All Forum Posts by: Hunter A. Fenn

@Kevin Fontecha I recently went to a REIA networking meet up near Burlington, if you're interested in coming to any over this way let me know and I'll connect you with the organizer.

@Timothy Smith I'm in Burlington, VT. I'd be interested depending on whereabouts you were thinking of having it.

@Brandon Smith Did this end up happening? Or did the deal fall through?

@Billy Thurston The event was yesterday, great networking and lots of local knowledge and experience. Fantastic for seasoned investors or newbies like myself.

I see you asked to be added to the mailing list in your first post but did you message @Renae Bouchard? If not that is probably why as per her instruction to be added to the mailing list in the post above your first one. Send her a message to hop on the mailing list and hope to see you at the next one!

@Christopher Triolo didn't see you there either so if you didn't message Renae yet be sure to so you receive the e-mail for the next one.

I've been following the local market for a while now, and I recently looked at a few houses in person; two duplexes for a house-hack, and one as-is SFH for a flip. While looking at the SFH I could see the vision coming together. "If I could get the SFH as-is (realtor stated she's not willing to do any repairs, but is fine with having inspection contingencies in the contract) for $200k and do $20k in renovation it would sell for $260k easy." Where did I get $20k for the renovation? Completely out of my ***, more or less, but with some local knowledge, I've done some independent contracting myself, lived in rentals that had a flood after winter and needed a new basement and the landlord shared numbers with me, have quite a few friends in the contracting business, but more or less it was a total guess.

My question is how to get past this point? Here's where I'm at:

I do not have the money I'd need to put down. I don't want to live there for a year, so FHA is out, so I'm assuming 30% down for a conventional loan. So I'd need to get a partner (I'm working on networking and I'm attending a local REIA meeting next week).

Ok cool, so I need a partner, but a partner is gonna need WAY more information before they decide if they wanna partner up. They'll want purchase price, ARV, repair costs, closing cost estimates, exit strategies etc etc etc

To determine reno costs at a minimum I'll need to get a basement specialist (I saw some foundation cracks), a flooring specialist (carpet needs to get ripped up at a minimum), and a general contractor (kitchen needs an update and so does the "screened in porch").

Ok, how do I get all these guys into the house to give me estimates? Well, I need to get the seller under contract. Ok, but I can't do that until I'm approved for a loan right? 

I won't get approved for a $140k loan with $60k down on a $200k house when I have nowhere near $60k in any of my accounts and I won't get a partner unless I have the information I need to give them unless I get approved for the loan and get the seller under contract.

How do I get around this catch-22? I feel like I'm missing something really simple. Is this what pre-approval for a loan is for? And can I get a seller under contract with just a pre-approval?

Thanks in advance!

I became interested in REI some months ago. I was laid up in bed due to a broken femur and ended up playing with my Stock accounts. My roommate and I started talking about investing vs speculating and he turned me onto BiggerPockets. Since then I've been hooked. First thing I did was calculate my net worth (lower than my lowest guesstimate was a punch to the gut). I was not only interested in REI but financial freedom through REI. I started listening to the BP podcasts from episode 1 a couple week later, i hit episode 30 today and recently bought "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", "BRRRR", "The Book on Flipping Houses", and "The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs". I'm about halfway through RDPD after about a week.

I know this isn't a get rich quick game, and I'm not looking for one. I'm looking to put myself and my money to work in such a way that when I get up I get up I'm not going to a "job", I'm going to work.

Some lesson's I've learned from BP podcasts and RDPD thus far and my thoughts on them:

1. This is not a get rich quick game, though it has happened.

- already discussed

2. Do your homework! But don't fall into the analysis paralysis trap.

- Don't think this will be a problem for me. A couple years ago I couldn't change my own oil and a few weeks ago I finished building my first car (technically rebuild, gear heads feel free to hit me up for deets). Obviously understanding REI and building a car are different but the point is I do my HW and I dive in (too much sometimes). Finding the line between the two is the hardest part and for me always depends on a risk vs reward valuation, I tend to stack the rewards in my head, trying to avoid this while not hitting the analysis paralysis point.

3. The rich and poor think about money differently.

- TBH this always seemed obvious to me, but understanding how they think of it differently is the hard part. Rich Dad seems to have separate "rich" into two classifications: rich, and successful. A person can have a lot of money (rich) and still think poor by letting fear/desire control their logic. So to be the kind of "rich" Rich dad is talking about you need to both have the money, and understand it.

4. Everyone get's started differently, success stories are fun to listen to, and don't quit.

- 30 episodes into the podcasts and I don't think anyone has started the same. I'm sure with 200+ episodes to go there will be some repeats, but it's still pretty neat. Also success stories are always fun, they're motivating and entertaining (usually). They all say the same thing in the end, the successful ones are the one's who kept picking up the pencil, making plans, failing (or succeeding) and doing it again. 

That's where I am now, long long long way to go but the deeper I dive the more interested I get. How did you get started? Please comment on any of my thoughts whether you agree or disagree, the more comments the better the conversation.

@Brian Ellis I guess I'm surprised sellers sign contracts with such contingencies, but I guess when you really wanna sell you'll take your best out. Thanks for the extra info!

@Brian Ellis - still new to the site my bad, I figured a comment on your post (or a post you commented on) would trigger notifications to pop up, good to know to tag people instead.

Hi Brian,

I had a question about the pulling out of the deal portion. It's something I've been trying to research but having some trouble understanding it fully. As far as I can tell there are multiple points where you can pull out of a deal. But I'm struggling to understand what the actual points are in the deal where you can pull out. From your story I gather:

first, you secured financing through an FHA loan with a 203K included (where you planning on living there for one year to meet the fha requirements? or is this different cause of the commercial allocation? 3.5% down?)

second, you got them under contract with an agreement of sale at 350K and 8K kickback @ closing. (If you're willing to share, how much was the loan you were approved for?)

third, you had the HUD inspection (and presumably other inspections?) done.

Please correct me if i got that timeline wrong! My main question is how did you pull out?

Was it stated in the AoS that if you weren't comfortable with the HUD inspection that you could pull out? Was there a specific dollar amount attached to that? Or was it stated that if you wanted an extension and the seller did not that you could pull out at that point?

I appreciate any feedback here! I'm newer to this and have found two properties I'd like to start moving forward with but my biggest setback is I don't want to try and secure a loan until I understand when and how I can pull out of a deal. Thanks!

-Hunter

Hi all,

I'd love to attend the next meeting so definitely commenting to make sure I don't miss it!

I'm new to real estate and investing. Been looking into it and going through BP (particularly the podcasts) for a couple months now. I recently started an Airbnb out of a spare bedroom we have and I booked every available weekend for my first month! Been doing a ton of work recently to prepare and been getting more into it the more I do! Current plan is to buy my first investment property in the next 1-2 years but doing everything I can to shorten that each day! 

I look forward to meeting some of you!

-Hunter