All Forum Posts by: Gil Lieblich

If i may ask advice on a deal I am looking at now in a college town.
The property is an older house ( 1950's) It is a six bedroom and approved for 7 people. There is a family room, kitchen, and 6 bedrooms of different sizes. Some are good size some are tiny.
The house was built on a slab which has some major cracks and the house is slanted. Because its a college town tenants average $500 per person. My concern is i feel it is more difficult to find 6 tenants instead of lets say a 4.... The numbers seem pretty good as it will come with tenants for the year at 2950. The asking is 315000. It would need a new furnace at some point soon as well hot water heater. The kitchen needs to be updated but again since its college kids they tend not to care as much. There is some signs of water damage in the ceiling on the first floor. Taxes are around 8000. Initially i was happy with the property but i really have my concerns as there is no basement. It is a street that is a bit further away from away from the main strip.

thanks for the replies....
Sorry for the delay. My last few projects were purchased cash but as that has become more limited i was looking to get money out one my my condos that was paid in cash and then get a more traditional loan.
I have used a few resources to find projects. I have a couple of 'regular' agents and one that deals with foreclosure/. reos properties. the problem I am new to them so i feel that i am a low priority to them and getting the left over options which may be good deals but not great deals. maybe I am being greedy as my last deal i think was a strong one. That being said I spend a lot of time looking at listing and reading up on here but its been over a month since i finished my last deal.
It seems to me with the market in the area picking up agents are busy and seem to be less responsive.
I have no problem doing more more to find the property but I want to spend my time efficiently as i feel i am now wasting time.
I spent a lot of time months ago at foreclosure auctions but it seemed very few were being sold and the few good deals that the bank didnt take back there was a bunch of regulars that seemed to be in the business for years ( i would go early and listen to the regulars chatting to get a feel for who was who).

I am struggling to find good deals in New Jersey... I own a couple of properties here and was lucky to get a good deal but as the market is picking up I am really finding it hard to get a good return. A lot of the issue is taxes are so high in NJ that with insurance and other bills it kills many deals for me. So is it worth driving a couple hours and look in neighboring states?

In my limited experience I have found agents not to understand how to analyze if a deal is good for an investor and in many cases I find them to lazy to do that extra work to get me good comps. Its unfortunate because they tend to try to sell me on a property (which i get is their job) but always have a hard time when i ask them why i shouldn't buy a property. Its very frustrating as when i am in a new market i would hope to use their knowledge and expertise to get an idea of potential rent and comps yet they usually seem completely unaware.

For some reason I often find myself in situations with companies large and small and people who often try to take advantage. I have especially bad luck with large companies whether its an online purchase or customer service. I must admit I do take a lot of time whether its a few dollars or thousands out of principal to correct any wrongs and make sure people are aware.
That being said one thing I always do is contact the company (the ceo on down) and give them an opportunity to right heir wrong. I explain a situation and tell them before I report the situation to online communities and forums I would give them the chance to work with me to fix the problem. In this day and age where most of us will check reviews or reputation online these things matter. It is important to let the public know because it is very difficult to trust people and find good people.
That being said I also will spend time complimenting people and making good reviews for those who i feel deserve it. From the Lowes by me who has worked with me to overcome many headaches and in the end done right by me to as simple as I purchased a property in a new neighborhood and was really impressed at how well the lady at the post office worked. She was happy and friendly but worked fast and efficient. I let her know what a joy it was to come in and see how well she does her job. She was super appreciative as she said people only call to complain. I later called her supervisor and said how Liliane was a great employee.
My point is that reputation matters and coming from some one who is new in real estate and already been fooled a few times because i trusted the wrong people even after doing my research it would have been helpful to read an honest telling of a story like the OP so I knew what to look out for.
My two and a half cents.

It appeared to me that i purchased the scratch and dents/repaired stuff for about 70% off give or take. I bought a new stove just because they didnt have any scratch and dents and i was constrained by time.

I am new in some ways and in some ways an old timer. I started looking in 2000 but on an doff looked for years and only bought one unit til i thought the market got to crazy and i backed away for years. I am now back in and learning all over. I am in NJ. I believe you are near Philly? If so there are a lot of opportunities in that area as I know a few successful people doing it there. The taxes are far cheaper than NJ which is a huge help.
Any way feel free to contact me and I will see if I can help you in any way.

I am rehabbing my first project...
I am doing not to flip but fixing a foreclosure to rent. Still have similar issues. First the furnace worked but to my surprise it kept shutting off... So I had to replace it. My hot water heater was old so I decided to update it so avoid a headache in a few months. Turns out the code has changed and now I needed to update the whole system.
Some of the issues I am finding is ordering cabinets took longer than expected as I was planning on doing
Home depot premades but when i priced it out I was able to get a lot more with the sales and making friends with the sales associate. But it cost me two weeks.
Now my sump was not set up properly and not up to code...
So as you can see the trend ...
I new going into it I would have surprises so i budgeted it for it and I am still with in budget but mostly because I had more time so I did some work myself.
The one thing I would advise as someone who has a RE license and has enough experience to know that people often price things wrong because for greed. the attitude that they dont want to give it away or all it takes is one person is often used.
I only did a few deals just to learn the business but I can say I did my deals fast and clean for one reason. I made my clients price aggressively. They set the tone of the market instead of waiting for the market to change. First weekend six showings three offers an done was accepted. It was lower than the asking and the sellers initially were disappointed but when they saw their friends sitting for months and eventually a year they were real happy they took my advice.
The fact is it costs money to sit on a property and it cost you buyers if you price it wrong...If you price it to low you will get multiple offers so in my opinion set the tone and price it aggressive and move on to the next deal.

I was having a hard time getting started finding people to help... I went and got my RE license but still most of the agents I was meeting were salesman who didnt understand my mentality. So then i decided i wanted to learn more about different aspects of RE so I went to foreclosure auctions and Tax Lien auctions. I noticed that some groups new each other... I started just listening to what people were saying and to see who knew what. I asked a few people but mostly they were stand offish and would not talk to me. Which i do get as they see me as one more potential competitor in a tough market.... But i did notice one guy there who was at many auctions that worked for the banks... Then one day I noticed his son buy a property (same name announced when they won the bid) So I said these are the guys i need to speak with. But once a foreclosure auction is done they kick you out unless you are the winning bidder. So I researched and found the name of there company and contacted them. Turns out they have a RE agency but also do investing both on there own and with investors... The potential perfect mentors. I am working on my first deal with them now and they have been super helpful.

i was able to get from lowes a few dollars off from the a couple of teh scratch and dents... then an additional 10% then an additional 5% and delivery... So i guess it was a good deal and i will keep a good relationship with this manager.