All Forum Posts by: Koshu Takatsuji

Just adding on to what Michael Dumbler said - 

More recently (this past Jan), I have been having a harder time finding a renter and the price of nearby houses does seem to be on a slow but steady constant decline (at least North East Atlanta metro). 

So despite how Atlant has been seeing a lot of appreciation the past few years and rent increasing significantly last year, I am interested to see how both the near-city rental market plays out and how that will affect outer suburbs as well. 

I think this depends significantly on geography and the price point of the house. 

At least in the Bay Area, where I'm located, I've seen most homes come with pre-inspection reports. But this makes sense because it enables a more liquid market and the average selling price of homes is a lot higher. 

Of course, I have seen houses that don't come with pre-inspection as well, but I've seen a lot more with it already a part of the disclosures. 

According to the Universal Residential Appraisal Report from Fannimae, a fireplace is only considered an amenity. 

And given that only 16% of home buyers say that a fireplace is a must-have, the value of the fireplace might be a lot less than you might think. 

An appraiser from the Midwest, where it snows a lot, says that a fireplace may only add from $500-1000.

Given that you're in Deer Park, NY where it does snow somewhat, the fireplace could add value to the appraisal report, but ....I'm not sure how large that would be. 

Most info taken/summarized from Homelight blog that was particularly helpful when I looked into the same thing in the past

Lilburn!

To be honest, at that price point it will be pretty difficult to find a property in the Bay Area. 

After looking at the MLS for under $250k, I found only a handful that's within an hour driving distance from SJ.

Might be able to get a condo or mobile home for that price, but good luck to you on your search!

I think this is just as Jacob said, it really depends on the type of deal you are analyzing. 

Are you looking at:

1. Flips?

2. Short Term Rentals?

3. Buy and Hold?

Depending on what you're looking to learn and how much active time you want to spend, the way you analyze the markets are completely different. I can't speak too much to the first two (flips or short term rentals) but can speak that for when i do my buy and hold analysis, i typically like to look at potential appreciation and market rental rates. Each of which, I use different sites to assess

Good luck and cheers!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $275,000
Cash invested: $105,000

First OOS investment in Metro Atlanta! Was quite exciting going there for a month, putting in sweat equity, and fixing up the house!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Great school district, close location to a metropolitan area

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

Consistently looking at Zillow for 4 months; key negotiation was in what we got from the home inspection report

How did you finance this deal?

Conventional loan

How did you add value to the deal?

Sweat equity

Hi all, 

I'm currently looking for property management companies in Atlanta, Georgia that serve the Northeast metro Atlanta market (Norcross, Duluth, Lilburn, Snellville, Grayson, Lawrenceville). 

If you know/recommend any companies, i'd love to learn!

How can I learn whether I can upsize a property in Metro Atlanta, Georgia.

I.e. If i have a house that's 2000 sqft, how do i know how much larger I can upsize it if I have a lot size of 0.5 acres (~20,000sqft)?

Hi all, 

I'm currently looking to get a conventional loan to buy a SFR, but it's my first time doing this so there were a couple of questions I had.

1. If I fill out too many loan applications (to shop around) and they pull my credit, doesn't my credit score drop significantly?

2. If i get pre-approved, do I get to lock in my rates, or am I not able to lock in my rates until I make an offer on a property? 

2b. If i do get to lock in my rates, what if i end up choosing a property after the lock-in period? Do I have to submit another loan application for another pre-approval?

3. If I am getting a loan with my spouse, whose credit score is used? Is it the better one? The worse one? An average?