All Forum Posts by: Jeff Dulla

@Derrell Barton I have been trying to put together some scripts for some of my teammates to use but for very casual phone calls to past clients and leads more so. I personally do not love scripts. I know they work but I think it takes a higher amount of calls before you see a benefit. 

I prefer to come up with something that flows naturally that you can organically expand upon in the conversation. Just start with something simple. Do you know that you can do a conforming loan with 3% down? Jumbo loans with 5% down? Stuff like that. 

We have handled it a few different ways. If you are going to call realtors, call them, introduce yourself, tell them you want to send them some information on loan programs that may help them increase business. Tell them you are going to send them something and follow up with them at a specific date/time. Put together what you want to send to them, do it as you told the realtor and the key - FOLLOW UP exactly when you told them you would. Consistency and execution are something many people in this business lack. From there, try to set an in person meeting. That is more of the "guerrilla warfare", pick them off one by one tactic. 

If you feel ready to go into an office, do what @Ethan Summers said - go into an office and ask the admin for help. Get the admin involved. Say you would love to buy everyone lunch and just introduce yourself. He/she may tell you to get lost but then just go to the next one. Also, have an idea of something interesting to talk to them about - it could be anything. Direct mail strategies, how to market to millennials, new financing products, etc. Find something interesting. 

One thing I know to be true in this business is that there is no one way to skin a cat. A lot of people do a ton of different things. The best is to pick just one or two very simple things and do them right. I know a guy who has killed it just making it a point to call his past clients (thousands of them now). This is a huge consumption of his time but he has done it since day one and has stuck with it (at the time he just called lists of people he knew just to say hi and tell them what he does for a living). Point being, keep it simple, true to who you are, and execute. 

Good luck my friend!

@Eric Percival Is the home in decent shape? Anything major wrong - structural or safety-wise? You may be able to get a loan on it now. How much did you buy it for?

@Jordan Brinkman that is not typically what subject to means. Was that specifically what was explained to you? Or did the listing say subject to and someone told you the seller was late on payments?

If this is a traditional sale, which I am not sure if you are saying it is, Ditech will have to be paid off in full for this to close and title to be transferred properly. Can you expand a bit?

@Matthew M. I actually do think there are some great places you could get into with that type of  down payment and income. Especially if you are looking for places within 45 min of midway. I personally like and invest in the western suburbs. If you follow 290 going west out of the city or 55 going southwest, there are plenty of good towns. 

Speaking personally, if you go west, you can definitely find some duplex, maybe triplex properties in Berwyn, Brookfield, Lyons, maybe Forest Park, Hodgkins, Countryside. There are some spots around Midway that people like but can still be interesting from block to block. 

The only thing that could make things a little easier is if you had some flexibility on down payment. I think $10,000 on FHA puts you right around $285,000, which isn't bad. But I think you would need to get into the $350,000 range to have a solid shot at a triplex.

@Ryan O. I do not think it is a terrible idea and the income doesn't sound like an issue. Down payment wise, you would need at least 3.500% to do FHA. Would you consider doing a multi bedroom condo and having roommates? I think it would be tough for you to get a multi-unit unless you could come up with 3.50% on a $500k+ building. Are any of those numbers doable?

I am more than happy to help you investigate some financials. Ultimately though you also need to know what locations you could target that would work for you. 

Let me know  what you think about any of those financials first. 

@Brittany Pointer Congrats and welcome. A fun time to get started with everything. What mortgage company are you with?

@Kesi Ika-Kioa If you do what @Thomas S. proposes, I would not do a HELOC. Unless your HELOC is 4.00% and fixed for 30 years. I agree with Greg wholeheartedly but I just want to make sure you aren't interpreting what he is telling you the wrong way. If you plan to do that, I do not know why you would ever us a floating, HELOC rate as the debt instrument.

@Kesi Ika-Kioa It comes down to the cost on each instrument you are using and the timeline you plan to have it open. What is rate on the first mortgage? What is rate on proposed HELOC? How long until you pay off the proposed first mortgage or HELOC?

@Tim Sutton You will not have an easy time rezoning. Also, the issue may stop you from getting a loan. 

When the appraiser does the appraisal, they will pull the zoning. Two things they will remark on - whether or not the units are legal and whether or not they conform with zoning classifications. This can create a whole slew of issues.

What it sounds like you have is an illegal unit. When they mark this on the appraisal, you will not be able to finance as is. You could pay cash but I think you will have a harder time than you think re-zoning afterwards. This is something I would dig into with the city well before you buy it.

You may also run into a situation where there are no illegal units but the property is non-conforming. Maybe it is a two or three unit but the zoning has been changed to a single family classification. This can be an issue in some villages so you may want to check. Chicago is pretty decent with this issue as they will grandfather the property in. I have even seen them go as far as to provide a letter, for the lender, to show that they will allow you to rebuild the property to it's current density in case it burns down or something. 

@Chris Lucas There is a reason and a clear track record as you will see on here that many people do not buy under the LLC. If you do, you are going to be using a commercial or non-conforming product for certain. No matter the lender.

There is a reason people seek to do it under their name and flip it into an LLC - rates/costs. Rates are the most stable under conforming lending. Anything outside of that will be a higher rate and more often then not, carry a shorter fixed term. Everyone on here has different opinions but I would be careful leveraging myself in this market without anything that is fixed for a longer period of time if you intend to hold the property.