All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

A house is worth the amount that a buyer is willing to pay for it.

I know that doesn't answer your question but I just sold a $225,000 house for $250,000 (a $25,000 mark up) because I was willing to do owner financing. I make more money, long term, safely that way.

Redfin offers a Tab that tells you what houses have actually SOLD in the area in the last 3 months. I think that is the cheapest "rule of thumb" to use for a general price. Try to find ones that are within 6 to 12 blocks of your "subject" house.

I have found real estate agents will differ $50,000 on the same house. Why does that make sense? One agent wants to sell for the best interest of the seller and the other wants to make a commission and sell as quickly as possible.

@Karthik Bujuru Hi, the Phoenix area is a great place to invest. I have found that new investors do best when they "joint venture"on the first three or four since there are so many details in investing in real estate. At that point, they may feel comfortable enough to carry on doing their own or may enjoy the local knowledge and safety and security of someone who has the experience to take things to the next level. 

The engineers I know have over analyzed real estate simply because they are taught to do that when designing a device. It is like driving from Fullerton to Victoria Groves Park in Rancho Cucamonga. If you know where you are going, you can pick and choose your freeways and avoid traffic. If it is your first time and you aren't partnering with someone who knows the way, bring your lunch, you'll be in for a ride ;-)

If you wish, send me an email and I can fill in some details for you. My email address is at my Profile. Regards, Ken

I was told by the mortgage guy that I use, FHA is intended for first time home buyers only. He said that if you don't currently own a home, you are considered to be a first time home buyer. Doesn't matter if you have owned a home in the past, it's if your don't own one now. Since you are talking FHA, a Government insured program, you would have to fill out a 1003 application where they ask for a listing of ALL of your properties. Omitting them is fraud. It is unlikely you would be able to qualify for FHA. You might qualify for conventional lending though. You would have to talk to a mortgage broker in your area for a final decision.

If your attorney friend who is a real estate investor can't answer that for you, there is something wrong with this picture.

No. The riskiest and most expensive and most time consuming way to get into real estate is foreclosures (unless you like adventure)

 @Brian Coleman you are spot on. This one could have been avoided. There should never be more than a month's missed payments in either AZ or TX. I invest in both areas. Both areas taake paying the landlord seriously. But, you" gotta know what you're doing"

Find someone who is doing what you want to do and then do a couple of joint investments with them to learn the ropes and avoid this kind of entanglement.

Depends. Did they sign a notarized agreement that they owe you $10,000? Probably not, I'm thinking. You should file for damages and take it to court (small claims) and then at least you have a judgment you can work with. If they got that far behind, they told you stories, you believed those stories and now they are telling you more stories (that they are going to pay) You need something with a bit more teeth to it than a piece of paper they've signed.

 Hi @Jay, "beginners with little capital" aren't buying ANY kind of real estate. ;-) 

You have a different definition than I have about "Sub To". If I take $25,000 and buy a $200,000 house "Sub To" for the $100 down (as I did recently) and take over their payment of about $1,000 a month, and then sell it for $25,000 down and $1750 a month and net $750 a month (as I did on this house in Mesa) on a 30 year term how exactly is that risky? I still have a substantial reserve to make the payment in case I don't get one from my buyer. It is done through escrow with a Title report and plenty of reserves. Not sure what your example is but that is how it SHOULD be done. That is how I teach it and that is all I've done for about twenty years in 3 different major markets. Very successfully, I might add. ;-)

Why haven't you done your first deal?  Well, I was hoping you would tell me.

Tell me, so I can get you going - What do you need?

Leads?

Money?

Time?

Experience?

Mentoring?

LLC or structure?

Nerve? (I'm scared)

Contractors?

Contracts (paperwork)?

Accountability?

Actually, I just pretending to be an Investor?

A personality injection?

A swift kick in the patooie?

Instruction?

Hi William, I know the Seattle area very well. Anybody that would mentor you and split the deal would expect that you put up the money for the transaction. Why else would they need you? It has to work both ways. When I left IT, I tried real estate investing on my own and eventually got it right, but it would have gone much faster and more profitably if I had a mentor. I applaud your awareness. If you want to joint venture and add $ to the deal, contact me offline. My info is at my Profile. regards, ken

Btw, Texas is kinda big. Where is the house in Texas?