All Forum Posts by: Dave Defourneaux

Hello Tristan,

I help investors like yourself in St. Pete and around the Tampa Bay area.  Please contact me if you have any questions or need any assistance.  I look forward to connecting with you.

Welcome to BP, Cody! I also live in St Pete which is a HOT market right now. I am a local real estate agent and work with investors in the area to help them find suitable properties for their portfolios, including being a registered HUD agent with access to many distressed properties. Please call me if you need help finding your first property. I would be happy to help!

Thanks, Doug!  I'll give you a call in the next couple of days.  Really appreciate the help.

Hello Everyone,

I am wondering if anyone has a recommendation on a good mortgage broker or lender in the St. Petersburg, FL area. Looking for an investor-friendly broker that can offer some creative options and solutions. I am tired of sitting on the sidelines and want to get in the game, but still don't have much saved up. I am looking to purchase a duplex, triplex, or quad in downtown St. Petersburg and plan to do the "house hacking" thing by living in one of the units, while renting out, or possibly selling, my current SFH residence. Any references anyone might have would be extremely helpful.

Thanks!

Welcome to the neighborhood!

Hello Everyone!

I have some questions about talking with potential sellers. I currently rent a room in a house that i live in part-time. Long story, but basically I commute between two cities for work, so this is my home-away-from-home so to speak, and the house is currently FSBO. It is a good property in a good neighborhood and would be perfect for a cosmetic rehab and flip, or to continue as a rental (with me on the other side of the table). I believe the owner is asking too much. He has it priced accordingly for the area, but most comps have 2 baths or at least 1.5, and this is a 3/1 house, and he feels it is "move-in ready". It is in good shape, but having lived in it myself for nearly a year I have a good idea of what it needs rehab-wise (minor cosmetic, but definitely needs a complete kitchen rehab, and could probably use at least an extra half bathroom).

I'm not quite prepared to make an offer but I'd like to start an informal negotiation with him. As this will actually be my first conversation with a potential seller while representing myself as an investor, I want to approach it correctly and professionally. We have a tenant-landlord relationship already, so we aren't strangers, but nor are we really familiar with one another.

How do I start the conversation? What are some good ways to figure out how motivated he is to sell and what numbers he might be willing to play with? I don't have an exact value on the house myself yet (I have a ballpark figure of my offer), but I want to see where his head is at with the sale. I believe he has full equity also and could possibly be willing to seller-finance. How do I work this into the conversation?

I would really appreciate any advice on how to proceed.

Thanks for the help!

Hello Everyone!

I have some questions about talking with potential sellers. I will preface this by saying that I am a complete newbie, and have yet to do my first deal. I have been in the education phase of this for about six months now and feel I am close to getting something going. I tend to have a perpetual case of "getting-ready-to-get-ready", but it occurred to me the other day that I might just have a great opportunity right under my nose.

I currently rent a room in a house that i live in part-time. Long story, but basically I commute between two cities for work, so this is my home-away-from-home so to speak, and the house is currently FSBO. It is a good property in a good neighborhood and would be perfect for a cosmetic rehab and flip, or to continue as a rental (with me on the other side of the table). I have done some rudimentary valuation by way of Zillow (I realize it isn't completely accurate, but it gets me in the ballpark) and believe the owner is asking too much. He has it priced accordingly for the area, but most comps have 2 baths or at least 1.5, and this is a 3/1 house, and he feels it is "move-in ready". It is in good shape, but having lived in it myself for nearly a year I have a good idea of what it needs rehab-wise (minor cosmetic, but definitely needs a complete kitchen rehab, and could probably use at least an extra half bathroom). The owner has been showing the property, but unsuccessfully I believe.

I'd like to start an informal negotiation with him, but as this will actually be my first conversation with a potential seller while representing myself as an investor, I want to approach it correctly and professionally. We have a tenant-landlord relationship already, so we aren't strangers, but nor are we really familiar with one another. 

How do I start the conversation? What are some good ways to figure out how motivated he is to sell and what numbers he might be willing to play with? I don't have an exact value on the house myself yet (I have a ballpark figure of my offer), but I want to see where his head is at with the sale.  I believe he has full equity also and could possibly be willing to seller-finance.  How do I work this into the conversation? 

I guess if he isn't a motivated seller the point is moot, and if it doesn't work out it won't be the end of the world, but it seems like a good opportunity for me to hone some negotiating skills and at least get some practice evaluating a deal on a property that I already know fairly intimately and maybe it could actually turn into MY first deal. 

I would really appreciate any advice on how to proceed. 

Thanks for the help!

Welcome! I am also a new investor in the TB area, over in St. Petersburg, and a fellow aviator as well.  I haven't done any deals yet either, but feel I am pretty close to it.  Hopefully we can help each other out.  Good luck out there!

I just wanted to say hello to the community. I am just getting started on the path of real estate investing, and stumbled across this site during my research. I've listened to the first 5, or so, podcasts, and really would like to give a big thank-you to Josh and Brandon. Already, just these few hours of listening have been tremendously helpful and inspiring. It also led me to discover Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad Poor Dad" which just might be one of the most influential books I think that I've ever read.

I've bought and sold two primary residences, and now live in a third. I will soon be ready to start buying property for investing. I am considering picking up my real estate licence to help me understand the business better and to learn about sales. Overall, I'm not sure what my exact business plan is yet, but I firmly believe that a stable foundation of wealth and income will come from owning property.

I'm excited to be part of this community and feel that it has a great deal to teach me. I can't wait to learn more and to meet some of you!