All Forum Posts by: Heather Finley

I am a newbie and have been receiving a handful of leads for people who want to sell their home quickly.
I don't have the cash to do so, even though they have a lot of equity to be had. Wholesaling might be the way for me to go.
When I first talk with them, I'm not sure about what I should be asking them.
So far, I've been asking them:
what they think the FMV is,
what repairs need to be completed,
square footage and acreage,
description of house features,
why they need to sell if they haven't told me,
what their timeline is,
what's the lowest amount they'd be willing to take to be done with the stress of owning the house,
what their monthly payments and taxes are.

What else do I need to ask in this first phone call?
Should I take some of these out?
Should this conversation ever happen via email?
I'm thinking phone is best, at least initially.
What is the best approach if I don't have a buyer?
I'm trying to build a buyer's list.

Thanks for any advice you might have.

Heather

I am a new landlady, and don't want to be so for the long term.
For now, the tenants are paying my mortgage. I wanted to hold for at least a year before selling (in case I couldn't find an adequate 1031) to avoid capital gains gouges.

What is the best strategy for selling with tenants living in the house?
I've heard I should have the house vacant and do proper staging.
I don't have the money to pay for carrying costs if it doesn't sell right away.

Any recommendations?

I have a single family house that I have just begun to rent out.
It's older and I don't want to keep it too long...but am glad the tenants are paying my mortgage (!). Yes, I did all the things I wasn't supposed to...10% down payment, used a bank, paying 7.5% interest and PMI.

The good news is that I have enough land and zoning that would allow for a second building (lot is too small to subdivide by zoning regs).

My vision is to build a second single family home (with garage) on the back part of the lot...and then sell them individually retail via a realtor.

The first house is 1200 s.f., no garage, on street front. Realtor said I could get 235-249K (bought it for 175K).

The second house would be ~ 1500K, new construction with a garage.
I had a builder give a ballpark of 200K to build. It would sell for at least 275K, I'm hoping it would be more like 300-325K.

These two houses would form a condo association, with each having 50% say in how the association makes decisions. One person suggested I have a small role that would serve as tie-breaker.

I don't want to put this new construction in my name and would like to pre-sell the house to be built...and use the new buyer's credit and money.
What is the best way to do this? I was thinking of offering a "likeness only" ad in the MLS (via my realtor), but am not sure about the process.

Thanks for your patience in reading this long post and any advice you might have.

Heather

Ok.
I'll be on the lookout.

Also, what do you consider "cheap enough to rent" ?

Good to meet you!
Do you have any criteria re. location? Price range?
I currently have access to two single family homes (375-550K FMV) in Southern VT (one near the NH border) that have 50-100K in equity that I would be able to assign a contract to.

Thanks and I look forward to collaborating.

Heather

I am in Burlington and would love to connect with other investors in the VT and NH area. Maybe even across the lake in NY.

I am interested in wholesaling and am trying to build a buyer's list and thought this would be a good place to begin forming connections.

THank you!

Heather

Thank you...

My mentor is helping me analyze deals as they come along.
He is sharing his philosophy, though sometimes it doesn't take my situation into consideration.
He seems to be more into flipping. I'm interested in figuring out how to pre-sell a building to be constructed on my property, which he doesn't seem to know much about.

I signed on with Daniel Wagner's Real Estate Investing Institute. It was a LOT of money (which I'm still paying off 10 months later). The program included a retreat, which was great, and weekly mentoring with a seasoned investor.
I have found that to be helpful, though difficult with the mentor's limited time.
I've learned a lot from the various teleseminars (he told me about). In retrospect, I wish I would have spent more time looking around...and then maybe signing on with one of the less expensive programs.

I have a property lead from a highly motivated seller. The house is owned free and clear (!)...and he said it was appraised a year ago at 440K. We had a decline in housing, maybe 10% in the last year. It's in a rural area, so I had a hard time finding comps...the ones I did find had a broad range. I was estimating that FMV might be 325 - 350 K. He said he wanted to get 300K out of it. Going with 65%, I offered 225K...and told him I would tap into my list of potential buyers to get it sold fast. He wrote back and said he decided to sell it in a FSBO, listed at 375K. He thinks it will sell fast at 300K, and didn't want to take less than 275-280. When I asked him what his bottom line was (before the offer I made), he said 300K.

I didn't have any buyers, and don't have the cash (or desire to borrow) to jump on this deal. A thought I had (form an REI club teleseminar) was to tie up the property in a contract, then do an auction, with people coming to view the house on the final days of the auction.

I asked him if he wanted me to let him know if I found someone who wanted to buy it for 275-300 K, and I haven't heard anything yet.

Any advice or hindsight "would have done differently" suggestions would be most welcome! Thank you.

Heather

Hello.

I don't have a real estate investing club in my area (that I can find) and am looking forward to virtually connecting with other investors.

I have been mentored by an investor in the West since Jan 07 and have met another investor in my town (Burlington, VT).

Looking forward to meeting you all.

Heather

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