All Forum Posts by: Taylar Caraway

I'm listing a home for sale in Fairburn and the owner would like an appraisal done to determine the accurate square footage. It appears the tax record may be incorrect but she has no documentation to prove it. We don't need a full blown appraisal, just someone to come out and measure the square footage and provide official documentation.

Let me know if you can help! Thanks!

Ignore the zestimate. You have to look at the area comparables. The zestimate is basically a computer algorithm, it doesn't know the condition, features, etc of the house and can only guess the value based on the information the computer gives it. 

Your best bet is to look at comparable properties in the neighborhood and compare apples to apples. Pay attention to what price homes are SELLING for in the neighborhood, not necessarily what they are LISTED at. Once you see how homes are selling, take a look at the price per square foot and see what valuation you get. Keep in mind though that a finished basement will not be valued at the same level as the above grade area.

Hi @Miles Robinson

I have a contact at State Farm, she is fantastic. I'll send you a message.

Hey Dan, 

Would love to help you. We have a closing attorney that has done remote closings many times. Send me a message and we talk about the details and exchange numbers.

Hi Kamal, thanks for posting!

I'm a local real estate agent and have a couple great references for a contractor and a home inspector. Please send me a message so we can chat more!

We are in our due diligence period now and one of the biggest issues we found during the home inspection was more roof damage than we originally thought. I have heard that the seller can file a claim with her insurance to get this potentially repaired/replaced for cheap or free. Does anyone have experience with this?

I've already looked up a few licensed roofing contractors in our area with experience dealing with insurance claims. I plan to call them up tomorrow (Monday) and see if they can come out to provide a free estimate ASAP.

Also, I plan to ask the seller to provide us with any documentation from any previous roof maintenance and ask if she has any warranties for the roof already in place.

Any other ideas/tips?

Great question Nikki.

I'm not sure what state you're in, but in GA dual agency is illegal unless written consent is given by both parties (as I think is also the case in most states). Dual agency is a very risky way to run her business and this agent is really opening herself up to some ethical issues... any ethical agent would have a real problem doing business this way (in my opinion).

In dual agency, the agent is not allowed to negotiate for the seller or the buyer. She has to remain neutral, and thus it's virtually impossible to have any negotiations. I'm not sure why anyone would ever agree to this unless it was a unique situation (for example, familial transaction). But otherwise, it doesn't seem to make sense for anyone.

If you aren't using a buyers agent, it's important to remember that this agent is representing the SELLER and will have a fiduciary duty to represent the SELLERS best interest, not yours. To her, you are just a customer and she has no loyalty to you.

I strongly recommend signing a buyer brokerage agreement with a buyers agent so you have someone in your corner to negotiate for you. There's really no reason not to do this considering that using a buyers agent is free for you (the seller usually pays all the commissions, although this can be negotiated).

Also, she has a legal duty to present all offers to her seller. She cannot legally exclude offers that give her 3% versus 6%. The seller is still paying the same 6% either way so this doesn't affect his/her net at the end of the day... so this shouldn't even be brought up by the agent when the offers are presented.

Hope this helps!

@Derrick Gordon My wife and I have been going through similar experiences. For us, we are leveraging the fact that we are looking to owner occupy on properties that need quite a bit of work. We mostly compete with house flippers with cash so instead of trying to hit 70-80% ARV, we shoot for 90%ARV. That keeps our purchase price competitive even with the typically financing contingency and 30 days to close. In addition, our lender will pre-approve the LOAN which allows underwriting to happen before we find a property. Then they only need 7 days for an appraisal and final approval of the loan applied to the selected property.

Some other approaches that we have had success with is Driving for Dollars, seeking out as-is properties, and properties that have been on the market for 30 days or more. With the holidays upon us this is the best time to find a deal!

I will second what @Stan Sugarman stated above. My wife and I have been looking to purchase an owner-occupied multifamily property for months and with limited supply and low returns, we are adjusting our strategy. The Atlanta South REI is also where we were referred as well.

Hi Bob, thanks for your response. We are aware that we will have to check with the HOA and also determine what the zoning is. My main question is if the property is not zoned correctly, are there any options to change the zone? We've done some research and found that you can apply for a zone variance but we aren't sure how this works or if anyone has had experience with this, or if this is even a viable option.

Regarding the 2nd kitchen, we've actually found a couple properties that already have installed 2nd kitchens in the basement or "in-law suite" but when I check the zoning on these properties, they are listed as single family residential. So I assume this means you can have someone live there but you just can't collect rental income from that person. Right? This is where our idea of applying for a zoning variance comes into play, but we have no idea if this is a reasonable option.

If anyone has had any direct experience with this we'd love to hear what you did.