All Forum Posts by: Jeff Ihnen

Jerry Ellis sounds like we are in a very similar position with our properties of interest. I agree with what your saying that the realtor was just trying to make me feel like an idiot to get me to offer more and it's hard not to be tempted to especially after our agent wanted us to offer more in the first place. But after all of your hilarious and informing comments, I'm ready to go back lower in a month if We haven't found a better deal by then. This time my wife and I will type up an informative letter to go with our offer to explain why we are offering what we are. Also not going to make contingency for them to replace roof, I will just offer 12k less and pay someone to do it instead. I would love to connect on here Jerry and tried to add you as a friend but haven't figured out how to. I will try on my computer later. Teddy Smith your comment about special snow flake literally made me laugh out loud!! Haha so funny! Thank you for that and for bringing humor to the situation. You all have been so encouraging and informative. I truly can't thank you all enough! Thanks for taking the time to offer my wife and I any insight and experience! I have another question, has anyone else had trouble getting the current lease and income/expense statements from properties for sale? My realtor requested to see them multiple times and all she got back was a text message response that said "he is in a new lease as far as I know and is a really good tenant." I felt like saying a "a really good tenant?! Have you ever even been inside his place?!" And how do you "not know" if a tenant just signed a new lease if you have been trying to sell this property for the last 5 months?! Shouldn't this information be readily available for any interested buyers? My judgement tells me he is a shady Realtor and is trying to hide something. It is unfortunate. Any information would be greatly appreciated as always!

I should point out that the owner of the property is a company from California and I live in Springfield Illinois. I did find this easier to make an aggressive (although I feel it was justified) offer since I did not have much concern with offending the seller, even though I must have. My wife and I are brand new at this, so we are still learning how not to become emotionally attached to properties or concerned with offending sellers or listing agents. We may like to offer again in a couple of months, however, our current realtor seemed uncomfortable and reluctant to present our original offer because she wanted us to offer more.

Thanks for all your advice, tips and encouragement. I appreciate you all!

My agent states that the only way you can compare similar duplexes is by comparing the rental income per property. How do I do that? This property has 850 + 875 = 1725 month in rent. Other similar properties are renting between 800-850 so pretty similar. Thanks for all your responses! You all are great and I really appreciate it!

Hey everyone, just recently got rejected on our offer my wife and I made on a duplex. Their listing agent stated "this is probably the worst offer I have received in 25 years". Was I really that off in my numbers or does this agent have some truth to his quote? Deal: original list price 164k , 1 month later 160k, 5 months later no adjustment in price. The property has been sitting for 5 months total. We had 4 comps in the neighborhood where duplexes sold from 112k-135k. Average price per square foot=57 on these comps. 3 of the 4 comps listed that they had a "new" or "newer" roof. Our duplex of interest had 1 side currently rented at $850 a month (or at least claimed at that price). We could never get any lease agreements or any price/expense statements on the property from the seller after multiple attempts. The current tenant has completely trashed his side, clothes/junk everywhere, Reeks of smoke (especially in the basement, has never cleaned a toilet in years it seems, and just renewed this supposed lease we never saw.) The rent for this whole property is supposedly is 850 and 875. We made our offer at 125k contingent on reviewing the lease agreement, property inspection, and including a new roof. (The roof is completely shot and has hail damage that our agent thinks their insurance could pay for). Is this the worst offer anyone has ever seen? Or is the real estate agent just being a jerk? Our unit had 2080sqft. 60 x 2080=124,800. Our realtor said you can't make an offer on multi family units based on price per sq ft and that the appraiser won't even do that. Is that true? Thanks for any wise counsel!

Thanks for sharing! I appreciate you both helping me with this.  How do i find local wholesalers @Corey Smith?  

Do either of you know much about buying foreclosures?  Currently looking at a deal listed at 70k down from 75k listed for 1 month.  Fair market value on the home is 93,500.  My question is once I figure rehab costs, I will know more about if I want to offer.  I have heard a good rule of thumb is banks will only take a certain percentage less than asking price and i was going to start with 20% less so around 56k? I have yet to step inside house. But just wanted any thoughts/ comments about buying foreclosures. Thanks!

I need help and advice on my current property of interest. I am very conservative in my RE investing for the time being and do not have much loan/risk tolerance.  With That being said I just want to focus on buying 1 Rental to start out with, Learn all I can, Increase the cash flow as much as possible, all the while saving money and preparing for my next deal.  My goal is to pay off this first rental completely before i buy another one and then do the same for that one.  I know this is a lot slower pace to great wealth but at least for the time being I do not want much debt or properties to deal with.  With that being said here is the current property i am interested in....

1/2 of a duplex for sale.  The property has a 2 car attached garage, 3 beds, 2baths 1149sqft and is in a great/desirable location.  It was originally listed at 127,000.  Now the property is listed for 122,000 and has been on the market for 3 months.  I believe it is due for another price cut very shortly.  I believe the property is over priced and needs all new flooring, updated both bathrooms and kitchen.  All in 15k-20k in repairs needed.  Rent for this property would be between 1,000-1,200 a month.

CapEx 200, Repairs 50, Vacancy 50, Property management 100, property tax 180, Insurance 80, Trash pick up 15-----All expenses 675/month-------$405 Mortgage payment (If i get the home for 100k w 20k d.p.) For a grand total of 1080/month in expenses. (i would manage myself for 100 less a month but wanted to include it).

I Want to make this deal worth it because while you cant bank on appreciation, this property would at least have the opportunity for that.  It is in a good area, that will hopefully attract better tenants with lower turnover and headaches.  This seems like an awful deal but i want to make it work. I wanted to originally offer 90k for the property but didn't want to offer to low and offend the buyers and not make them want to work with me.  With a top dollar i would be willing to go between 100-105k.

I was considering refinancing my current home and pulling the cash out of it to put in the deal.  Depending on what it appraises for i assume i could come away with 30k-45k.  With my savings combined with this i could get very close to paying all cash for property.

IDK lots of thoughts here. My Goal is to pay off property ASAP, Assume 50% rule and therefore cash flow 500-600 a month ASAP once property is paid off.

How do I follow you Steven? Your post is great to read and I love to learn more on the topic of what to hire out for and what to attempt doing the diy for. Thanks

I have an opportunity on a local vacation rental opportunity. What advice does anyone have who have also invested in vacation rentals? How do I make sure I am getting a good deal? Thank you in advance for any wisdom shared!

I am more of a conservative investor and do not feel comfortable having several different mortgages making $100 cash flow on each. That just does not seem like enough wiggly room when something goes wrong. If you pay cash for 50k and 100k properties and snowball the money, you will always cash flow using the 50% rule correct? I think it will take a lot longer to get rich this way but it seems like in my head anyway a slow and steady way to make good money.