All Forum Posts by: Eddie Egelston

You basically just asked "how do I real estate"? haha

In my market- could be different in yours -Craigslist and Zillow are the wrong places to look for FSBO deals. FSBOs are the wrong place to look for deals, period. Here, Craigslist is nothing but wholesalers advertising their "deals" and Zillow is nothing but FSBOs dreaming of getting an extra $50k above market.

All FSBOs are "off-market" but not all "off-market" are FSBOs. You gotta find the "off-market" stuff that isn't FSBO. You gotta find people before they even realize they need to sell. After that point they have already called a Realtor.

Zillow is a pretty good tool for looking up sold comps. A good thing to note is how are properties selling versus their Zestimate. If  every other 4 bedroom in your neighborhood has sold for $20,000 above Zestimate, what do you think your 4 bedroom is worth? Probably $20,000 above your Zestimate. The Zestimate itself is trash, but when you compare it to reality, it can be a good guide.

 The short answer is no; but what in life is 100% guaranteed? I personally plan to be making similar offers but it will be with escrow amounts I can afford to lose.

I know the underwriting of my lender better than the first person you talk to when you call their customer service line, so on a vanilla deal I'm feeling pretty safe personally. The 1 hang up for me is that my lender bases all of the LTV and LTC ratios off of an appraisal. So if the appraisal comes in too low that could change my cash out of pocket. I feel that's the closest I am to less than "100% guaranteed".

Uhhhh losing Twenty Grand is what would concern me about non refundable escrow.

Also your lending platform relies on people coming through with cash, doesn't it? Given the situation I'd want to go with LendingHome or one of the half dozen other lenders I've googled that are "California only". Those lenders should be able to close on a good deal. You're basically purchasing with no contingency it sounds like. So you should be 100% sure you qualify for their loan underwriting.

Do you have assessors in Louisiana? Check their website.

Is the house perhaps the same model as others in the area? Check what the other models' sqft is.

Measure the exterior of the home yourself that's all the appraiser does anyway. Exterior dimensions minus any "open areas" that you can't stand on.

lololol you are the Master of the Universe and everyone else is stupid garbage! Good one ahahahaha

But seriously

1) I don't think you told the story correctly. Did your agent push hard for you to accept the offer? It sounds like a junk offer you should not accept. But as the agent I'd be a bit disappointed too, what are we supposed to say "yippee I get to work longer for the same paycheck now that an offer has been rejected!"

2) I can see your point you are right. It's just that it likely doesn't matter. Those of us on the front lines can tell you that properly priced rentals can get 20 -50 calls per weekend. My question to you is what's the difference? Seriously what is the difference whether you get 20 or 30 calls on the listing? Why not use the ad verbiage to weed out people that might not be a good fit. "Marketing and selling" to potential tenants is for slow markets. Today's market is about managing the damn break of interest.

3) Over the course of several years you have not learned that RE agents are not pro photographers. You have also not yet learned that professional property managers are not pro photographer. If only there was a person you could hire that was a pro photographer! hhhmmmm someone should invent that.

Sounds greedy to me. You're pretty much getting in at the 70% rule pricing. Plus you're saying that a $5000 budget increase = $10,000 price reduction.    :/

How exactly did the rehab budget go up? Did you...

A) pay for a licensed inspector who found mold in the attic?

Or...

B) realize that all the paint tile and fixtures were more than you thought?

If you're trying to renegotiate because you poorly estimated the job that's tougher. If you legitimately found previously unknown defects you should simply inform the seller of said defects along with a professional bid to remedy.

Big Red Flag: Why exactly don't the crowdfunders want this?

I was pricing out appliance packages and I found 2 appliance specialty websites that seemed cheaper than the big boxes.

http://www.us-appliance.com/

https://www.ajmadison.com/

@Kevin Jorgensen My thoughts are that you are wading into very subjective waters. Nobody on this forum can give you the correct answer without knowing more about your home.

Your assumption about staying under $225 a sqft sounds a lot like the sellers I meet who say "If that 2,000 sqft house sold for $200,000 then my 3,000 sqft house should sell for $300,000." -Ahhh if only it was that simple!

There's a least a dozen questions to ask which will affect the ROI of this investment:

Average sqft in your neighborhood versus your sqft? Neighborhood is 2500 and you're 2000? Okay. Neighborood 2500 and you're already at 3000. Bad idea.

Can you make the addition flow into the current floor plan? Or would it just feel like someone added a giant box onto an existing house?

What are you adding? A 4th bdrm? a family room or a basketball court? Not much ROI on the basketball court. A large master suite or a family room open to kitchen should pay back nicely though.

The devil's in the details of an addition. You can look at building costs per sqft all you want. But what matters is how much your addition will cost. Will it require an upgrade to the entire HVAC system and electrical panel? That's a $10,000 question right there.

How much more will the house rent for? If the long term goal is to rent it anyway, will the additional make financial sense for the rental value? 

Is the rest of your house small & dated? Then the new big beautiful addition won't have much value. However if the addition is the cherry on top, the ROI will be better.

My shoot from the hip number is if you spend about $125 per sqft addition you probably won't lose money. If the cost is higher, you should really investigate the questions above.

Haha wow, those are challenges to be sure! I think you are getting away from the focal question by mentioning those challenges.

The OP was saying she was getting out-bid on properties. If all the other investors are willing to pay more than you are... are you smarter than every other investor, or are you too conservative to a fault? That's the crux of it.

It's not a Northside versus Southside versus suburbs question. The question, is do you wait for a unicorn, or do you hop on the next horse?