All Forum Posts by: Darrell Lee

@Helen Kirk If there's time, you can also call a Realtor and see what they think it is worth and I ask them what do they think it is worth as is right now, after renovation and how much would it rent for. I ask them to take pics of the inside and out especially the basement and garage and pics of all the problem areas. Listing agents tend to only show the nice rooms, not the mold on the cealings, holes in the walls, cracked windows, etc. I'll go to Zillow and see if I can find the last Realtor that had it listed and see if maybe they have the keys and can get inside.

The Realtors are my eyes and ears since I can't be there myself, so I choose very experienced agents to work with.

@Helen Kirk, I'm kinda aggressive as I am comfortable buying sight unseen and paying cash. I buy the low end so if I screw up royally, I won't get hurt too bad.

@Michael Hicks

 the $2500 is just a deposit to keep the flakes out. It is NOT a fee but a deposit. My bank freezes my debit card when I make 2 deposits within 10 minutes of each other so it is frustrating if I see 2-4 properties that all end at the same time with only 10-20 minutes remaining...

The $550 house, I had to wire the $550 as my EMD. They don't charge the $2500, just put a hold on it. I don't do enough volume as they had a high volume buyer deal that just provides one $2500 deposit for all their bids. But you have to be buying millions...

@Helen Kirk

Are you flirting with me, Helen? LOL

OWC means Owner Will Carry... but I guess in these times of low interest rates, it is not often used now.

I've been retired for 19 years so a long time without the stress of working. 

I bought another house today! BofA REO had a $90k loan that foreclosed. I paid $17k for a small 3br/1ba with a 1/4 acre lot in Northern NH.

Thanks @Jason Bott,

I have ADA compliant restrooms on the ground floor and I am modifying the existing ramp to be up the current ADA specs. I get 25% tax credits for that work as well.

 So I assumed if the building burnt down, if I went with the $800k cash value or what ever value I wanted to put it at... that would be the amount paid to me? Here's what he wrote me...

Building is about 9000 square feet. If we were to insure for replacement value, we should probably use a value around $1,080,000. This is probably a lot more than you want to insure it for.

The next step down would be actual cash value which would be around $800,000. Still a pretty high value.

I just bought a house for $17k and expect to sell it for around $50k. I have 4 properties under contract at the moment so my CPA says I'm a dealer and have to pay ordinary income taxes on my profits.

As a dealer, I'm wondering if I can utilize the 1031 tax deferred exchange?

Smart play @Dave Foster. I like it...

I used Harvard Business Services for my Series LLC. They don't have a lawyer on staff so they cannot or will not answer any legal or financial questions, but they have low fees and options.

https://www.delawareinc.com/

Do your search, if I'd do it over, I'd pay more if there's a lawyer on staff to help answer Delaware Series LLC questions.

Buying a 100 y.o. 3 story commercial building, 9300s.f. plus 2,000s.f. basement. 

Not a typo... Paying $20k plus all closing costs for seller and me the buyer. About $10k so $30k total initial investment. Will spend $50-100k in renovations. Completely vacant at the moment, but after rehab I should have 66% leased in short order.

Haven't gotten an insurance quote yet, but the insurance guy (his office is across street from my building and used to insure for the seller) estimates replacement cost at $1.1mil and if I want to insure for cash value he suggests $800k. Sounds expensive in either case, but he's still working on a quote. I'm closing the deal in a couple days so I gotta come to a decision quickly.

What are your recommendations for insurance for me? And liability umbrella? Property in Vt.

Thanks.

Go get em!!!

I was 25 when I retired being an old man in the professional Grand Prix Motorcycle Roadracing sport now known as MotoGP. It took me many days or weeks to decide the next chapter in my life... I started racing right out of high school, so no college degree which eliminates doctor/lawyer/cpa/dentist/stockbroker... Well, Merrill Lynch almost was willing to hire me, but they passed because no degree. I knew I could sell stuff, so I wanted to sell the most expensive things possible... so it was real estate.

Listing are key. I used to maintain around 30-50 listings at any one time. I tried holding open houses as often as possible. I was selling some new homes so I'd just move in a desk and a phone and my portable computer so I'd hold open house 7 days a week, 10+ hours a day... So I always had as many buyers as I wanted but it was also to show the neighborhood homeowners what a hard working guy I was. 1986, My last year having a one man shop with a couple of part timers, I closed over 50 transactions and grossed about $360k in commissions. After that great year, I made the biggest mistake of my life by opening a medium size brokerage with 50 agents, 2 offices as well as a mortgage company. While we were grossing millions, my net was pitiful. The mid 90's I was losing $100k per year. The joy was gone working 80 hours a week and losing $100k per year and only working with the clients when a possible lawsuit or some problems needed to be fixed. I was miserable being the owner of the company. I closed up shop so I'd stop losing $100k a year and that felt like I was making $100k profit... and went rockclimbing across the country. I was so burnt out I could not get myself to return to brokerage. Being an agent today must be great! My agents I buy from have it so easy. A couple properties I won the auctions and I email my brokers... Congrats, you just sold me a house! Sometimes that would be my first contact with the broker... luck them. I'm having a problem with one of my brokers. I ask the broker to write up a full price all cash offer and it took 5 days to get the PSA to me for signature... FIVE DAYS!!! Today I am trying to buy a house that I am offering more than 10% above the asking price, all cash a 20% EMD (earnest money deposit)... signed it first thing this morning and now 13 hours later, no status update if the offer was presented or what... Sorry I'm venting...

You are off to a great start... but work smart, not hard. A lot of listings is key. They will make you money by having all the buyers agents working for you. I did both, work with buyers and got lots of listings. Practice your craft... practice writing a lot of offers, counteroffers, listing agreements, etc. so that when it is time to write a real deal, you will be comfortable. 

If you can afford it, invest in your sales training and education.  Learn closing techniques. Be yourself, don't try to BS your clients. If you think a property is a good deal, tell them. You are the expert. If you think it is a crappy deal... tell them... you will build a very loyal following if you have a reputation for honesty and professionalism. Then they will refer you business and that is when the job gets fun and easy. For me it took about 3 years to get to that point but we had sky high interest rates back then.