All Forum Posts by: Faisal Sami

Bryan
In the past year I have found it is easier to just fix up foreclosed houses and either sell, rent or lease option. Got tired of dealing with all of the sellers issues in trying to get their house bought. Same thing with doing short sales and trying to get the sellers to cooperate. Easier to manage a crew of rehabbers than a burned out seller who doesn't want to help themself.

Would you rather acquire properties that have existing tenants and positive cashflow and use some cash and credit to acquire OR try to find motivated sellers and acquire their home SUBJECT TO their underlying mortgage?

I have tried it both ways and have found that using some cash and credit to grow my real estate portfolio is better than trying to deal with "motivated" sellers. I hate talking to sellers who are desperate to sell their home.

Agree with buy and hold and keep the cashflow. I like buying homes and duplexes below the $60k mark. Cashflow is better in this range.

I have not read all of the posts above but I just wanted to share my answer on what I pay for referrals. I pay a $1k referral to anyone who refers a client who actually CLOSES on a property with me AFTER funds are deposited in my bank account.

Joel
some agents are very emotionally tied to their listings. If they had any influence on setting the price, they also have in mind how much commission they want to make. A lowball offer means a lowball commission and that makes em mad. A professional realtor shown comps and detracting factors should be open to look at your offer. When I lowball offers, I usually provide supporting documentation that help me make my case. I say go and lowball like you are doing. The worst they can say is no. A recent war story I heard from my realtor was of another investor who low balled a bank for a 3 bedroom 2 bath house in Rockford, IL for $8k in a nice area. The asking price was $35k from the bank but the investor held his ground for 3 weeks and only went up to $9k and got the property from the bank who kept saying they would not go lower with every counter offer they made. Only to go lower the next day all the way down to $9k three weeks later. The investor only took the $9k offer because he couldn't believe the bank actually came that far down and wanted to grab it before another investor swooped in.

My own feeling is not to low ball just for low balling's sake. There needs to be a business case for the lower offer. If I can still make good money with a higher offer, I will go ahead and do it if it means closing the deal faster and actually getting it done. I have seen deals fall apart that were $1k away from each other. This in my opinion does not make sense. Good luck!

Warren
I have a single family home for $35k and one for $42k. I have a great property manager in Cleveland that collects the rent at the tenants front door and deposits into my bank account the same day. He charges me 5% of monthly rental and he has been working out great. You can use him as well. I can send you comps and any other details.
Faisal

Great topic guys, I tell people what I do. It's a great subject of conversation and it opens doors for me. I was casually talking about a couple of homes I own with someone today and that led to a discussion about private money. You never know who is looking to invest or needs to sell. You have to enjoy what you are doing and it will show. As for the haters, they are there in every industry. Even in the medical field, there is jealousy and animosity towards people of perceived higher net worth.

Dear Financeexaminer

Not sure I understand the question. Who is OP? I do not have the seller note, I am the owner of the property.

Still prefer it to Android, but waiting for the next version of the iPhone

Clarification, $350/month not $450/month,,posted on my iPhone and it keeps hitting 4 instead of 3.