All Forum Posts by: Geordy Rostad

I think you need a bridge loan. I don't see any other viable approach. If you have the cash, that might be your best/cheapest bet.

Timing is everything. I'm assuming you are to the point in the process where you can go no further without permission from Chase. After you get them out of the picture, how much longer will it take? If you only need to bridge for a few months, the costs might not be terrible for what you end up with after all is said and done.

Wow!!

There's no way that HOA is going to qualify for VA or FHA anytime soon. I think the level of reserves you are describing might make any lender's hair stand on end in fact. I don't know your market there but I'd think reserves on a property like that would need to be well over the $1M mark.

If you are looking for a deal, it's going be in the form of a property with troublesome tenants that are making the owner's life hell, or from a vacant property that has issues that need to be corrected before it can be rented. 

A third alternative is the property with way too low rents that the landlord hasn't raised in 10 years. Effectively, when you walk into that property and announce the new rents, it will become vacant very quickly anyhow.

I tend to prefer Redfin. Even as a broker myself, I have used Redfin's site extensively. It's better than my local MLS site even. Only problem is that it doesn't work in all areas.

Zillow is trying hard to be the best. One cool thing they have is the off-market stuff such as "make me move" and pre foreclosures. Once again, this site is very useful to me even as a broker.

Realtor.com is something I've started using when Redfin doesn't work in an area.

The problem with all of these sites is that they can only display what they are allowed to display. In some MLS systems, agents have the opportunity to disallow blogging and syndication to 3rd party sites. Irritating, but some agents have their reasons for this.

All of these sites have spent millions to fight for the top position. I suspect things are going to continue to get better/easier for the consumer.

You need to make friends with a representative at a title company. They are the ones who can research this sort of thing in a hurry. 

If this is the first deal you are looking to do, I'm not sure I would jump into an auction property. My advice would be to go to the auction and watch what happens. Chances are high the property will postpone or cancel. 

At the auctions in my area, you pick 20 houses that you might want to bid on. You show up at the auction and maybe 3-5 of them actually are auctioned that day. The rest are postponed or cancelled for one reason or another.

There is always the BP marketplace. You could post it there. Assuming you don't want to deal with hiring an agent and marketing it as-is...

Not sure I would let a tenant AirBnB my property. I know it happens but I don't think it's typically an "approved" situation.

Remember, when you do your background checks, YOU are in charge of whether they occupy your cherished and beloved property. You might not want to hand that power off to someone with no vested interest in the property. 

I did a little Googling on this and learned something new.

Yes! Apparently you CAN use a 203K loan for a refi. They will loan you rehab costs based on the after-rehab value. You should find a local lender or mortgage broker in your area that you can trust and start learning about the procedures and requirements for this sort of loan. If you try to sell it as-is, you will likely be selling at a substantial discount if it's in mid-remodel.

If you go to some investor meetups, I suspect you will find the same thing I did. Tons of money everywhere. Literally everyone wants to hand out money for a good deal. IMO, there's a lot more money out there than deals. Talk to some lenders, sure, but don't let that stop you from starting by looking for a deal. No reason you can't do both at once.

@Trevor Hatchard there are quite a few mobile home parks up here still. Several are listed right now but they are mostly smaller ones full of single wides. The nice big ones are being gobbled up by corporate buyers. I'd love to buy a mobile home park myself but personally I would only touch one that was on sewer and most of the ones I'm seeing are septic. DM me if you want and I'd be glad to email you a quick list of some parks I've seen here in Western Washington.