All Forum Posts by: Cynthia Hairston

excuse my error, I meant Seth! 

I agree with Larry, in that nortside is nicer, but downtown or inside the Loop 410 is up and coming hotspot. I think you will see a better return from the investment here, especially on buy and holds. You can download a zip code map to check the locations of interesting listings, then note the neighborhood (like Alamo Heights, Churchill Estes etc) and research that area. Do your due diligence!

Very Nice, John! 

I know of  a broker who will sponsor you, pm me

how about use a lender that funds 100% or else make sure you can afford to finish the repairs. Otherwise, as another BP member said, there are really no good options at this point and now you will have to find a way to go deeper in debt, if you find it, Talk to your lender and ask for help. Best answer

I know you probably don't want to hear this, but if you would have gone through the house using BP's rehab calculator, you would have had everything listed with a cost associated with that item, and then a list to go through of everything possible included. then you could print that report and its totals to see if you really had a deal, to begin with. If we had the loan, you would also have to have your schedule and costs approved as well as have a good deal. If it was approved, you could then ask for more money if a surprise came up. Make sure you leave about $5000 in the budget for surprises because they are not at all uncommon. 

I had one a long time ago where the town was not only very small, and even though they were within the city limits getting comps in a 2 mile radius was next to impossible, due to the fact that the people were building on family land which was 53 acres. I had them cut off 2 acres for the residential survey to make sure it appraised, but all the other parcels around them were 50-100 acre family land, too and nobody moves! Didn't think of that! A 3rd party appraiser gave up after 2 months and finally the underwriter allowed comps for rural property, to be within 10 miles instead of two and finally he shot over a terrible appraisal that was 26k short of my figures, When my manager told me the issue, I quickly said I had an appraiser that gave me comps for that deal, so we paid another appraiser $500 and comps worked and my appraisal came in at what I needed! My point is this: do a "value check" with several reliable and reputable appraisers and ask them if they have comps to support this number,(Do this before you accept the deal) and ask them " If not, what would their number be? "Then "value check 3 appraisers and they will either have comps or give you a number they estimate the comps will support and go with the one that gets you the comps you need!  Get the comps so that if the lender's appraisal isn't what you wanted, then provide the comps and challenge the appraisal, That is allowed! And well worth the extra $500 it cost because it added 22k to my bottom line! It was accepted and the deal was saved! I hope that helps a little..and my appraisers in the different areas gladly provided this information free and I later used them for the appraisal! .so I decided to share my story! (Giddings, Tx Bert & Debbie Snyder!) Usually, the underwriter will make an exception if the exception is based on reasonable circumstances and an unsuccessful attempt>

Well put and very diplomatic, Sean! It's hard to admit your deal didn't budget as planned and no one wants to lose money! As Sean says, consider this a learning experience and may I suggest you go back over your original rehab plans and costs vs the actual costs to see what went wrong and if this can be remedied on your next deal? Also budget in about $5000 for surprises! You will get there, as well as survive it. ALL educations cost money, whether it is college or hard knocks! congratulations on completion and perseverance, too! As for refi, apparently the terms are there, you just have to find the one that works for you and it is out there. Good Luck.

I don't know it depends on lender and seasoning requirement. I think the owner can vest you in the land to season it, so you need him to agree to put in your name with him the lienholder and have a contract that shows sales price and a receipt for down at title company and have them record it. It will probably have to be in your name at least 6 mos b4 it can cash out. and then only 75% of Arv so if you only put 10% down you wouldn't be able to do it. but if you bought it for 60k and rehabbed it out of pocket, say 25k, and it is worth 100k then you could only get 15k back because it is limited to 75% Now a HML might cost you as much as 7500 closing cost and charge you 20% so 20k but will fund 100% rehab Either way you have the same amount of money in the deal Only the HML makes sure you put enough down to end up wirh less than 75 LTV which would end up about 65% ARV or less so you can refi when loan is complete 6, or 9 mos and you can get back your down plus closing cost or 75% whichecer is LOWER. So, you did a lot of extra work to save 7500 closing costs when you can get it ALL BACK IN 6 MONTHS ANYWAY but actual out of pocket may be more initially...If your HML requires a large down, it is to meet the cash out refi requirements when the project is complete and your exit strategy will let you get it back. And you have your rehab scheduled and planned with construction engineer at the lender's office who checked the figures and approved the plan. This keeps you from varying from your plan or schedule and keeps costs in line and helps avoid delays. So I guess you have to decide what is best. If you do the owner finance thing, I suggest you treat it like a loan and plan and schedule it like you were turning it in. And check contractor license and insurance and his prices and make sure he doesn't change them after the bid..hold him to them like we would! so, if you are a very experienced investor with a crew you can trust it might be okay, But I would suggest it for a new inexperienced investor at all..too easy to lose here. Good Luck. Like to see how it worked out and wish you only good things!

I think I would want to see the contractors plan and check his figures against costs to see if he isn;t counting in his profit to build it so he can profit more first, and then get some bids and comps in the area to see what the ARV would be when completed. And check both contractor's references and licenses and see if there are any complaints Without seeing the plans it is hard to know how to answer. There are a lot of variables. And do you need a partner if you have to get a loan anyway? who pays for materials, permits, clean up? This part is unclear and makes a difference.