All Forum Posts by: Jennifer Petrillo

Paperwork is done by attorneys completing the transaction for both parties, so our attorney and their attorney. Stuff gets done faster too because you are cutting out a middle man, communication comes right to me rather than passing through a seller's agent first, we like having that kind of control in the transaction.

@David Olson, looks really nice, can't wait to see the finished project! We list our flips with Realmart Realty, on online MLS listing broker, we pay $500 for a professional listing that goes on the MLS and looks like any other listing (not like a FSBO). I fill out the paperwork online (takes about five minutes), my husband takes pictures with his DSLR camera and we upload them. We pay 2.5% commission to the buyer's agent and NO commission to a seller's agent, which you don't really need when you are selling, just get on the MLS and the buyers will come to you! If a realtor calls us, we give them the lockbox code; if an individual without a realtor calls us (rare in our local market), my husband shows them the house. The rest of the negotiation and the paperwork is done by the attorneys. Give it a try and see how easy it is, you will be happy you did. And happier with more money in your pocket after closing!

Acquisitions, expensive HMLs, failed septic systems, fussy buyers, flattening market in NJ!

Professional goals: Purchase our first commercial or mixed-use property for long term buy and hold. Start renting out our vacation home.

Personal goals: Spend quality time with 14 year old daughter, exercise regularly, continue to personalize and enjoy the beautiful home we bought this year, spend time at vacation home (when we are not renting it out!), try not to rage quit my day job lol

Great location. Consider using the duplex as student housing, you can rent out individual rooms for higher than you can rent the whole house , i.e. one side of the duplex might rent for $1500 (I'm just making up these numbers, I don't know your local market) whereas if you rent individual bedrooms to students you could charge maybe $800 a bedroom and push your total monthly rent on the duplex to $2400. There are some podcasts on student housing and probably some articles too.

Run the numbers on both and do what makes more sense. Get some refi estimates from a few banks (check national and local lenders), also get heloc estimate from your mortgage holder. When we bought a vacation home last year, we had three loan options to choose from, two helocs and a cash out refi. We chose the refi b/c the numbers were better for us.

Most realtors will not want to put the time into looking for properties for someone who may or may not buy them. Search online, identify the ones you are interested in yourself, then contact the selling broker for each property. They will have more information on the property than just a random buyer's agent and they are happier to work with you and show you the property because if you buy directly from them they are getting the whole commission and not splitting it with a buyer's agent. Agents in NJ can serve as dual agents, meaning they can work for both the seller and the buyer. We do not use a buyer's agent, we go directly to the seller's agent every time.

We started flipping houses when we were 47 and 59. Wish we had started sooner of course but loving it now! Best of luck to you!

It's kind of like comparing apples to oranges, each loan is different depending on the terms, what matters is what works best for you. When we wanted to pull some money out of our primary residence last year, I spoke with a broker from my mortgage company who drew up three options for us, two heloc options and a cash out refi. We went with the cash out refi b/c we liked the terms better, but the actual terms you are offered will vary. Be aware that no one may be interested in giving you a heloc or doing a refi if you have not held the loan for very long. And you can only pull out 80% of the equity in a property, so if you were re-appraised for 160K and you owe, say, 100K on the original loan, you could pull out 160 - 100 = 60K x 80% = 48K. Of course, you are paying for that money. What is your goal? Were you planning to roll it into another property? Do you have a way to acquire your next property while preserving the equity in the property you just rehabbed? If you collect another property or two, you can refi them all at once and pull out even more equity in one big chunk.

Looking for a commercial inspector for a mixed use property in Long Branch, two buildings, four businesses, two apartments. Thank you BP!