All Forum Posts by: Elise Bickel Tauber

Hi Bailey. Very familiar with the 203k loan and the process. A lot of my clients have gone that route. Just wanted to check, are you thinking about renovating a home for you to live in or did you need a loan option for a flip?

I have an opinion on wholesalers. One that may be unpopular (or maybe very popular). Wholesalers, are fantastic, motivated, and hard working individuals and have skills that a lot of real estate agents don't have. They are very determined to get "listings" and make the deal work. The problem (for home sellers) is that they have no fiduciary duty to the seller. Which means, a homeowner, who relies on information from their agent who listing their home, is often expecting that same loyalty from the wholesaler. It leaves a lot of homeowners feeling duped when the property finally closed. I've seen it happen many times. The seller sells a home to a wholesaler for $25,000 and then finds out the buyer who actually bought the house is buying that home for $45,000-$50,000 or more. If they had listed with an agent, they could have ended up with tens of thousands more. 

For investors who are selling homes to wholesalers, how do you feel about selling for a flat fee and the wholesaler making a large amount of profit on your home? Were you aware that many wholesalers have something called a "spread" which is often large to make a profit?

For the wholesalers out there, are you disclosing that you are only out for your best interest? Do you disclose your spread? Have you ever thought of getting your real estate license for whatever state you are located in, connecting with a real estate agent where you wholesale and getting a referral fee for all those listings? It would be a lot less then most wholesalers get in their spread but would also (often) require a whole lot less work since the agent would be the one showing, marketing, etc.

I would love to hear people's thoughts on this! Good, bad or indifferent!

So this is the big question we actually get a lot. Very rarely do i run into wholesalers who do the double close in Pittsburgh because of what you just said right there. The spread looks so good and then you realize you are paying the sellers fees, your purchase fees, your sale fees, and then lender fees, etc. The profit narrows really quickly. Most wholesalers do an assignment contract but you do have the careful how you do this because if you are representing real estate you don't own as if you are the owner, it is illegal. And if you represent real estate you don't own and act as a real estate agent without a license, it's illegal. But for those who do it correct with an assignment, they usually just have their hand money down (which they get back once the buyer puts down the hand money to go under contract) and then the sellers fees come out of your assignment fee on the deed. Hope that helps!

Looks like a great event!

 Congrats on beginning your journey to invest and so glad you are looking to do this the correct way! If for any reason @Charles Carillo's people can't help let me know. I have a few!!

 If you want to send me the address I can surely look at it for you. It depends on the neighborhoods because some are very specific (If you aren't in that area then you can't get the value) where others are more lienant!

 Also, for anything that isn't higher end, we always say that appliances are for connivence only and if they break, we will not repair or replace. 

This all comes down to the area, competition units, and the price you are charging. In our higher end units we absolutely always include the full suite of fridge, stove, dishwasher, microwave, washer and dryer. The rents are at the top of the market and the tenants there are going to paying anywhere from $1800-$3500/month, we are going to include everything. For the areas that aren't as high end or the competing properties aren't as luxurious, we do have a variety of properties that are just fridge/stove and those we don't offer any at all. for those we dont offer any at all, we do offer to put one in for the tenants at a higher cost that will be left at the property when they are done. We usually charge $50 per appliance per month only for their first year. We have a used appliance vendor we work with that will charge us $400 for the appliance including install (and removal of old if there is an old appliance there) so if they are there for 8 months or more you made your money back and everything else is profit.

Just a thought for you!

Another really important thing to do here in Pittsburgh is be mindful of school districts and boros. This can make a difference not only with taxes and boro/magistrate fees but also resale/arv values because districts do hold a lot of weight when it comes to homeowners (and renters) making decisions on where to live). We usually use anything within 1 mile (in the suburbs) and 1/2 mile in the city, same school district, same bedroom count, similar bathroom count, same parking (or similar) and then go from there. Hope this helps!

@Merav Pishoto we have over 100 investors looking if you want to send the info our way.