All Forum Posts by: Josh Cocker

Thanks Jamie! It’s definitely something I’ve been excited about as it will be a perfect house hack and the overall price is very attractive given they have both been fully renovated. 

Hopefully I can find someone to lend as a residential mortgage (I am from the UK and on a Visa so I qualify for residential mortgage but I don’t think I do for commercial lending).

Hello,

I thought i would reach out here to as I am looking to connect with a lender who can help me purchase 2 SFH properties (both the same size sq ft so not ADU) being sold together on 1 parcel of land at 1.35acres. The property is in VA and i have agreed purchase price etc and am happy with what i am purchasing.

It will be my first property purchase and I will be living in one of the property's as my primary residence and renting the other out. The houses have their own address numbers and have their own sewer, electricity, water etc. 

Thank You In Advance

Josh

That was A LOT of passion there Bruce .. I felt it  😂 Naive?! It’s my first US purchase - you expect me to be seasoned pro? That’s why I am writing this post in the first place 😂 

Noted on your points. I’ll be getting / stipulating the inspection 👍My Realtor isn’t a contractor, he worked in construction for many many years and has a decent size portfolio of rentals and owns the brokerage too, and has told me to walk away and instantly dismissed 10+ other properties we walked and toured. He is a family friend and we have even looked at some off market for sale by seller too that I identified stuff where he wouldn’t even earn a commission and he was happy to investigate for me - more of a looking out for me / family than counting a check (I am not looking for expensive real estate and he has owns the brokerage of 20+ agents, unfortunately my purchase isn’t much of a profit opportunity for the office but would probably be more embarrassing on him if we get something wrong  😂) 

Noted on the inspection though and I will stipulate it is a deal breaker on my side.

Thanks Jeyo - sounds like I know what I need to do to feel comfortable proceeding 

Thanks JD - this would make me feel more comfortable too 

Thanks Dustin And thank you for your comments and insights here - I haven't seen the prior inspection report yet but I will need to see it to check it all off before I feel comfortable proceeding and closing. With everything pretty much being new I feel reasonably good and have somewhat of a "it's meant to be feeling" with the original buyer struggling to get the funding together to complete, allowing me the opp to finally secure. I still think the deal and numbers are good. Property is versatile posied pretty well for STR's and long term hold I feel given the location.

The investor group seems to be streamlining into new construction and flipping / selling from what I gather (lots of properties on market now and new construction projects in development, I think the selling agent mentioned they had 400+ SFH in portfolio currently they are trying to sell off and transition more so into new construction and large scale apartment complexes) and have own separate businesses in the HVAC / Roofing / flooring world etc.

I think my take away here is that I need to get my hands on the previous inspection to see what came up and check it off. My real estate agent is of the general thought wave that it would be difficult for anything to be fundamentally wrong given how it’s all been recently installed.

I am just looking for that reassurance heading into my first US deal here 

Hi All and thanks in advance for any feedback / guidance, I am new to the US market and thought home inspections were common place when buying so any feedback is appreciated.  Please see  background on deal below, as this will be my firdt purchase. Apologies for how long it is 😂

Background - I have put a back up offer which looks like it will be accepted when the current buyer doesn’t meet the negotiated timeline  to close on a deal which was 2 small single family’s 2bd / 1bth recently fully renovated being sold together on a parcel. I was excited when i first saw the properties and have been waiting in the wings ever since hoping it wouldn’t go through as I can’t find anything else quite like it and the aim is I will be living in 1 and house hacking. Pretty much all major components were newly installed / fitted and done to a tasteful standard (new metal roof, plumbing, electrical, kitchen, flooring, bathroom, doors, new hvac, decks, vinyl siding etc) and I have visited and walked through 3 times and even been under crawl space to inspect a repair that was previously noted on an inspection to the foundation after termite treatment which looked to be a good job. My real estate agent, who has a long prior career history in construction, seems to be happy with both the properties and has inspected them in detail and also been under the crawl space noting new plumbing, electrical and foundation sister-in-law beams too.

As mentioned it is looking very likely the current buyer will not meet the closing deadline at which point I am next in line and have got price agreed with the back up after a few phone calls today. The only thing causing a little apprehension as it’s new to me (I am from UK so this is my first US purchase) is that the sellers, a local investor group, has said they don’t want me to do an inspection and have already got a pre inspection from a few months ago, and have rectified any work. As the property has been off market 3 months waiting for the current buyer to complete the sellers want to sell quickly and accept my offer and get it closed. 

I feel like i am happy at that price but am questioning am I being naive not to get an inspection? Especially as it’s my first purchase and I don’t want to make any school boy mistakes.

let me know if the above sounds common and reasonable 

Thanks Wale. I think i need to be more creative with my search. I did manage to find a public tax delinquent list for the area and i started to identify the Mutli Family locations.

Thanks Josh - some very insightful tips there. I havent explored the seller finance options yet. I have actually managed to save up enough for multiple down payments around 20% as i have been here for 5+ years and not been able to qualify for credit (due to history length) so i have been pursuing the 20% conventional method initially. 

Seller Financing sounds ideal though, I will probably need to read up and look at the contracts so i am armed if i do find a seller.

Thanks Evan!

Noted on the units too, ideally a nice 4plex would be the best case scenario but as you mentioned anything is better from a financial perspective than paying the amount in rent I am currently.

This market could cash flow pretty well at 20% down if i find the right property as the prices are below national average and rents are actually fairly good in comparison to property prices (plenty of 1% opportunites on SFH with a minimal cosmetic TLC).

I have identified i want to go down the Multi Family route, just time to find one that works and get it bought!