All Forum Posts by: Jeff Plotkin

I’m working on a deal where the seller has promised to owner finance the deal for 18 months. I want understand how the refi could work when the term is coming due.

Does anyone know the typical seasoning period of multi family investments? At what point should I start lining up the refinance?

@Bao Chau Tran capitol preferred

The advice surrounding finding private lenders always points to networking. Attending local REIA meetings, BiggerPockets meetups, etc. Additionally, most of the advice says if you find good deals, the financing will follow.

Well, I am finding good deals and don’t know where to start looking for private lenders. Anyone have advice for this during the pandemic when we can’t attend meetups?

I posted an update yesterday but it looks like it did not go through. Yes, I found tons of errors! For one home, he was using comps with the wrong number of bedrooms and all of those homes were significantly outdated compared to my home which was completely renovated. For the other home, it was even worse. All of the comps were over 1 year old, over 1-2 miles away, and one comp was even a mobile home (mine is not). I found new and better comps, listed reasons for why each of their comps should be disputed, provided additional info on the rehabs and the contractor payments and sent everything back to the lender. The lender sent it off to the investor who came back saying that what I provided was really high quality and the appraisal will be adjusted accordingly!

@Will Gaston I probably should have mentioned in my original post that I am using a commercial lender. Thank you!

Amazing advice, Will. I am definitely learning this the hard way and I will save this info for my next one. Would you be able to comment on the earlier messages where people told me I should be waiting the full 6 months of seasoning? They say that within 6 months, the original low purchase price of these homes is weighing down the comps. It appears that the appraiser only used 3 comps per home, however.

I just took a much deeper dive into the comps the appraiser used and they are not representative at all. For one of the homes, all 3 comps they used were over 1 year old, and one of them is a mobile home (which the subject property is not). For the other home, I upgraded it from a 3 bed/2 bath to a 4/2, but the comps they used were all 3/2s and out of date homes. Both of these homes were updated head to toe and the comps did not have anything new. I provided 3 new comps for each home to my lender who should be communicating them to the appraiser. 

To those who say not waiting the 6 months of seasoning weighs down the comps, how is this true when the appraiser is only using 3 comps per home? 

@Kendall Staggs I’m wondering if it’s the state I’m investing in, but I’m unable work directly with the appraiser and need to go through my lender. The lender will not even provide the appraisal reports because they’re afraid I’ll shop around once I have them. They only provided me the comps the appraiser used (which I believe are unfair comparisons)

@Whitney Hutten I appreciate the constructive advice, thanks! My lender will not give me the appraisal report but he gave me the comps the appraiser used and they don’t make sense. I’ve provided the lender with a lot more information about the rehab and the corresponding invoices and will be provided comps I think make more sense today.

Appreciate the advice everyone, thanks!