All Forum Posts by: Derek Caffe

Hey @Marty Mason, congrats on the successful flip. Could you give a breakdown of the repair costs for your flip? Trying to better understand typical renovation costs. Thanks.

Thank you again @Lolita Ellis !

Thank you for mentioning the HUD-1 sheet @Xing Zhu . Learned something new today.

Thanks, for the insight Joel. I am new at real estate, but have a background in finance (bachelors) and analysis (job). I've spent several years thinking about it, and feel the only way left to learn more is to actually purchase my first property.

I don't and won't know everything, but I'll know a lot more than when I started. I believe in calculated risks, but am always in a learning mode to help minimize risks further. I'll pay for quality, but don't want to throw money around frivolously.

Sorry to sound new, but what's HUD-1 @Xing Zhu ?

Thanks @Lolita Ellis . Will do.

@Wayne Brooks

Thank you all for your feedback. I had already decided to pursue another agent prior to posting. I was interested in hearing your insights because of how green I am to R.E. investing.

My offer on the property was below 50% of asking price as stated. This is due to the fact that in this apartment community (all quadplex) in the past year, the highest selling price on a quad was $90,000.

That 90K represents the top of the market, as the selling price according to public record ranged on average from 40 - 90K. That being said, I felt 55K was a good offer considering the properties were grossly overpriced and had been on the market since July.

@Arjun K. I'm not sure his added value, since I'm the one finding leads, vetting the quality of the house and choosing my purchase price based on my property analysis. I'm not saying he hasn't offered some info that I didn't know, but not $3000 dollars worth. At this point, I just needed him to make an offer on my behalf.

I'm all for paying for $3000 if his counsel would save me $10,000 elsewhere, but I'm just not seeing the added value. I wanted to know if this seemed common practice.

@Thomas Quinn he stated, if they seller doesn't pay his their portion of the $1500, I'd cover theirs plus mine ($3000 total).

I've been searching for an RE agent to make an offer on my first investment property. I found a great agent that says he works with investors exclusively. After talking on the phone once, we meet at a 4plex I picked out to make an offer on. We view the property and I decide to make an offer of $55,000 (asking price $129,900). Here's the email that followed:

Now, I'm a newbie in both investing and purchasing a home in general, but for multi-family homes that range from $150,000 - 50,000 a $3,000 agent fee aside from other closing costs seems a bit outrageous. Could I get a word of advice from experienced investors?

Thanks Mehran, for both the welcome and the introduction to Al. I'm checking out the podcast now. I've been looking through the forums and found a lot of great information. Looking to interact more. Also Mehran, how did you tag me in your post?

Al, most definitely. I've sent you a message and colleague request and look forward to hearing back from you. Thanks.

Hey Ali,

I chose low-income communities because besides my monetary goals, I have social goals too. Part of those social goals involves investing in low-income communities.