All Forum Posts by: Rachael Collins

I am hoping to find out if a house under a HAMP loan has to be owner occupied for the full term of the loan, or is there an "owner occupancy period" as I have heard of for FHA loans that would then allow the borrower to move out and rent the property.

@Corey Dutton 

I agree, the whole thing is a mess. "The solutions" never seem to have the desired affect. I have a HAMP mortgage and it seemed like a great solution, but now I am wondering if it will hinder me more than having dealt with a financial blow then and having it sorted out by now. My rates don't climb until 2015 so I am now looking at my options. I actually would prefer to no longer live in the house and rent it, but cannot seem to find a clear answer if I can keep the HAMP loan without the property being my primary residence. Do you have any information regarding this type of situation. Any help would be appreciated!

Hey @Kevin Walters - Welcome!

I am also looking into small multi's in Bakersfield.  I am new to investing as well, and do not live in Bakersfield, though I only live an hour away, and work down here. In beginning to learn the area, I have discovered that you really need to be sure you are aware of the neighborhood you are investing in. At this point, and I have barely scratched the surface of learning the neighborhoods, most of the properties I have driven by (due to the attractive purchase price) have been in areas I would hesitate to invest in as they are particularly run down. The building being run down would be ok, as that can create an opportunity to raise the value once you purchase, but the entire neighborhood is run down and that can't be solved by one good property. So my search goes on! Good hunting to you!

Would anyone in the Bakersfield, CA area let me know of any good REI assoc meetings to attend.

Thanks!

Does anyone have referrals for a good accountant and or attorney in Bakersfield/CA central valley area??

It  would be very appreciated!

Mark,

I checked out your profile and see that you are an REO specialist and am hoping you can answer a few questions:

1. Would you give a quick explanation of an REO - is it any property that a bank has had to take back from the borrower because they have defaulted on payments, or only certain types of properties or situations?

2. Are there required measures taken to sell the properties (short sale, auction, etc) before the bank takes it back?

3. Once it is an REO are lenders generally pretty firm on sales price, since they need to get back what was owed to them, or at some point are they willing to take a discounted price in order to get it off of their books?

The ARV does not rely on splitting the lots. If we did decide to do that (which I don't think we will since that would increase our time and expense in the flip) our ARV would potentially increase. I have done some research with the Building/Planning Depts in the last few days and found out that we can replace the older home with a new one of like size without having to process a CUP, so that makes this deal more attractive. However, we have just found out that an owner occ has put in an offer at $120K so we will see how this plays out.

Mark,

The property is listed for $144k and ARV is approx $350k. We are working on rehab numbers now, we were just able to get in to do a good run through of the property last night. Replacing the second manu home will be about $60K and then rough rehab and fixed costs look like about $45K. So there seems to be room for decent return but I am hoping to get input about entitlement changes, pros and cons of manu homes as well as REO props (I just found out as investors we have to wait 10 days after the listing posts to mls to put in an offer so that owner occs have the chance to buy before us-is that normal?) and private lending (not sure of clear difference between hard money and private money lenders).

Thanks for your response

I am putting together my first deal after only three months of deciding to become a RE investor. I really need advice and input in every aspect of this deal as I have very little experience.

Here it is:

A 2.83 acre parcel zoned E 2 1/2 R MH. It has two MH on it now, one at 2,400 SF that we plan to rehab, and one at 1,200 SF that needs to be demo'd and replaced. This property is rural, but only 45 min from large cities in two directions. We have a private lender in place if the numbers work. We want to do one of two things:

1. Apply for a Zone Modification to split the lot and sell them separately after rehab of larger home and placement of  a new MH on second lot.

2. Apply for a Conditional Use Permit to increase the allowable size of the secondary residence and sell the entire property with two homes on it.

Both options require approximately the same amount of time and money to change entitlement, barring any neighboring resident opposition.

I believe the first option would be more lucrative, however, the Zone Change is a 50/50 chance. They are not always approved, and that could possibly take up three months. I am not sure if it would be a waste of time and money on my first deal. Particularly as I have no experience in changing entitlement on property. The CUP has a much more likely chance of approval (I spoke to the County Planners and they have indicated that those types of applications are not very controversial and have been generally approved).

Is there anything I need to know about REO properties in this situation that may hinder my deal?

I am also wondering about the process for using a private lender. The lender we have lined up is a business associate of my husbands and knows we are honest, responsible, that we have construction experience, but that we are new at this. He is a general contractor and does flips and builds spec homes himself. He has simply said he will lend if we present a good deal, but has not given specifics about his expectations. I want to make sure we both go in and come out getting what we expect and deserve from this transaction, and want to make sure we approach him as professionally as possible as new investors. Any help with this is appreciated.

In light of all of the information I have provided, please let me know any potemtial issues you may see, questions I need to ask, or advice you can give.

Thank you,

Rachael

@Raymond B.

I do not see below the names of those who have posted to this thread.

Please advise.

Thanks!