All Forum Posts by: Hal Cranmer

The loan balance is about $360K. The owners are in their 80s and just want out to downsize. The loan is not in default.

I have not checked the other outstanding liens. My realtor (who I have known for a long time and who has brought me a lot of good deals) is a personal friend of these people and is trying to help them out.

They have been trying to sell it but have not had much luck. They have put it on the market starting at $550K and been gradually lowering their price. All the feedback they have received has been that it is a great property and a great location but others just don't want to put the money into updating it.

My realtor has explained the subject 2 process to them.

I realize the profit is a little skinny, but that is why I was wondering if this would make a good candidate for vrbo for a while?

I have flipped several properties and have some rental properties, but I have never done a 'Subject To' deal. My realtor just brought me one and I was wondering what everyone thinks.

It's a 1960s rambler - 3BR/2Ba on a lake and right across from one of the top golf courses in the state. The landscaping outside it beautiful and it is on a dead end street in one of the most expensive towns in the state.

It needs to be updated with a lot of cosmetics - I'm estimating about $40K max. The owners would probably let it go to me for about $400K and the comps for it support $525-$550K.

My questions would be:

1) How do I find all the documents to set up a subject to transaction?

2) Is this a decent deal? What kind of questions should I be asking beyond the basics I have here?

3) Would it make sense to rent it out on some kind of vrbo (vacation rental by owner) basis through the long Minnesota winter and then sell it in the spring, or try to sell it right away?

Anything else you can think of that would be helpful?

Thanks for all the replies. We are over 6 months with no end in sight. I am running out of time so I don't have any other alternatives. But you bet I will NEVER use this lender again for another loan. I am lining up another house to flip that is currently in probate and selling one of my rentals to free up a mortgage (back to 9 total), and I will find someone else.

Now how do I get a good recommendation for a lender in Minnesota?

I have 9 mortgages (my home and 8 rental properties). I put a PA down on a 4-plex back in March. As of today the loan has still not closed with a conventional lender. My loan officer at the bank told me that because my background is so complicated with all the rental properties, it has to take this long to do the due diligence.

The seller is getting fed up with waiting and I may lose the deal. My lender says that no matter who I go to, I will have to go through this length of time to get qualified because I have such a 'large' portfolio of loans.

I'm finding that hard to believe. I was wondering if other people in my situation are experiencing the same length of time to close a loan? I have VERY good credit and am putting 20% down.

Thanks Tom. I agree that it is a crazy world out there in the courts. I will definitely take your advice and move slowly on this.

Good morning to you as well!

I don't think we would be misleading anyone. It would be the same as new construction companies who show people what their houses will look like when built. They do not get in trouble for taking a piece of dirt and putting up photos of what that piece of dirt will look like after the house is built. I would imagine we would do the same - take a run down house and show picture of how we intend to fix it up. We would make it very apparent that the pictures are what the house would turn into. Is this so bad?

Thanks. I was thinking that they would close on the house after I rehabbed it, so they don't have to worry about the rehab/fix-up funds/where to live and all that other stuff. I would rehab it the way I want, with a few possible options that I would dictate. That way all they need to worry about is a choice of paint colors and possibly a few appliances as you say.

My realtor has sold one of my flips in the middle of my rehab, but I just think this might sell it faster if they can see what the finished product will look like. Just thought I would give it a try. If the buyers don't like how it turns out, I just market it like I was before. That way they feel like they can get out of it with minimal cost (possibly their earnest money).

I am a real estate investor and have two duplexes that I'm about to buy and flip. I was talking to my sister-in-law (SIL) who is an interior designer the other day. She and I came up with the idea of using her CAD (Computer-Aided Design) software to 'virtually stage' the duplexes right after I close on them and start selling them using a possible landing page attached to a MLS listing to show the finished product as I am rehabbing. We are just brainstorming and would love to hear ideas that might refine it?

My realtor is telling me that people just have no imagination and can't picture a house fully fixed up. So when I have flipped houses in the past, I have had to wait until it was basically done before marketing it. My SIL's software can make the place look VERY close to a photograph and could show people what the place would look like fixed up. This could potentially solve a bunch of problems for me:

1. It would put the house on the market much more quickly, and possibly save me some mortgage payments if it sells quicker - not to mention get my cash out quicker for the next deal.

2. The buyers may be able to work with her to make some changes to our fix-up (once I had a purchase agreement in place) so they could customize it to their taste. I think we would just give them some basic choices, rather than get crazy and then walk away from the deal.

3. My realtor would have a much better MLS ad to display the listing without having to put actual furniture in the place to stage it, and much sooner.

It looks like people are doing 'virtual staging' already, but we would do it before and while we remodel the place. Everyone else is doing it when the place is ready to go on the market. Sort of the benefits of having some say in new construction without (possibly) the higher costs or longer wait times. I can turn these houses in just a month or two.

I was wondering what people thought and if it make sense to have a landing page to link to from the MLS listing? Thanks. It seems like if this worked for me, it might be something to sell to other investors and/or realtors?

Has anyone used this website? I like it - at least for my state (Minnesota). I can look up all my tenant's background information in terms of evictions and judgments in one place. But it looks like they are just getting it up and running. Has anyone else had experience with this?

Also has a link to Experian where you can run a free credit check on your tenant (with their permission of course).

Thanks,

Hal

I have been a residential RE investor for about 7 years now and am looking to move up to the apartment building lifestyle. I'm just learning about apartments, but I found this deal on CL and would really like to hear some feedback on it.

On the surface this sounds great. With 20% down, the owner will provide financing and he has put $100K into the building in the last year. The pictures make it look like it needs little to no fix up. He said what it really needs is good management. But it is in a small town bordering 3 northern Midwest states and in the middle of nowhere. The town sounds like a small ag town and the population as of 2011 was 1,410 according to Google.

I've been in touch with the owner and he thinks even with a 20% vacancy rate the apartments will cash flow like crazy. He is going to send me some numbers, but I would love to hear from other apartment investors out there how to analyze this and does it have any possibilities?

Thanks.