All Forum Posts by: Jared Baker

@Chris Martin Is finding a real estate attorney or title company as easy as doing a google search?  What would be the order of events that needs to take place?  Would I give a verbal offer to the property owner before one of the above is involved? Or do they need to be involved in making an offer?

Hello BP!

I may have found my first potential rental property. Being new and never having done anything like this before, there is a lot I don't know. So the question of this post is how do I buy an off market deal? I will be using conventional mortgage, possibly an FHA loan, but since I am not going through a real estate agent, who are the people that I need to get involved to make this happen?

Thanks!

Hello BP!

I am very excited to make this post as I might have an opportunity to make my first deal. I found an ad on craigslist about someone looking to retire and sell their duplex. I believe this is considered an off market deal as it is not on the MLS or Zillow that I can see. So I figure I would inquire about the property, but want to know what I should ask. They provided the annual income of $11,100 and taxes of $2714. Eventually I will go look at the property, but it is a several hour drive so I want to get some information before taking the 2 hour drive. So what is information to know before going to look?

Thanks BP

Hello BP.

I keep running numbers on properties to get an idea of what is out there in attempts to find my first deal.  I am hoping some of you can provide feedback on this report I made.  I keep coming up with similar cash flow for almost all properties I look at.  I saw somewhere to use 2% for the future assumptions which I don't know if those might be high or low or if it is a good number to use.  Is it possible that almost all of the properties on the market are over priced or is it more likely rents are not way under priced.

View report

*This link comes directly from our calculators, based on information input by the member who posted.

Hi @Andrew Thomas Rich,

I see you are in the Oconomowoc area.  I have been looking for properties for the last several months and am in the same boat you are.  There are not that many deals out there that make sense.  The biggest thing is what you consider "good" cash flow.  Most of the people on BP that I have seen aim for $100-$200 cash flow per door.  I have found some properties that cash flow like this but are on the west side of the state.  Although I would like to get a nice cash flowing property making more than $200 per door, I may end up looking for a live in flip as there are quite a few homes that are in need of work close to where I am.  Now getting the asking price down to were I would need it will be the hard part.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/112+S+Johnson+St...

Here is the house that is for sale.  If you guys could take a look at the street view and give me your thoughts on the area that would be appreciated.

Hello BP.

Not sure where to put this post, but this section seems like a good place.  I am looking to do a fix and flip for my first deal.  I have the skills to do all of the work myself and want to use this as a way to hopefully get me some capital so I can invest into duplexes or other fix and flip properties.  So I will be walking the property tomorrow to see what it is like inside the home but yesterday I went to drive by and see the area around it.

So a little about the home first:

• Just over 1000sqft (decent size starter home I think)
• asking price is high given the condition it is it so shouldn't have an issue getting the price that would make the deal work
• Very outdated home
• Essentially no kitchen
• Roof and exterior seem to have been updated in the last 5-7 years (will find out tomorrow)
• Has a two car garage
• Very little yard.  A little landscape work and you wouldn't have any grass left

So based on this and the pictures I have seen, there is a lot of potential to make this a nice home for a single person or a young couple.  However there are some downsides to the property such as the fact that there is basically no yard and the front door is only 8-10 feet from the road (there is a sidewalk).

Here is a bit about the area when I drove by the other day:

• Houses on the street are not in the best shape, all still occupied but definitely not the nicest part of town.
• I see people parking boats and cars in their yards so over all the street does not appear to be "clean".
• Houses are close together, this particular one shares a driveway with the house behind it and there are two buildings very close to this house that are not in the best shape

So if you have made it this far my questions is, how will some of these factors affect selling the home once it is fixed up?  I realize that most of you are not in my area and don't know the market, but in general, will having no yard really knock down the price significantly?  Will the fact that the other homes on the street are not kept nice drop the price even lower?  Even if I could make the numbers work, would some of these factors (the things I can't change) be reasons to pass and move onto something else?  In the long term it would be great if I could convince everyone on that street to sell me their home and then it could look really nice, but we are just talking about the present now.

Thanks BP

Hello @Julian Arredondo

Being young you will have a lot working against you, but you also have the energy and drive to make things happen.  I would suggest you start by reading @Scott Trench's Book Set for Life.  Has a lot of good advice on how to get started.  I would definitely read the forums and begin running numbers on properties in your area to learn the cost.  In the mean time focus on building up a down payment for your first property.  You're definitely going to want to make sure you have a good amount of cash in reserve for any deal that you come across, unexpected expense can and will occur.  Investing with nothing in reserve is dangerous.

Hi @Account Closed's book set for life if you haven't read it yet.

Hi @Koob Moua I am not a landlord but a renter currently.  From my understanding if the tenant does not fulfill the agreements in the contract then you can withhold the security deposit.  In the agreement they agree to pay X amount per month, and if they don't then they are in violation of the agreement and you (the landlord) can then keep the security deposit.  At least that is the way it is set up on my agreement.  Hopefully someone with a little more experience can give you some more insight.