All Forum Posts by: Vernon B

Interesting deal. Let us know when you get the rest of the information needed to accurately access the operating expenses. I noticed that you mentioned you have signs for advertising vacancies. Is that all you use? No ads in the paper/journals? It also appears you will be spending quite a bit of your own time in this property. Have you factored in your time? Will it be taking time away from your job, other properties, etc.

Advertise in the classifieds of your local news papers. Also buy an ad in apartment shoppers and other journals related to renting.

Well Ive read a lot of the books on here so I will add a few that I didnt see listed. Although they are not about Real Estate but more about marketing and psychology, they helped me a great deal in real estate and business.

Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
Tipping Point- Malcolm Gladwell
The Dip - Seth Godin

There are sooo many but I would say.

Contractors
Tenants
Competing Investors
Gurus who are out for a quick buck
Contractors
Learning
Negotiating
Juggling investing with Family
Contractors
Closing Deals
Local government
finding good deals
oh and contractors

You think you might be able to figure out what my biggest frustration was....? :D

Try to find out what the owner really neads to get out of the sale. If they need cash..How much, are they relocating..why, foreclosure..., you get the idea. You will need to build a rapport in order to get this kind of personal information from them. You goal is to get a good deal on terms or price. Terms in my opinion are better.

Buckeye

I agree with most of what was said here. You have made some serious assumptions and it sounds like someone has been in your ear telling you how great this deal is. However I do not agree that you never invest with borrowed money, especially starting out. It would be nice if everyone had pocket change or a rich uncle to buy thier first property. I started out using money from a HELOC and I had it paid off in a year. Just make smart investments do your research and you will make money.

If I understand, you are looking for a real estate leads website. I used to use a local one called motivatedleads.com but I dont know if she is still around. There are others out there that I have seen but you will just need to research a little more to find them. There are lots of foreclosure leads sites out there but do your research before you go buying leads. Many are either stale or you will face stiff competition from the big money guys.

Comps can be all over the place especially if you are investing in urban areas, where one block could be reviatalization area and the next be crime ridden. You must pick through the comps list that you recieve from your Realtor and find houses that are as similiar to yours as possible.

You also want to look at the trend over the last year for house prices in that area. This market is difficult to price when house values are decreasing every month in some areas. If there has been a 12 percent drop in prices over the last 12 months and you know it will take you 4 months to finish the rehab, you may need to base your ARV 4 percent lower to be safe.

Your real question may be can you make the payments while you are rehabbing the units and not making any income. That is a question only you can answer. If the answer is, yes I can afford to rehab btoh units and handle the carrying costs until I find a tenant then why not? I would.

A hard money loan or a rehab loan are your best options for getting the money to purchase and fix it up. A rehab loan may be harder to find for "commercially" zoned property. You normally will have 1 year to get it completed and converted to a permanent loan. If all the units are rented and your NOI is really as high as you say, you should have little problem re-financing it.