All Forum Posts by: Kevin O'Brien

Including if you enter into a dual agency and report it?

You can receive the credit after closing as long as it's not applied to the mortgage. Nothing illegal about it from what I have found.

I would recommend spending more time getting to know the values. What could look like a great deal might be only subpar. Once you get the values down call the listing agent and work out a rebate that you receive (usually around 1%). If it is truly as hot of a market as it sounds like you will gain an advantage by working with the selling agent. This is something you need to be comfortable with though. The selling agents primary responsibility is to the seller 

Go for it! I am in a similar position and am starting off with cheaper houses under $100k that rent for ~$1300 a month. Aim high and you should be able to pick up one property a year. You will need to do a 20% downpayment so look for a property under $100k . Most good mortgage brokers shouldn't have a problem doing the loan. The rent will qualify you.

I am hearing similarly that the recession is happening. I would agree that we are due one but when it is... who knows. Hopefully not before the end of the summer. But my strategy is to just buy properties that I would be happy being stuck with. If it makes sense as a rental then if the flip fails I can always wait out a recession. There are always deals to be had if you look hard enough, I buy for what the property is now instead of what it could be. Appreciation is my version of gravy on top. I will never understand the investors who use it as their entire profit. 

I really appreciate the reply. This is exactly what I am thinking of in terms of Ivy tech and it would make my parents a little less weary. Plus by my estimates, it would only take a year for the associate. I'm just struggling with getting information from contractors about whether an associate will be enough to get in the door. House hacking is definitely something I would do but I'll be able to live with my parents for free thankfully... for a little longer in that event. 

I am going to try really hard to find a place to stay with the company I am interning at this summer and if that pans out then Ivy tech would be the best decision I can think of while still giving me the ability to transfer back down the road.

Thank you. NWI looks to be a great area for rental. I haven't been looking at it from a flipping angle until recently. But lake and porter county seems to be a very good value especially amongst the lower end of the market.

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Hello all, 

For the past 9 months, I have been working my butt off to purchase my first rental property. The first deal I tried buying was a townhouse in Indianapolis for 120K the property was a short sale and needed to be repainted and spruced up. Approx ~ $3,000 in improvements. The property would have rented for $1500 a month. I offered list price with 20% down and to do the deal through the selling agent because I felt I was buying the property significantly under market (I valued it at $220,000 if completely rehabbed) and my mother hadn't been able to transfer her license to Indiana by then. Long story short 3-month later the bank refused the short sale and told me I would need to pay $165K because they received an appraisal for $165K. I cancelled after going through the entire mortgage process and being approved. 

Property #2 - The next deal I agreed to was for the purchase of 2 houses with 2 additional lots and a four-car garage for $138K with the same 20% down. I estimated the properties to rent for a total of $2250 a month. The property was listed as residential and according to the seller was owned with an FHA residential loan. Fast forward 2 weeks to my bank calling me to tell me that the property was in fact zoned as commercial and that I would need a different loan along with 25% down and several thousand in appraisal fees. This was obviously not going to work for me so I canceled the deal.

Property #3 - As cookie cutter as possible. At this point, I decided I was going to find the most boring property possible that still met my cash flow requirements of 1.5% a month. This property is located in Northwest Indiana about 30 minutes away from Chicago. We settled on $72,000 ($8,000 under list) with a 20% downpayment and the deal through selling agent. I estimate the property to need $3,000 in cosmetic work which I will do myself (LVP, Painting, Bathtub shower stall) and will rent for $1275 a month. Last week while looking through listings I realized that the market was hot with entering into spring and I now plan on flipping the property and putting in more work to do a new kitchen. I estimate it to sell for around a $25,000 profit. We are set to close in 2 weeks.

This property will cost approximately half of my savings for the downpayment and work. My plan is to use this profit along with the leftover savings to purchase a larger apartment building in the $400,000 to $500,000 range. I hope to buy an 8 to 12 unit building in the midwest in an area like Kansas City, Indy, Cincinnati, or wherever else a worthwhile deal presents itself that will make me around $3,000 to $4,000 a month.

This will be my career I have known that since I was 7 while going to the project sites that my parents run and hearing everything from the good to the bad (I will never forget going through 2009-2012 and the sacrifices my parents made). I am bored at college and don't feel challenged. Part of me really wants to drop out and find a job that I can do to help add to my savings ability to put back into real estate (even if it's a $12 or $15 an hour gig). I am enrolled in a 4-year college for construction management and see the value to this but also know I can work my butt off for the next 7 years and be very financially secure. At the same time, this is an incredibly difficult decision and one my parents would rather I not make. I do not know of anyone in this situation which is really hard for me because there isn't anyone I can really ask about my situation and I routinely get the "college is the best time of your life, stick with it" responses. I am introverted and while I do force social interaction through joining a fraternity and clubs the whole college partying, chill life isn't really my style nor do I find most classes more interesting than doing RE research. I'm used to working 40+ hours a week through various other business I've started and have never felt more unporductive in my life. My questions are:

For those of you with construction experience. Would switching to an associates degree at a community college that's close to home (allowing me to be a bum a little longer) while still receiving a construction management degree make sense?

How can I get more involved with other investors and build some sweat equity for deals? I do not want to wholesale. (But I would be open to just about anything else)

Anyone looking for the hardest working 18-year-old in the NWI or Chicago area to work for you and make YOU money?

Sorry for this being a rant but I felt this was the best way to provide a glimpse into my situation. I will greatly appreciate any advice offered. Thanks.

Sounds like you need to reassess if you actually want to be married. Thinking the way you are when it comes to debt and keeping your money separate is only asking for the marriage to fail. If you must. A nonrevocable spa trust would be the best bet. As with some therapy sessions.