All Forum Posts by: Ian Carter

 Thanks, Ken, do you know of any other financing option for what would be owner occupied to buy a home pending foreclosure?

Hey Chris,

Thanks for the insight! Do you have any recommendations for such hard money lenders in northern VA?. We likely need 500-600k for 2-3 months, and would have no problem paying a premium.

A house in the our ideal neighborhood is coming up for foreclosure auction in the next month and we are trying to determine whether we could buy it from the current owners prior to the auction.  We have about 45-50% of the likely purchase price in cash on hand, but need a bridge loan/hard money loan to get the difference to make the deal work.  

Do you have tips /recommendations on:

1) hard money lenders (or other short term loan options) to obtain 400-500k for a period of no more than 3 months to be used to purchase a primary residence and until the refinance is complete?

2) any best practices/lessons learned on purchasing prior to foreclosure auction? I've heard buying AT auction is not recommended unless one is a seasoned investor, which I am not (despite having an investment property for the past 5 years).

Eric,

Your responses are SO helpful, so first, thank you for that. It is a significant amount of space! My dream is to remove that old exterior wall in the basement, as well as on the upper floors which also take up a significant amount of space (see photo of the kitchen with dead space from the column and void between the cabinets where the old exterior framing is).  I think it would likely be well worth 10k, if that is what it cost to remove the wall and install a beam.  To answer your questions:

1) The old wall is carrying the load from above

2) Above the old wall is the kitchen (photo below), and above that is a bathroom and bedroom.

3) The joists run parallel to the old exterior wall

To make matters more complicated, I discovered that the developer of the house didn't remove the old exterior wall when building on the addition and merely covered it up with drywall.  Is this a massive additional cost to remove and replace with a beam?

(picture is rotated 90 degrees to the left)

 I'm joining back into the convo :) Josiah, that is great news!! Did you end up digging the test hole yourself to determine where the footer is, or did you have someone else do it for you? I am still very interested in this as well but have yet to dig the hole.  I've love a good recommendation for someone who can determine the current footer depth! 

@Eric Teran

Hey Eric,

Thanks for the detailed response!! These are the sorts of ideas I’m looking for in order to get the end result while not totally breaking the bank/budget. How much time/cost does it take and how disruptive is it to to sample holes to determine where the footing is and how deep the slab is?

Do you have any tips on how I can visualize (if not see firsthand) the box/shelf option that does not require underpinning before doing to project? I’m trying to get a sense of how wide/deep and high the intrusion into the room would be. I’m thinking the size of a shoe box, but might be far off.

As far as the front door goes, we are not (thankfully!) in a historic district and the front is set back far enough from the street to allow the door (our neighbor has it).

4-10 months for permit! That’s crazy. Surely there must be a trick to allow these flippers a fast track bc they’ve gone from purchase to listing in 6 months often times. Regardless, 10 months on the far end is actually okay with us if that is what it is. Prefer sooner but that is good to know to set expectations.

Thanks again!!

Hey there,

We just purchased a townhouse in NW DC and are looking to convert the basement into a one bedroom rental. With ceilings of about 6'7", we are looking to digout and add at least 4-6 inches, if not 1-2 feet. I've read numerous posts on Biggerpockets with estimates and lessons learned in other cities, but nothing current in DC.

I'd love to hear any recent experiences digging out and underpinning in DC, including costs, contractors (referrals very welcome!) and tips. The basement currently has a separate back entrance but we'd look to add a front entrance as well as part of this project. As it stands now, as a studio, we can likely get about 1100 a month. A 1 bedroom will pull in about 2k a month. I'm hoping to move forward relatively soon but need to make sure it makes sense for the potential income it will generate.

Thanks!