All Forum Posts by: Des Shei

Alright, i have a few deals in the pipe line. but this deal fell in my lap last week. it's a short sale and currently is off market. The seller had a VERY LOUSY agent before that put no effort to try and sell the house. I've tentatively agreed on a price with the seller and disclosed to her that i'm a R.E agent as well. My title company found out there's a first mortage, a second mtg from FHA for downpayment assistance and a very small sewer tax lien. Seller has an attorney she'll be using to negotiate the short sale. Now do you folks recommend that i have another agent list the property with and I go in with my contract with the price i agreed with seller? or proceed outside of MLS? Any due diligience and/or advise/criticism of moving forward either way. I plan on putting the offer in tomorrow unless most recommend i have someone in my office list it for the seller and follow through that way.. Thanks in advance.

there's not too many ways around that if you mtg is being funded by one of the big boys. they are incredibly inflexible these days.

i would recommend you take a brief pause and get things under control. work on a plan to refinance those units into more stable financing. There's nothing worse than being overly ambitious and over-leveraging yourself. I will be purchasing two more units myself within the next 4 months; once those are done will step back and re-evaluate my goals.

You can get a sense of value from a R.E broker using a BPO or pay an appraiser to do an in depth analysis. I recommend you research a few brokers and have one you feel comfortable with, give you a broker's price opinion. I too suggest seeing if your existing tenants are able to purchase. Don't use Zillow's "zestimate"; they're not accurate enough.

is a "bird" in hand worth two in the bush? you make the call... you're trying to time something that is out of your control. i agree with J Scott and the others. your rehab is done; list it, sell and move on to the next. Too many people hoping for the big homeruns(not that anything is wrong with that).

Goes to prove to you that some agents really don't know anything about sound investment principles. That clause of "eviction process has begun..." may bite you in the rear. You never take possession of a rental property with bad tenants in it. your 'CYA" is to ask that it be 100% vacated and your do a property condition walkthrough X amount of days prior to close to make sure everything is as it was when the contract was signed. You should also ask that locks be changed once the tenants vacate. You can never be too cautious in such scenarios. It could be a costly mistake both emotionally and financially.

Thanks once again. and Ray, special thanks for checking with your CT rep, that makes me feel even better. I recently switched my investment strategy to buy&hold so i'm still ironing out details but. passing alot of these responsibilities over to the tenant makes great sense and is one of the reasons why single fam rentals will continue to be my focus.

Jon,
Really appreciate the lease verbiage. I will incorporate that explicitly when i renew leases next month.

Good to know. Yes they are Singles. i was thinking along the same lines but wasn't sure if i could explicitly state that as a lease term or not. Thanks for the great responses.

I need some input here. I have a full time job and a few properties(less than 5) and plan to ramp up in the coming years to 10+. For the time being i'm not doing the best job of caring for my properties(landscaping wise); i'm doing the bare minimum due to my work schedule. I'm trying to decide what to do for the future; starting with this winter. Do some of you use handy men to take the trash, mow lawn, snow removal, keep landscaping in check etc etc? I'm not sure i want to hire a full time property manager because i could and do respond to most emergencies since i'm just a few streets away. If some of you use Handy men, how much do you pay for them on average? i'm in the connecticut; FYI my properties fit our buying "criteria". Looking for suggestions. I'm pretty sure i wont be able to handle snow management this season if we have another winter like last year :oops:

I personally LOVE to keep a close eye on my investments so i'm within 5 minutes. I screen my tenants thoroughly, some know where i live and i have no problem with that. I treat them fair and they like that. This business doesn't need to play out like Tom & Jerry(hide and seek)