All Forum Posts by: Jesse T.

Maybe try on some of your lower risk deals offering some of the upside to the the seller.  

Maybe if you had a house where you could afford to pay 120K, but they would be willing to sell for 105K, give them an option of 100K up-front with the extra 20K if the deal works out for you.

I would expect 1/2 the typical listing fee would be the expected amount.  

If the agent places a good tenant, you may want to give them a heads up on prospective vacancies.  Some agents may try to argue for a whole commission, but I would question who they are representing in that case.

If you will be long distance, ask the realtor for a property management recommendation - probably outside the firm, so it is unbiased.  If you just need a listing and will self-manage then a referral to an agent could be the way to go.

Would you have done different renovations for a rental vs. a flip?

How is the property financed?

I think the vending machine analogy is a lot closer to SFH buy and hold investing than most would think at first.

Both businesses are going to be very dependent on location for profitability.  Both businesses generally are going to have low(or no) margins if you completely out-source.  I think with the vending machine route it is a little more obvious that it is both an investment and job.

Real Estate agents are easy to find, but those that know investing well are surprisingly rare.  Could the agents you talked to provide you a referral to an agent who does investing and represents more investors?  Also asking for recommendations from investors is another good way to find a good agent.

If he was referred to you and it was a small job, I could see not wanting to provide references.  However since all you have to go on is what he has told you, it is reasonable for you to ask for references.  I would move on to the next interested handyman even if they cost a little bit more.

Since you are out of town, I would want the same level of service on both MLS and non-MLS properties. So I would pay the agent/brokerage 3% either way - even if it comes out of your pocket. One way you could use the situation to your advantage is writing offers. I would start with an initial offer with you paying the agent directly. If they counter, you can respond with slight net increase that looks more impressive because they would pay the broker in the next offer. This could be especially effective if it allows you to get over a mental boundary - like going over 100K.

I think it would have to be an area with low inventory for that to work.  Also it would really be a limited set of buyers who would want that.  Most that are that specific are going to gravitate to new construction.

It might be worth showing it to potential buyers agents at this point.  Obviously the ideal situation is where they have a buyer who is looking for just what you have.  That may not happen, but they may be more likely to show it to potential buyers once it is listed.  One thing that might make it appealing to buyers agents would be to offer a few thousand selling assistance to a full price offer from clients of the agents that do a preview.

Also if you do previews make sure you are pretty confident about your renovation schedule.  Nothing would be worse than having 3 buyers excited about the house with matching time frames and then missing the time frame they need.

Where did the deposit come from?  If it was an account with his name and she is off the lease, I think you are pretty safe returning it to him when he moves out.  

The only way I would return any money to her at this point is if the guy staying gave me a check for the amount of deposit being returned.  Really the deposit is an issue for the two parties to resolve at this point.

One way to prevent an issue from coming up later might be to have the woman sign a termination of her lease that states the deposit will be refunded to the man who is staying.