All Forum Posts by: David Uriarte

An agent isn't required to present an offer if it isn't in writing.  If the agent is suggesting to put it in writing it might be because he can now nudge the seller into accepting a lower than previous offer since the house has been on the market for a long time with no other potential buyers.  You won't know until you put it in writing and an earnest money deposit.

What happens a lot is someone calls the listing agent and says, "I'll pay $900K for that house."  Then the listing agent calls the owner and tell them about the verbal offer.  He convinces them that it's a good offer and the seller ends up agreeing.  Then the person that made the offer decides they don't want to do it anymore.  Now the listing agent looks like he can't bring in any serious offers to the seller.

Another version of this is the offer comes in verbally, then when it comes time to put it in writing the buyer has expensive or unrealistic contingencies.

It only takes a few minutes to write up a contract.

A verbal offer is worth the paper its printed on.

Because until it's in writing it's not a real offer.

If you have a signed lease the owner has to respect the leasing agreement.  Doesn't matter whether it's the old owner or the new owner.  If they don't want you in the property they can offer you compensation for your troubles, doesn't necessarily mean you have to accept it.

In NJ a lot of real estate attorneys don't get paid if the deal doesn't close (at least on the residential side).  They have motivation for closing.

It's a great book. The book basically tells you to not leave the equity in your home because it's not liquid and to put it in a liquid side fund. The side fund he mainly talks about is a tax preferred Indexed Universal Life plan. So if you have a 401K for example you are not taxed at the beginning (or like the book says on the seed), but taxed when you go to pull the money out usually at a higher rate (on the harvest). With an IUL you earn compounding interest on your money and can also pull a certain amount of money per year tax free, the easiest way is taking out a loan on your policy (which never has to be repaid, because it's your money anyway). The IUL is a long term plan for wealth.

I suggest reading the book. Read Missed Fortune 101 and not Missed Fortune or read them both. They are both basically the same thing, but Missed Fortune 101 is an easier read, much shorter and to the point. They both have pretty much the same information, I think the only thing the original Missed Fortune book has in it (that's not in Missed Fortune 101) is about reverse mortgages (which is for people that are 62+ years old).

There's one of these in Philly this weekend. I'll be there tomorrow and depending on how it is, I'll go on Sunday. All of these big "get-togethers" are good because of the networking opportunities and also the chance to see what products are out there. I don't usually buy anything at these type of events, but it's good to know what's out there and then you do your research when you have spare time to see if it's worth it and of course find a cheaper place to buy it.

This is a great site! I've been reading this forum off and on for the last month or two and decided to join. For some reason of course I didn't get the activation email and waited a few days, emailed the admin and now I'm in. :wink:

Anyway I'm a real estate agent in NJ and thinking about becoming an investor very soon and I've found tons of great info here (from an investor perspective) to get me started. Of course I have my own ideas and with some I found here I'll try to merge bits and pieces and hopefully come out with the best plan of action.