All Forum Posts by: Mike Jakobczak

Some HML are pretty quick, 5 days to get financing together. From my experience usually once I send them a property, within 24 hours I can get a response on what they will lend on the property in question. I don't use much hard money tho but this is from what I have found when I have.

I heard many of these things myself.

I definitely think they have many things up their sleeves and are testing a few out. i wouldn't think anything major will happen until the election is over. But definitely if any of these pilots are successful could be a game changer for areas that have a lot of REOs.

very interesting. Thanks for the update

All depends on how you run your business or how do you enjoy your down time. When I first started off I would do as much things as I could to save money. Keeping more money in my pockets. But I also didn't mind working on the weekends etc. Now my time is better spent looking at deals or raising funds for my next project. or enjoying a day off here and there.

But there's nothing wrong with putting in some elbow grease here and there.

Regions are definitely going to change a lot of factors. Being from the east coast your prices are like mine in Toronto. But for example my projects in Atlanta are totally different:

Example: Kitchen gut and finish:4,000-7,000 depending on what kind of finishes you are putting in.

Washrooms:2-3,000

Obviously if you are doing some upscale projects, budgets can even get into the 6 figure in no time.

Right now active inventory levels are low but this does not mean the banks do not have the inventory still. Right now they are still in the process of trying out different programs etc. We will see more inventory in the upcoming months. Get your cash up now and wait patiently.

Advantages:

Most are cash buyers, or at least access to fast cash, line of credits, etc. This is because most banks wont be able to finance foreigners. So fast closings. Also exchange rate may be in favor of buyer, making it more attractive investment. Depressed markets will have a good profit margin compared to where the foreign investor may be currently living/investing.

Disadvantages

Uneducated buyers of area, may take awhile for them to feel comfortable in purchasing. If keeping it as a rental, and are borrowing funds, frequent exchanges of currency may shrink profit margins and maybe even take them right out. Owning property which they can't visit without getting on a plane may discourage them.

Yea I would look up some hard money lenders in your area of interest and educate yourself on the competition. Will give you an idea of what the average spread/points are in the area.

Yea I don't know what fight the judges were watching. I will not support a re-match, since Bob Arum is milking his fighters. Pac needs a new business team behind him. They don't have his best interest. Just cost him any leverage going into a mayweather/pac fight, if there ever would be one.

I think if you have a solid understanding of your carrying cost, budgets and time frames that it will take to acquire these new properties and that you can manage more, I don't see why not to move forward. Lots of great deals to be made out there and you should be taking advantage of the current market conditions.

We all know one of the biggest assets real estate has to offer investors is the ability to leverage. Use it while you can.