All Forum Posts by: Justin Workman

use a standard land contract agreement from your title company and close there.  make sure it gets registered with the county registrar of deeds, which your title company will take care of.  There are some clauses that you could remove if you are afraid of the sellers stability long term.  I would make sure you are responsible for paying the property taxes, and you can take away the sellers right to borrow against the property.  Set your land contract up so that it is fully amortized and that there are no ballon payments or prepayment penalties.  Other than that land contracts have been used for a long time in Michigan, and it's a great way to buy Properties.  Watch out for the scammers that are charging high interest rates and want shorter term balloon payments.  it's a great way to buy with less down or on better terms.  if you have any questions please let me know.

scott contact me about the property, and i will be able to help you out with some of your concerns.  6one6 three1eight 64zerozero.  Thanks

i belive the intent of the gift is to pay off your mortgage, and that you should honor your parents intent, and be extremely grateful.  Then take the cashflow and save for a year or two and buy your next rental.  Good luck

are you currently paying pmi.  It may save you more in the long run to refi with a higher rate to eliminate the pmi.  Otherwise try a different lender.

From what i have heard, the city of grand rapids is very strict on it.  It must be owner occupied, it can only be one room, no more than 2 guest, and it cant be within 300ft of an existing unit.  You also need a license.  I would contact the city or the RPOA office to confirm this.  I dont know about wyoming, my thought would be that they are less strict because they dont have the hotels fighting it.

take the class.  The class that I took was not all that educational and most of it is common sense.  But if you are going to work on your own properties and you want to do things by the book its worth it.  The ability to pull the permit and complete the project is what its all about.  Good luck with the class and test, for you it shouldn't be a problem.

sorry to hear of your mishap.  You have a made a few mistakes, and unfortunately they are going to cost you on this occasion, but you will learn from them and be better prepared for the future. First was your insurance policy, if you dont understand it, dont buy it.  Find an agent that will explain the policy options, and parts of the policy that you have questions about.  I am guessing that you have an acv policy, or maybe modified replacement for major peril.  Insurance is a major expences and should be gone over extensivly when shoping policies.  There is nothing you can do, but shop for a new plan, posibly an agent.  The second is the electrician.  Without an initial quote you set yourself up for being over charged.  A normal service upgrade, whitch includes a new panel, and mast should cost between 2 to 3k.  Its a one day job, and materials cost under 750 dollars which are included in that price.  I would ask the electrician for a detailed break down of his time and materials for the project,  make him be specific, provide you with recipts, and have your handyman verify his hours.  A typical electrician should charge between 75 and 125 an hour.  I can normaly rewire a house and have the mast replaced for less than 6k whitch includes around a week of labor and all the materials.  In the future find your trades when you dont need them, so you have them for occasions like this.  Looking back it will be one of the may educations that you paid for and will be smarter because of it.  Good luck.

Heather the numbers will tell you everything you need to know, and your father will be able to provide you with the hardest part of the equation which is estimating the rehab.  I and most rehabers target the worst houses, just cosmetic rehabs are too tight and in todays market have lots of home owners competing for them.  Good deals are hard to find today, keep looking, reading, and studying the market.  The best deals are never listed on the mls.  If you need any help please let me know.  There are great resources and networking opertunities in GR, hit up the RPOA to find out about some of them.  Good luck

It should be a fun project, glad to hear that you closed.

Formost is great for SFR's. There are lots of brokers out there, western star is one that is a sponsor of the rpoa. The best thing to do is get a few quotes, from a few companies and compare them and not just the price.