All Forum Posts by: John Chapman

I consider myself way overeducated, and my personal opinion is that the downside to a degree is not necessarily the time and expense, but really the method of thinking that it imparts. My general impression and experience is that most institutions do not prepare you for the "real world" and do not prepare you to start or run your own business. Instead, they prepare you only to get your first job and impart a general "employee" mentality, a perception that life is really only about a series of escalating job positions and promotions.

I realize this isn't very scientific, but I make the decision based on how "give" there is. If the upstairs subfloor feels even slightly bouncy, I just go with laminate or vinyl wood plank. As a result, I don't think I've ever ended up tiling upstairs, even though I've wanted to for durability reasons.

$375 on a sfr in my area.

I'd get another bid. $1900 seems exceptionally high to me. (At least for my area.)

It's kind of hard to respond to your post because your not very clear on your investment objectives or what you consider a deal. Do you want to wholesale, flip, landlord, etc.? Also, where in Texas are you?

For what it's worth, I lean don't think it's a big deal to work with only one realtor if (big "if") they are good and actually working on your behalf. I've gotten most of my MLS deals through only one realtor but she scours the MLS, comps the houses, and sends me only the ones she think are worth looking at. The value she provides is significant and for that reason I wouldn't work with another buyer's agent. She's quite exceptional and I wouldn't limit myself if she wasn't as good as she is.

I'd first observe that your post doesn't say how their rent relates to their income. That and evictions are the two most important things to me. (I don't waste much time on credit anymore since many, many people have bad credit.)

I guess I'll offer a countervailing opinion. If their report is devoid of evictions, then it says that they are like most people and they have enough residual intelligence to realize that no matter what you pay your rent or your going to be homeless. I've rented to people with bad payment history (not sure if as many late pays). My speech to these people is, "I know you've paid late to other merchants and I'll accept that you went through some hard times. Frankly, I don't even care about your dealings with them. As long as you know to pay your rent first, we won't have any problems. If you don't pay your rent on time, then I go to court and get an eviction on your record and you will have a super difficult time renting." Haven't really had any problems with these types of tenants. Only time was when I went against my gut and rented to someone with a prior eviction.

Sorry for the delay in resonding Brian Hoyt. Here are my thoughts on your questions.
(1) I agree with Jon Holdman that finding at $75 property for $55K is highly unlikely (more likely to find a unicorn)
(2) I've now done four properties in the last year where I've used HML to purchase, rolled repairs in to the closing cost, and then immediately ref'id with into conventional with a new appraisal. Jon Holdman is right that it's tough to find a lender who can do it, but it is possible.
(3) In terms of the cash you bring to closing, I've always found that I've had to bring more to closing than I thought I would need to. (It's always worked out in the end for me but I've found that the HML tends to hold a decent chunk in reserve.) If you want shoot me an e-mail and I can send you HUD-1 on one I did so you can see how it worked for me on one.
(4) On the new appraisal, I've never had my original comp counted against me and drag down the value. If I had to guess, it's because that comp is in a dilapidated state and not indicative of fixed up "retail" value.

I've generally used private/hard money, rolling repair costs into the note, and then immediately ref'id into conventional financing. Takes a loan officer who know what they are doing but it is possible. Here's a thread in which Jon Holdman lays out perfectly the steps.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/67/topics/77230-hard-money-details

I agree with Mitch Kronowit that the number one issue on a day to day basis is finding deals. I spend way more time on that than anything else. Property management (particularly SFRs) is pretty minimal in terms of time commitment.