All Forum Posts by: George Sass

What are the possibilities when it comes to pulling equity out of a rental house? I would love the flexibility of a HELOC but no one will give it if it isn't a primary residence. I have 50k equity in a 75k house. What are my options?

I am trying to prepare a pitch to a possible seller to buy his 4 properties that he has vacant and I want to know if he has a mortgage on the properties before approaching him and how much they are for. How do I find that type of information out? The properties are in Cleveland if that makes a difference. 

So who is paying the 320k that she owes if you're only paying for the reno?

And that's why I am not a lawyer. There are so many different stipulations in laws that I start to tune out when I'm reading and don't even comprehend half of it. Now that you isolated that stipulation, it is clear as day. Although I don't agree with the law, that appears to be what it is so if you want to wholesale, better become a realtor. 

@James Wise   

So why would doing a double close not work in Ohio? Technically speaking I would be buying the house and then selling it. Would that not be the same as if I were buying my own personal residence without a realtor and then at a later date doing a FSBO? I understand why assigning would be illegal under the law but not a double close. This is purely curiosity and have no desire to wholesale a property but this just doesn't make sense to me. I've heard the discussions before but never really got into the discussion.

I think what Mike was trying to say was, there are a multitude of ways to find deals, not just one way to use every time. The longer you are in the game, the larger your network will be and the quicker you will be able to find deals. Make sure that your network knows that you are looking though. Seeing how hard it was to get the deal the first time around, it wouldn't hurt to keep looking even as you are rehabbing a different property. By the time you go through inspections and closing, odds are you'll be done with the first rehab and ready for the next one. Just whatever method you use, make sure you stay on it and not take brakes from your deal finding. You turn the machine off, it takes a little bit to turn it back on again. 

I guess the proper answer is, it depends what type of lender you are trying to use. Traditional lending you definitely want to get preapproved. Hard money, the lender is going to be lending mostly on the deal itself so it may be worthwhile to talk with the lender first to have an idea of what they are willing to fund but you won't know about the funds until you have an actual deal.

In this type of instance I would say follow your gut. Do you feel like it is an issue? Is there a basement that you can check out and see if it is wet or anything? If you don't think it is an issue, make your offer and make sure you have contingencies in your contract for inspections. At that point, I would bring in a foundation expert and have them check it out. If it ends up being an issue, get a quote from the foundation expert, and tell the seller you need to lower the price accordingly. If your gut tells you it's an issue, you can still make an offer but make sure you make an estimate as to what those repairs will cost and use that in your initial offer. Either way though, make sure you have contingencies and get it inspected by a professional.  

lt sounds like you have your problem potentially taken care of with Matthew Nixon but I wanted to point out another positive for a newbie (including myself) investor using HM. An experienced HML is not going to lend money on a house that is a bad deal. So that is just another way to verify you're not buying a money pit. Obviously you still want to analyze the deal yourself first but they are reassurance that you are doing the right thing. If you can't find a HML to fund your deal, odds are it is not a good deal.

I have a tankless in my current house. Install can be quite tricky depending on what your particular model requires. I know my model needed a 3/4" water and gas line feeding the unit in order to have the proper water flow and heat transfer. Also, I needed to upgrade the exhaust pipe to a stainless steel double walled pipe so it could exhaust and pull in fresh air through the same pipe. The pipe itself cost a couple hundred for about 8 feet. If your current tank already has the double walled ss pipe and 3/4" lines then I don't really see much of a downfall. 

Is this a rental or a flip? If it is a rental, are your tenants paying utilities? I can't say much as to how much a tankless adds to resale, but if your tenants are paying utilities, in my opinion, go with the cheaper, old tank style. 

Just make sure that you look at the tanks requirements and what you currently have in terms of piping before you buy.