All Forum Posts by: Eric Z.

Originally posted by @Shawn C.:

I have not heard of this KW Mega Camp you speak of. Is it for investors or realtors?

 It's for Keller Williams agents. 

@Johnson H. is right. More than the price, the term matters a great deal. If you can at 100% financing, I don't see a downside lock up the deal and do further due diligence on whether the current tenant will take a strong buy out. 

I'm curious about the tax deferring part though. Does the terms prevent you from paying off the loan early? If not, won't they get a direct tax hit when you sell early?

I won't worry about that. There is a mindset and culture thing about paying taxes. While most of the people here 'follow the rule book', the mindset there is 'catch me if you can'. Over the years, we have developed varies socially acceptable ways to avoid paying taxes, even in China.

. Do two mock exams one week before the exam, treat them like the real thing. If you get 70% on both you will pass . If you below 70 but close, Use the last week to review your mistakes. You will still likely pass. . If you score below 60 on both, reschedule the exam or study really hard during that last week. . The test exams are hard than real ones. . You will encounter question you don't know the answers, guess in the following order: - avoid absolute words like any, never. - choose between choices that has opposite meanings. - avoid the terms you never heard of - choose the longest answer Good luck.

I actually think the bankers are much smarter than us. They know how to run money lending as a business(duh). They lend to the things that they understand, and refuse to lend to the things they don't understand regardless how good an opportunity on paper it is. They developed an underwriting guideline and they stick to it. I think the key is to find a lender who understand what you do. By understand, I don't just mean they know your business, they need to develop a proper financial model and underwriting guidelines that applies to your business. Lenders who don't understand your business will not lend you the money(those who do will not be in business very long)

If the listing agent is ethical, he/she will present all offers to the bank and bank will decide which one to accept. If the listing agent is not ethical, he/she usually already have the buyer lined up. The buyer is a friend or close relationship with. Either way, it'd be hard to get the deal as an outsider with no relationship to an listing agent.

It is not super hard on the technical side to have keywords search function. I'm sure they have their reasons, perhaps due to data feed licensing issues?

Thanks J.  Really appreciated the in-depth analysis. Nice graph too, wonder what you use to produce these graph. 

A stock market can crash overnight, but real estate market usually gives early warning signs before crash happens. Before the 2008 crash, the market had already started the correction in 2006. To those pay attention, a well-timed exist wasn't too hard.

Also, there is a reason for the average property cycle to be about 10 years. It's our nature to forget about the history. But we do remember things that just happened to us. It'd take us awhile to forget that.

For those who curious about how HAI is calculated. Here is a good link detailed it's methodology http://www.realtor.org/topics/housing-affordabilit...

If I read this right, it uses Median Family Income from the Census when available,when not available, it uses the Necessary Monthly Income, which is actually calculated based on the current mortgage rate.  

@Rob B. RE agent and Buy & Hold investor here.  

Welcome to BP!

I'd approach things with a slightly different mindset. I want to help others make money rather than cutting them out. That includes agents, loan brokers, etc.  

Anyway, you probably guessed it, lowball offers rarely works in our local market(or in any market). If you are looking at MLS, you probably won't see distressed property either - the moment they hit the market, they gets bid to around 80% - 85% ARV - mostly by contractors/agents who probably think they can afford to go that high because they are 'saving' on repairs and commissions. (sound familiar huh ;)

So how do you find deals? 

Most folks still finding deals through agents - their pocket deals. But why will they give it to you if you are going to cut them out? They give it to the investor who will list the house for sale with them after the it's been fixed up. 

You can also find deals from wholesalers, and other investors in local network events.