describe your question as "stupid;" that would be antagonistic and a waste of everyone's time as we're all here to help each other (see I used a semicolon this time). I was merely asking what seemed to be a stupid question to figure out what you were trying to ask bigger pockets, because it sure didn't make any sense what you had originally asked.

Also, we "don't know what you are doing" because you didn't share with us your goals or intentions, therefore, how do you expect us to help you?

Please readjust the attitude, we're all here to help....

You have good persistence, but you want to make sure you apply it to the right scenarios. I use persistence to make offers, wait a month, then make another offer [to a receptive party]. Spending months dealing with this bozo listing agent was 1 month too many. Use your time like Jon Holdman stated to interview and retain a good buyers agent. Don't just use the first one you interview. Talk to a few and maybe find ones that have experience with investors. Next time let them deal with bozos like that listing agent, while doing so with a professional tone to get the straight shot answers you need to proceed or move on. a lot of people will tell you that 1% of MLS deals are good deals, and even fewer will be available to track down.

Short sales are very hard to wholesale. Short sale approval by the bank is usually only granted to the seller on the original contract submitted. Once approved, the bank will only sell to that seller name on the contract or it has to be renegotiated. further, Ann noted that the contract usually puts anti-flip clauses or 90 day waiting periods on the sale to prevent flipping for profit. You have to find out if bank requires that. If so, you'll need to wait 90 days to transfer deed again after purchasing with your own funds...

stupid question: If you don't have the 5% EMD to put down, where do you expect the other 95% to come from? Financing will require 20% down minimum and cash will require, well, the remainder to be paid in cash. What do you expect to accomplish when putting in an offer and what financing do you expect to employ?