All Forum Posts by: Joe Edwards-Hoff

So, I've talked with the lady. I'm going to write the letter. Turns out our kids take piano lessons together. And she knows who I am because I am a local pastor and she recognizes me from my posts on Facebook that most our town sees. I really feel like the personal side of things is the only thing that will pull this through. She made it pretty clear that they'd like to sell to a local person, not a big investor. They have a few properties, but it sounds like they got them all from their dad and they just want out now. Too much for them to handle. They manage it all themselves, husband works full time and mom is someschooling 6 kids. My kind of family... 

Offer goes in today. The bank told me it "might take 30 days" so I'm going to put a close date of 45 days out. And from what I read, if I am doing my best, and the bank is going a bit slow, an extension is a standard practice. 

curious, when buying a property like this, does the income from the rental property factor into the DTI?

Going in by myself. Its 10 studios plus a 3bed single family for 350k. They said last year they brought in 5500 per month total. About 600 cost per month in taxes and utilities. and our town has a DRY rental market. Hard to find a home to rent around here. I know that some units will need work,  but I'm a handyman so it looks like a good fit. 

I will write them a letter. 

Do I write them a letter AND an offer? A letter as my offer? Letter then offer? It is for sale by owner. Forgot to mention that. They bought it for 250k 2 years ago from their dad. They said that they just don't have time for it and could use the extra cash. 

So, I started another thread just asking about the place I'm looking at. The long story short is this-

Unless I find something horrifically wrong, the 10 unit apartment complex I'm looking at looks like a good value. Full asking price would be fine by me. That said, I am not PRE qualified. I went and talked to a bank and they didn't think that they'd have a problem loaning me the money, but I know that the sellers have talked to a few investors who are prequalified. Aside from a single family rental I own, I'm not a big time investor (yet). So I feel a bit discouraged in writing an offer. Any suggestions? In short, I feel like the best I can do is offer their full asking price, contingent on financing, and giving myself a decent window of time to make that happen. Is there anything that I could do to make my offer more appealing? Can I just ask them that? I really don't desire to offer them more money (who would), but a little more wouldn't hurt if it meant that they'd give me the time to work with the bank. 

I'm open for ideas or suggestions. I've got a lot of bank paperwork to fill out... Earnest money? Would that sweeten the deal? Again, I'm open for thoughts. I'd love to snag this place. It's the perfect sized investment for me.

So the banking swung by offered to give me two home equity loans, one on my primary residence and another on my rental, to cover the 70k. They'd give me a 10yr loan amatorized at 25yrs with a balloon at the end... is that a decent deal? Apr+2%.

It was a local bank. I can always look around if serious, but at this point I figure I should talk to the seller. I am pretty sure that they stay full. Our town is DRY for rentals. We have friends wanting to rent a SFR and they've waited months to find one.

Any key questions I should ask?

well, I will say that long term owning enough real estate to have a humble retirement is my goal. 

I currently teach high school, but I am also a pastor. Some day I will need to step out of public schools (I teach shop, so I like hands on work) and I'd love to have real estate supplement my income. 

I've made some inquiries. I think this could be a good deal. 

So, my dad emailed me a link to a Craigslist ad for a local multifamily for sale. We live in a small town of 12k people. All this said, I don't know how serious he thought I'd take it, but it has got me thinking. We own a SFH about 100 miles away where we used to live in a college town. It rents for 1300 and we pay 620 for PITI, and we pay a company to manage it. It's a good little investment (we don't really plan on being "big time" investors, but I'd rather do real estate than stocks/etc).

So, what he sent me was a 10 unit small apartment complex. Some single bed some studio. There is also a 1500sqft SFH on the property.They say that the property pulls in 5500 a month. They are asking $350k. Now, I'd have amazing credit, but only about 20k in the bank. We owe 80k on our rental we currently own, but Zillow estimates it is worth 195k. Anyway, I was just curious on your guys thoughts. I looked around Google, but "buying 10 unit apartment complexes for $350k" is not a popular discussion. MOst things I see are huge complexes worth 1M or more. I'm not even sure how financing works. I mean, this place is not all that much more expensive than the home I live in... (250k). We also make about $95k per year and have no debts aside from the who homes.

I appreciate your guys' help. I used to frequent the forums more and read up on real estate investing, but lately life has had me focusing on the here and now. Again, thanks ahead of time.

I know that there are MANY more variables to consider here, but would I be crazy to consider making an offer contingent on the sale of my other property? It is FSBo, but he will not carry the contract, or so the ad says.

So, I rent out my basement floors to some friends. We have no lease and it was intended to be short term.  The term has gotten longer, which we're ok with, but now they have some "needed maintenance". 

1) I have yet to see it, but they told me that there is black mold on and around the bathroom sink. His solution is for me to entirely replace the sink AND the cabinets that it sits on. My initial thought is to clean with a mold killing chemical and then watch it. Agree?

2) they've had me already go down once to fix slow draining sinks. My thought is that at this point they need to take care of it.  It drained fine before they moved in. My assumption is that sinks don't clog themselves and that it is a tenant responsibility.  

3) aside from that there are a couple cosmetic things that never got completed before they moved in. Like a section of crown molding getting painted and a floor strip between two rooms being installed. I figure if it is a big deal I can do that. 

What do you guys say? More than anything,  I wanted to get a second opinion so that I could confidently tell my friend that I did it. That way I researcheddar my decision.  

Thanks

Hello,

So, my friend and I are both buying houses at the same time. Both putting 5% down on conventional loans. His place is  175k and mine is 185k. My credit score is higher. 

All that said, we noticed that he was being quotes about .5% higher interest on his loan than mine. He was going through a lender in town, I was using one online. He got a loan summary from my lender and then showed it to his other lender. The other lender said that they were charging him for points to bring the rate down, but I see nothing on the loan summary stating that. The only real difference between the two is that my guy shows the transfer taxes on the summary. Now, he told me that he just had to disclose all money that would possibly be needed at closing, but as far as I know, there is no reason why I'd be paying those taxes. Even on my Good Faith Estimate, there is nothing mentioned about points. 

Any thoughts?

Ok, so I know the seller can't just gift you cash. Don't know why I wrote that, but I was more thinking on the lines of the repairs get worked into the closing where a check gets written to the contractor.