All Forum Posts by: Jeff Lee

@Gurpreet Chahal

FHA is certainly *a* way, and not a bad one, for getting that first property. The other options (generally...there are certainly others) are the conventional 20% down, a VA loan for US veterans (probably doesn't apply), or a 203K loan, which allows you to move into a non-conforming fixer upper.

The main thing to remember is REI is a marathon not a sprint. Get started, keep moving forward, but don't feel like it all has to be done in by the end of the FY! Think in terms of years or even decades, not months.

@Ray A Delfi Haha - Why does he need me? "I deal with the engineers so the customers don't have to! I have people skills! I am good at dealing with people!" I guess it's like anything else - why don't wholesalers keep their own deals? Or why do flippers pay bird dogs when they can go find their own deals? Just specialization I guess.

We ended up settling on a $2K finder's fee, and he's continued supporting me through the process (closing next week). I'll be sure to talk about this in advance next time so there aren't any surprises...

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions! @Danni Catambay@Remington Lyman @Jeff Joachim

@Remington Lyman

Honestly, if he wanted 3% I'd back out. It was a forwarded email, some comps, and walking a property - that would come out to about $1000 an hour, and that's if I'm generous with the number of hours he worked!

@Danni Catambay

I was thinking some sort of hybrid deal, like a few bucks on the front end and exclusive rights to list on the back end (I'll probably sell in a few years and redeploy the capital to something bigger and better). 

@Jeff Joachim

I think "really nice" is the right description. He's been in the game for a minute but doesn't strike me as the confrontational type, so I guess he figured we'd work it out amicably later. 

Ok ok - rookie mistake. An agent I know (who is also my property manager for a SFH) sent me a wholesale deal I hadn't seen. He walked the property with me, gave me some tips, and did the sales and rent comps. I never bothered to ask how he was getting compensated until we had negotiated the deal and agreed in principle with the seller on a price. The lightbulb finally came on, I asked him how he was getting paid, and he said "That's totally up to you", but noted he typically gets paid by his other investors on the settlement statement at closing. I want to make sure the relationship stays strong and not underpay him, but the services rendered were also not on par with a typical agent-buyer relationship (we checked out 1 house and ran comps - maybe 2-3 hours work, tops).

ARV is $220K if that has anything to do with anything.

What would you do?

@Josh Jenkins - On a related note, just got a $12 energy charge from TXU for a quick turn-on/ turn-off for a property I was evaluating using my "landlord" account. So glad this is an option in TX...

Way to go Adam! Heck of a deal for a first-time!

Hi Jerel,

Have you looked into 203K loans for owner-occupied "uninhabitable" houses? Just a thought.

Also, I know it's on the other side of the world from Brookshire, but there are plenty of sub-$200K SFRs in B class neighborhoods in Spring, Atascocita, or down by the ship channel (believe it or not, there are some decent neighborhoods down there, if you don't mind the occasional rotten egg smell). And for what it's worth, Zillow seems to think the ship channel area will do a lot better than Katy for price appreciation https://files.zillowstatic.com... while the 290 corridor seems to be rocking rent appreciation https://files.zillowstatic.com...

@Doug W. - Thanks for sharing! Yeah, that stuff is no bueno. I'm happy to be living in a house down here outside of Houston built this century!

@Shadonna N. @Account Closed - Thanks!