All Forum Posts by: Dan Bryskin

@Tom Squire

you mentioned 203, and I assumed property is not financeable under regular FHA or Conventional because of the condition. If that's the case - your argument is - he is limited to cash buyers and they buy at the discount. Or else it will be someone like you with the same issues. If his clock is ticking, tell him sure, in 120 days you can probably close on the better deal, or may be not, market can crash. In 10 years it may be worth double, but if you want it closed before the end of the next week, I can give you $$$$ nonrefundable. I am offering you $$$ a day, to give me xx days. If transaction closes, this money goes into the purchase price, it it doesn't - you keep them. Ask a guy if you can buy him coffee or something. Meet in person if you can. Ask him what would it take to make a deal. Offer something, gauge response. Increase an offer .... Be aware though, loans get postponed for stupid reasons multiple times. You may be able to buy time, but you may loose money. Good luck.

@Tom Squire

Ask a seller what would it take? Offer him cash. Guy probably thinks he can get more, or he doesn't think your deal will close. If he thinks he can get more, try to convince him property is not fanciable in the current state and next buyer will have the same issue. Call his agent, talk to him. Call seller as well, you have nothing to loose at this point. Good luck

No. Trust is a form of ownership, has no impact on how your city & state decide to tax you. Want your taxes to decrease? Talk to your tax assessor, and proof to him your house is worth less then he is thinking. Or open a nonprofit :) Good luck.

@Del Torres

If you own your home free and clear, you can sell or transfer it to LLC. If you have a mortgage on it, you have to contact your bank to see if they will allow a transfer. As @Gallagher Wilson was referring too, bank have what's called Due On Sale close. Any time name on the title changes, this close gets triggered, and your mortgage is due in full in 90 days or so. Now, your real question is - how should I hold my assets to maximize my financing and limit my liability. If your property is owned by a company, you get commercial financing at higher interest rates. Your cheap money is 10 or so home owner loans you are eligible for. There is a lot of info on here about how to hold your property and how to limit your liabilities. Hope it helps. Good luck

@Scott Anderson

Is your vacation rental considered on taxes as secondary residence? If it is, and you lived there for 2 out of last 5 years, you will get partial exception from capital gains. You can do 1031 on duplex or larger and occupy one of the units, or as  @Dave Foster has mentioned, you can exchange everything for rental, and at some point convert it to your primary residence. Else, a dollar of your loss on primary residence will offset a dollar in gains on your investments. For taxes you are looking at 15% for long term capital gain ( if held for a year and a day) + 25% for depreciation recapture. Your flip - if you didn't have for a year and a day will be taxed at 30%. Are you making a mistake selling? One way to look at it is your after tax cash vs income. Say sale nets you 10k, but you get $750 a month income from your rentals. 750 will pay for about 120k mortgage there 10k will pay for 10k mortgage. In this case I would not sell. But if you get $200 a month in income vs 70k cash - sell. Good luck.

@Kyle Nelson

Check if local laws would allow you to bill tenants for utilities based on sq footage of their units. If they do, do that. Sounds insulating - don't bother. Get thick carpet / pad once it is time to replace it. Utilities are expansive to separate, although you get more once you sell the place. 

• Water - you need 1 1/4 inch supply pipe coming from the ground to install 4 meters. One would need to take a good look at plumbing, if plumbing is pretty clean and comes down to the basement from each unit - install meters, 4 water heaters, and off you go. You are paying for everything
• Gas: Meters in my heck of the woods are installed by the city. But unless you can separate the heat, meters are useless.
• Heat: Have professional look at the duct work. It may be very expensive
• Electric: does each unit have a sub panel? If each unit does, and you got like 200 amp service, you can install 4 meter sockets and your power company will put meters in. Then you pay electrician to wire sub panels and you are done. If no sub-panels,  talk to a pro, may be very expansive.

Good luck

@Lisa Ru

I would not run a formal background / credit check on anybody without a signed form, it may become a legal liability. I usually have forms at showing. Some companies have a portal there tenant can enter his info and they will get you results. Of course looking somebody up through pacer (court system) and social media is free. https://www.pacer.gov/. Good luck.

@Michael Begnaud

Sounds like you had a realtor involved in transaction. That may be to your benefit. Not knowing specifics, here is my couple suggestions.

1. Take a good look at the old listing. Was it advertised as 3000sq feet? Did it have a disclaimer for buyer to verify all dimensions? Check with the city / county records. What do they have recorded for the structure? Is it 3000 sq f or less? What you are getting to is: was  the property misrepresented by the broker / agent? As a real estate professionals they have a duty to accurately represent a property. They also carry various types of insurance, errors and omissions being one of them. I will advise you to contact an attorney to determine an appropriate course of action under the local law.

2. Did you get a title insurance? If so, will it cover you? I'd call your title company and talk to them. They would know attorney, and probably have a fair amount of experience with misrepresented properties. 

It sucks, but happens all the time. On every 3rd transaction I do, footage is off, some times 1 bdr is listed as 4, and it has multiple rooms looking like bedrooms but ceiling height would be a few inches off. Some times room is fine, but still illegal because ceilings are not high enough on the stairs. Some times room is too small to be a bedroom. Got to look at this things, your money man. Good Luck.

@Michael Healy

I don't know if you are going to get your money out of kitchens and bathrooms. In the single families they would help you sell, but hardly ever warrant higher rent. Although they do attract people making it easier find great tenants. What i'd second you on is hardwood floors. Refinished but not stained. I always do that. I found them extremely cost effective in the long run. They last 5-10 years and a lot of times all needed is clean, buff and re coat. Good luck 

@Meghan McCallum 

It is risky all the way around. In my area, we got at least 10% appreciation in the last 6 months. Sell right now and how much more appreciation are you missing on in the next 6-18 months? Buy right now and how close to the top of the market are you? Build right now, and will you get stuck with it? So guess what? We are still buying, we are defiantly selling and we will be building. It will all be ok somehow :) Our plan is wrap as much work as we can as quickly as we can. We are looking to increase our cash position from 10% to about  30% by fall. More, if I can substitute my cash with investors. What do you think?