All Forum Posts by: Jesse T.

I agree with @Bill G. that a construction/business background would be the best idea at this point.

Even if a degree isn't required, developing solid math, writing and research skills will serve you very well in dealing with Real Estate.

Living cheaply is very important at this point.

If you can go to school(or a community college) for the spring semester, it will probably be easier to find work in construction in the summer.

Do you plan on using her to list your property as a rental?  Is she interested in rental business or just buying/selling?

I would not immediately sign a buyer's agent agreement with her.  My first step would be to ask her to pick out 5 to 10 recent sales(or under contract) houses that would fit your criteria.  If most would match, then you have a good fit.

I would also interview another agent even if you are 95% sure you will use her as your agent.

For the "just looking stage" generally a seller's agent will show a house.

Another option might be to ask if she has other investors who she is showing houses.  Maybe she could show you the houses they are looking at.  I would start off with an investor/properties that are in a different segment, so there isn't an awkward situation where you both want to buy the same property.

Are you using an agent to find renters?  Are you using an agent on the purchase? 

I think one reason that may be a poor rental property is the size of the lot.  Land generally increases significantly property values, but has a small(if any) increase in the rental value.

It looks like there is a lot of inventory of SFH for rent in your area. Unless you are getting a ton of potential deadbeats, I would keep qualification requirements out of the MLS listing.

4 BRs is a selling point for this home.  If one of them is small, suggest use as a den/office.  There are only 6 pictures, most of the competition has at least 12 some as many as 30.  At the very least I would add a picture of the Master Bedroom and the bathrooms.  Also I would like to see a view from the back of the house.  The garage should probably be mentioned in the description.  The square footage is good, so it might help to list room dimensions.

I think the house looks better vs. competition with the $50 reduction.  If it was in the mid 1200s, it probably would get even more interest.

 Agreed.  An easy way to get your foot in the door would be doing some work for a real estate office.  It could be trivial stuff like placing for sale signs, etc. but it should be paid.  Even mowing lawns for an investor with a number of properties could be a good start.

Is the house on the MLS currently?

If the numbers don't work with the loan pay-off amount, they might work with lender agreeing to a short sale.

I would do an inspection to get a general idea of required repairs.

You might see if they would be willing to move earlier, in exchange for pro-rated rent the final month.  If you had them out a couple weeks early, you might be able to get on the market late March rather than the middle of April.

Consult a CPA who has dealt with real estate tax issues.

It looks like your basis will be 212.5 for the residence.  The gain of about 100K is excluded from taxes.

If you depreciated(or could have) about 40K(my guess is it would have been about 6K/year) you will owe ordinary income tax on that.  You also will owe capital gains on the 100K gain for the rental unit.

If you do a 1031 exchange you need to purchase a replacement property for at least 1/2 of the total proceeds to delay the taxes.

Are you using an agent on your side?

If they won't counter they aren't very motivated.

It might also be worth showing comps(use sold houses) that justify a price $15K(or more lower).  You could also ask what they are using for comps for their asking price.

Keep looking for a better deal and check back in a month if it is on the market and you haven't found one.  If their house(and comps) are still on the market, they may be more motivated.