All Forum Posts by: David Krulac

@Joe Villeneuve agree 100% and have said the same thing here and other places.  There are deals on market and off market.  And it doesn't matter what's going on in the economy, its true in up markets, down markets and stagnant markets.  Recently bought an on market house listed since July, paid $123,000 less than appraisal and a formerly listed on market price.  It was still on market and got the big discount due to days on market.  3 other brand new houses, listed on market were bought from builder and got through the builder below market 30 year moprtgages of 4.25% interest and 4.75% interest.  Also bought a property at Sheriff Sale, obviously off market for about $60,000 below market value. So there are deals both on market and off market, but the key is you need to know what the value is.  If you don't know vlaue you can not know what is a deal or not.  

yes we would usually offer an incentive, but depending on the overage, that might be more than enough overage.  Sometimes the overage is plus $50,000 to $100,000

We have bought over 200 tax sale properties. We have gotten Quit Claim Deeds from the former owner, or filed Quiet Title Actions if former owner was not found or decesed, and we have also owned for over 21 years and claimed adverse possession. You will find that many former owners have NOT received notice.  The must recieve all 3 notices. One is a certified letter which many don't bother to pick up. The statue of limitations does not start until the former owner gets notice.  If the owner is deceased, then the heirs need to be notified also.  We had one property where there were 21 heirs, and the former owner had died in 1910.  It was a massive amount of research and costly Quiet Title Action.  Another case we had to Quiet Title a person who didn't sign a deed from 1897.  

Four of the biggest advantages of long term landlording are property appreciation, rent increases, debt pay down, and tax advantages. Long term tenants pay down the mortgage until the mortgage is paid off and then cash flow sharply escalates. Property prices have escalated tremendously over the last 5 years, further propelling values of rental properties along with the rent of the residential market.  Compare 2019 prices with today's prices, and in most places there are big differences. Our criteria for buying rental properties are desirable neighborhood with mostly owner occupants, good schools and low crime rates.  We have had tenants stay over 30 years and the average tenancy is 12.5 years. One multi building we owned for 37 years, improving the property over the years and ended up selling it for 6X what we paid for it. Another multi unit building we owned for 24 years and sold for 3X.  A single family detached house we oned for 25 years and only had one tenant we sold for 3.25X in 2019 and it now worth $100,000 more than we sold it for.  An extraordinary deal we did we bought a house for $30,000, and the first tenant paiud $2,050 a month in rent. We owned it for 22 years and sold for $435,000.  It was well worth owning as a landlord.  

There has been talk of Section 8 cuts for literally decades.  It never happened!  There might be a crack down on waste and fraud in the program, but the program still will survive, too many tenants and landlords depend on it. Haven't seen any changes locally.

You should be looking at Chicago REIA groups where there are investors and money.

Personally, I'm not a wait on the sidelines type of person, so maybe what I would do does fit everybody. But here goes, I would not wait, I just bought 3 brand new houses and got 4.75% fixed for 30 years and 4.25% fixed for 10 years then variable for thenext 20 years. And these were on investor, non-owner occupied mortgages. If I was in your shoes I would buy a place, single familt, 2,3, or 4 untis, and occupy one and use my VA 100% financed zero down entitlement. BTW, thanks for your service. After doing that and moving to the new place, and renting out the old place I would get a second mortgage or HELOC on the old place and get about $45,000 in cash and maybe buy another place. And keeping the existing 3.25% mortgage on the old place. IMHO, I think its a great time to buy, besides the 3 new construction, I also bought 2 other properties and have an offer on a sixth property right now, crossing my fingers. One of the resons that I say don't wait is that while others sit on the sidelines that means less competition from other buyers and when interest rates do decline two other things will happen: 1. more buyers will come out of the woodwork increasing buyer competition AND 2. Prices will rise as demand exceeds supply and you will have to pay more. I'm always a buyer, but I still believe that now is a buying opportunity and I am putting my money where my mouth is.

Come to PA, DE, TN, VA, NC, SC, GA, and other places; where Section 8 Fair Market Rents increased.

We have had tenants stay for over 30 years and have current tenants who have stayed 25 years and several more than 10 years.  At many of our properties the tenants are the first and only tenant thta we;ve had at that location.  Vacancy rates are rising in the market place and now is a good time to retain tenants and prevent costly vacancies.

https://www.parealtors.org/blog/house-renters-renting-longer... 

One of the factors that I look at for listed on market properties is Days on Market (DOM) and properties that have had price reductions, sometimes multiple price reductions.  A couple mopnths ago I saw a property for sale that had been on market for almost six months and had a price reduction.  It had been appraised before listing at $378,000, listed at that price then reduced to $340,000.  After back and forth offers and declines was able to settle on a final price of $250,000.  We did put in $20,000 in cosmetics, paint, floor coverings and minor repairs. I think that it is worth the original appraisal of $378,000 if not more, and have seen some good comps in the $400,000 to $425,000 range. Very pleased.