All Forum Posts by: Jeff West

hi @Amber Rueda We always carpet bedrooms, and even in my personal houses I have always preferred it. Stepping down when you get out of bed in the morning on wood or tile is cold, and with families, it's more comfortable for kids to play on carpet then hard surfaces. I know it is partly a preference thing and different buyers will want different things but I think personally you should save the money in the bedrooms. My contractor almost always does carpet in bedrooms and he works for several different investors. 

hi Joe. How many properties does your client have at a time? If it is 4 or more email me and I will give you the name of a guy who can do it. 

@Rick H. 

I completely agree. The story was that the sister would be buying for them, and she swore she was qualified without me asking. It could have been true, but my renovations were scheduled to start tomorrow and only be 10 days to completion, so I wasn't excited to hold up everything to see if this was legit, especially with the "take it or leave it" pitch. This property will be on the market in 2 weeks in a gated community Santa Clarita, and I am confident it will go fast.

Thank you all for your advice @Ned Carey @Joseph Ball @Brie Schmidt @Don Harris 

It was not a cash offer and would have to have been financed. Because the offer was still pretty low, I tried to negotiate them up and they decided they would keep looking. Oh well, I will have to wait a little longer to get paid, which sucks because I was really looking forward to buying that GURU uniform Joseph had me sold on.

Hi BPers. I need some advice. I bought a foreclosure and just got the tenant out today. Out of the blue I got a visit from someone who happened to see an expired listing (pre-auction) and asked if it was for sale. When I told them it would be as soon as renovations were done they offered to buy it as is. The offer was pretty much what I would have netted discounting renovations and commissions, and if it's legit it would be great to get it sold quickly. So a couple of questions:

1. Does this sound fishy? They did show up right when I was finishing my cash for keys agreement and securing the property. (tenant was still in the driveway!) They say they love the area and the sister already lives in the community (gated)

2. Since I always use realtors and their title and escrow to handle transactions, how simple is handling it myself? Is there a good resource to research the process? This has potential to be a super quick flip, but I'd hate to slow the process with a misstep. 

Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

Hey @Matt Forooz 

I currently have 3 properties in LA, all of which required either legal response or CFK. If you need any help, shoot me an email. In general, try to be as nice as possible when you talk to the tenants. Find out if they were the primary owners before foreclosure or if they are tenants (tenants have more rights) Don't offer them money and let them make the first move. The conversation will go a long way towards knowing the next step.

I'm Jeff West and I endorse @J Scott 's message!

@Sarah T. 

If you find an agent that is used to working with investors, it may not be as big a deal as you think. (Local REI meetings are great for finding them) Most are used to it.

One method you could employ is to look online for anything you may be interested in or have your realtor send you every listing in your area with phrases such as "handyman special, fixer upper, tlc needed," etc. If any of them look promising, submit an offer low enough that you couldn't possibly lose money. Maybe not lowball, but low enough for serious wiggle room. Investors realtors are used to submitting lots of offers and with a digital signature you wont have to meet up for every one of them. Most offers, even if they are low ball won't be ignored and will at least be countered. Find the counters that look like they are willing to negotiate and then schedule to see the property, possibly with your contractor if you have one, so that they can give you a bid on what renovations will actually cost you.  

I have looked at a couple of burnouts in the last 2 months. We passed, but only because the wholesalers didn't have enough wiggle room to produce a decent profit. Neither scared my contractor, but the renovation was quite a bit more extensive. (and expensive)

@Paul Ewing I would love it if $600 was all it would take to get people to move out in Southern California, but most of the time it's not even close! I have 3 foreclosure properties and two of them were tenant occupied as opposed to owner occupied (tenants legally have 90 days to vacate) I am almost positive there was a side scheme going on, but regardless, tenants have been informed by lawyers flyers in the mail that they can ask for the equivalent of security and first and last months rent or sometimes more. You go in hoping they don't know that but in all 3 cases they have negotiated. It ends up just being a cost of business but I'd hate to lose tens of thousands of dollars that I can't deduct.