All Forum Posts by: Craig Kamman

Hi Amanda.   I am a west metro investor (single family/multi-family) and Realtor.  I would be open to setting up a meetup.  I might be a buyer for some of your wholesale leads.

Craig

I am looking for new software.  I have been using Buildium, it looks good on the surface but it can not handle Credit Card accounts.  I have to "trick" it to think the credit card account is a checking account.   I use the credit card to purchase materials for repairs, without this feature the software is useless.

Thanks.  Where would you recommend gathering industry information to educate myself.  I won't be investing immediately, my thought process is there will be some distressed opportunities a year from now.

Given the market condition for the hospitality industry, it seems likely there might be opportunities to purchase hotels at a reduced price.

What vacancy rate does one use for analyzing the hotel?

Are there management companies available to manage the property?  Is so, what are their fees or rates?

What type of financing is available for hotels?

Does anyone have any experience or insight to point me in the right direction?

I don't do inspections on my personal investments, but I am comfortable on inspecting the big items myself before making an offer.  It makes for a cleaner offer for the seller.   

A home inspection will run about $450.  The big items that would be deal killers are foundation/structural, HVAC, electrical, and roof.  All these are visual inspections looking for obvious signs and age/condition.  I have worked in the construction industry and have sold homes for over 20 years.  I am comfortable doing that.  Any of the smaller items I might miss can usually be covered by the $450 I saved.

As a Real Estate Agent; I always recommend the buyers have a home inspection.  Especially if one doesn't have a lot of experience yet.

Another way to do it could be to have someone you trust and knows what to l look for look at the property before you make the offer.

Hope this helps.

Pricing will overcome any objection.  But before you drop your pricing to far, try to find out the real objection.  It might be something you can inexpensively correct.  

If the rents you can receive are still too low to support the property; you will either need to sell it or figure out a way to increase rents by improvements or additional revenue streams or ride it out. 

Good luck.  It will make you wiser and stronger once you get through this one.  

I disagree, I sold through up and through the crash of 2008.  The environment was different.  First, there was an oversuppyl of housing in the market, today there is a housing shortage.  The lending standards led to the last crash.  To fix the government killed lending with the Dodd-Frank legislation that kept changing the rules on lenders so no one could get mortgages.

Today, banks and the government are working with people to get through this, not in 2008.  Forbearance on all Fannie Mae loans have agreed to add the missed payments onto the END of the loan, not a lump sump up front.

The interest rates are record lows, and heading lower to spur on incentive.

Jobs create demand for housing.  The unemployment figure is not as bad as it looks, most people will go back to work.  There are going to be a lot of businesses that go under.  Those assets remain, and will likely be sold off at discounts and reopened under new ownership and names.

The supply chain has been forever altered during this crisis.  That means many of the manufacturing jobs overseas are heading back to the US.  Medical and PPP has already ramped up production here.    

Look at markets that have low taxes and incentives for manufacturing to open up combined with a good labor force - I think we will see a surge in manufacturing reshoring in the next year to two years.  Jobs create demand for housing.

The concern I do have is how long these states stay shut down, this can drag out to the point of no return.  I also have concern who will win the next election, that could fundamentally change the ground rules.

To do a duplex in that price range, look towards Anoka or Shakopee or further out.  You might be better from investment standpoint to purchase a couple townhomes instead of a duplex.  Duplexes tend to get bid up by owner occupants making them difficult to cash flow.

I am an agent/investor from the West metro of the twin cities.  I recently put land under contract for buy/hold homes but when I ran I ran the construction costs it blew the deal out of the water.  Labor is expensive now.

if you are looking to buy, rezone/develop - there are still deals out there.  Takes some work to find them.

Windows don't typically add value to house.  People expect to have windows when they buy a house.

windows are however a maintenance item.  Cheap windows need to repaired or replaced sooner than expensive windows.  

does that help?