All Forum Posts by: Dax Gurr

ya, no problem!.  Remember, the sellers are looking for options as well, if you cant get a loan no one can.  If they cant sell it via traditional methods they will be more willing to negotiate with you.  Use that as leverage.  

the way you are describing is the way that we buy all our properties. If you buy it with cash then when you refinance you can take out all you capital ( up to 20 or 25% Loan to value), get a great long term rate and do it again... assuming this is an investment. If you are buying it as an owner occupied you can do an FHA 203(k) which will allow you to buy it and then have the bank loan against the future state of the house. These types of loans are a pain but may be an option. Another option is talk to a local credit union and have them do a construction loan. This allows you to buy the house with the first draw, then take out additional draws to finish the repairs.

If the seller is a private person you may be able to do a short term Wrap ( basically this is you wrap your mortgage around theirs).  Then when the remodeling is complete you can refinance and pay the original seller off.   They may be interested in this because they get a better price.  

Another option may be to have the appraiser give the garage no value.   As long as it is not a safety hazard they can do it this way.  You will have to repair the other stuff to get it up to average.  The appraisal my be lower but it will be better than paying all cash if you dont have cash.  

Best wishes!

Thanks everyone,  That is great advise. from what I am hearing, the biggest difference between collage kids and everyone else is they require more time and energy.  I think that makes sense.  

My advice is don't beat yourself up!  You made a solid decision based on what was available when you made it.  If you refinance it you will be playing closing costs again and will be even more under water.  Work on paying the principle down and don't look back. 

If you have enough equity you can just refinance it out of the VA loan to a conventional loan. Then put the property in the LLC when you close. Most likely your LLC wont be able to get a loan. Only big commercial enterprises with lots of cash flow can get financing with out having the owner on the hook as well as the company. If you have not used your 4 Fannie Mae I would use that now. Technically you can get 10 properties using Fannie Mae financing but the first 4 are pretty easy the next 6 are really tough. Good Luck!

I am thinking about renting my duplex out per room.  The duplex is near Weber State (Utah) and I think I can get $350 - $400 per room.  So a total of 6 rooms as per zoning.  The cash flow sounds great but I am a little worried about what will happen to the place with 6 college kids.  I am thinking I will do "LDS standards" which means no drinking, smoking, ect.  But I am still a little worried about the headache I am getting myself into.  What has been your experience renting by the room to collage kids? 

That works. Thanks! 

It means if the listed price is $100,000 and the seller is not willing to take less than $100,000 and you need closing costs added to your loan then the seller raises the purchase price to $103,000 so they can pay 3% to your closing costs.  Otherwise if they dont raise the price then they are actually netting ~$97,000.  So in order for that to work, the house needs to appraise for $103,000 or the deal wont work.  

It terms of the question,  "So it there a law (or rule or understanding) that says real estate agents cannot buy properties at a significant discount? i.e., 30-50% off as-is market value? If real estate agents do buy properties with these type of significant discounts, are they more likely to be sued? Or held liable?"  My advise is don't ever lie.  I have people call me all the time to do real estate appraisals on estates.  I do the appraisal as accurate as and honestly I can.  I am not an investor at that point I am an appraiser.  When I see a house next door that is vacant I am an investor and I approach the owner as an investor not as an appraiser.  In other words don't misrepresent your self or lie about values.  

I have had my license and I would say the best part of having a license is having the MLS. I have no idea how anyone would expect to do anything in real estate unless it is long term buy and hold with out having access to the MLS. If you can get the MLS, and you don't want to sell houses I would not get my license, at least to start out. The reason is you can find deals on the MLS. You can then structure them to your advantage by approaching the listing agent and using them as the buyers agent. This is advantageous because it is human nature to want to make more money on the deal and the listing agent will be making 6% so they will want to help you.

Then when you go to list a house you can use a discount broker, the guy I use only charges me ~$300 per deal.  Most agents have to pay their brokers twice that. 

It is a lot of time and energy to get a license that you can spend doing other things. But the key is you have to have access to the MLS or you are dead in the water.

The advantage to having your license when you are starting out is if you buy a house from the MLS, you can get that 3% commission back at the end. If you buy a $100,000 as an owner occupant, you will need to put down 3% to get the loan. If you get an FHA loan and put down 3% you get that back at closing in the form of a commission.

 If you are wholesaling the advantage would be if you find a house that can go on the open market you could list it rather than wholesale.  @Meghan McCallum is right, no one can tell you what will work best for you.  Think it through then Jump, avoid "analysis paralysis" you can make money either way.