All Forum Posts by: Sam Lopez

Hi All, so I've got some Audible credits I need to use before I close that account. I'm very interested in BRRRR'ing, and property management. I have a few duplexes ATM and am BRRRR'ing two of them. Please share what you've recently read or what you'd recommend for someone in my situation. I've already listened to quite a few, but I'd like to know what you'd recommend. Thank you!

@Jack Orthman

Or…he heard you say that you would “travel to Asia to pick up a ‘mail order’ bride”…and figured, this sucker doesn’t get it. 🤣

💡 “Hey Jack! Have I got some property to sell YOU!”

Sorry Jack. I’m totally jk. I thought your story was funny but I couldn’t resist the easy set up.

@Bryan Stocklas

Just a little outside of the box thinking. Turn this into a win for everyone. In this crazy market, I’d be surprised if you were the ONLY bidder on this property. Ask your agent to find out who the other offers came from and then, wholesale the property to them. I doubt you signed something in the contract that prohibits you from utilizing this strategy. Sell the contract to someone else who really wanted it for a small markup, that covers your expenses plus a little for the time you’ve already invested scheduling all of these things. Hand them your inspection findings as an act of good faith and everyone wins.

@Shera Linares

Since my horrible experience getting scammed I’ve done a hard money/private money loan

through lendmeLA. POC Adam Karzai adam at lendme.la

I can give you his cell if you need it.

It’s his personal cell, as well as business line, and he has young children so please be considerate of the time.

Adam only does lending in CA (non-rural areas). I’ve had excellent experiences with him and his company. They are legit.

If you need out of state I can connect you with a few other legitimate and large HM/PM lenders.

The biggest take away from the HM/PM lending process that you need to know, is that much like traditional lending, there will be an escrow. The HM/PM lender shouldn’t be asking you to send them ANY money. Everything goes through escrow. And it’s much easier to verify if an escrow company is real or not. Plus you could always make your selection of the escrow company a part of the deal. For example, when I went through Adam, I won the bid via Auction.com. I had previously been qualified with Adam per his terms, he funded 70% of the purchase price. Then he tacks on his fees, etc., which all GOES THROUGH ESCROW, so there is complete transparency and accountability for every scent. Since Adam funded 70% of the auction purchase, I submitted my 30% via wire payment to the escrow company that Auction.com provided. When it’s all said and done, it’s just like paying a Mortgage. Adam sends his collection note to a collection agency, who then calls me to set up payment for the duration of the term and wa-lah! It’s that simple and UN-scary. If your spidey senses are tingling about the lenders legitimacy, DONT DO IT.

I’m currently using another HM/PM lender. Rehab Financial Group, RFG, for a duplex RRRR in North Carolina. My POC is Brian Augsberger. He’s out of PA. If you’re interested, when it’s all done I can tell you how it went. So far, so good. No spidey sense alerts. 😄

Hi Jennie,

Sounds like you know what you need to do and are just looking for that nudge to encourage you that everything will be alright. Unfortunately you never really know how your inspector will respond. I had a similar situation in San Pedro. I had a 1932 built, 5/3, approx 2,400’ sq. It had two entrances. And needed a ton of structural work, plumbing/electrical, etc..

Anyway, I decided not to get permits. I was nearly done with my renovation. I had transformed the 5/3 with two entrances into a 3/2 and a 1/1, each with there own entrance. Then I decided to build a storage shed. The shed was 10’ x 24’. I didn’t know anything about codes or what have you, but my neighbor did. He called the city. Inspector came and was very kind but still made me bring the shed into compliance. My options were 1) to keep it at its current dimensions but I’d have to put it on a cement foundation and get a permit. 2) cut it back by 4’ and no permit, or 3) take it down.  I went with option 2.  While he was there he noticed my renovations. I had a new electrical sub-panel put into the apartment by a master electrician. I wanted to make sure it was done correctly. Cost me a small fortune. The inspector very graciously asked me to get it permitted along with any other electrical I had done. He also confirmed with the electrician that it was professionally installed. While he was there he also took some measurements and informed me that the bathroom that was installed by the previous owner would not be permit-able. So there went my 1/1 apartment. The good news was that the electrical permits were only a few hundred dollars. 
Another bit of interesting news I discovered while pulling my permits is that the data only showed an 1,100’ sq. building. As if someone might have added an un-permitted second story along the way. The building and safety official explained to me that things were sort of done that way back then. So I was unofficially grandfathered in. However, while looking for permits on the property they also discovered that there were a couple of un-completed and open permits, for egress windows on the second story. Yeesh. Not good. So this time a different inspector came and he was not so gracious. He wanted to look around the house and I told him no. Flat out. He was a jerk from the get go. Not at all like the previous one. 
Anyway, at that point we had moved out of state, couldn’t find a good property manager and the previous tenants had moved out. The property had been sitting vacant for nearly a month and the stress it was causing in our marriage wasn’t worth it, so we decided to sell the house and cut our losses. My biggest real estate regret to this day. But it helped my wife sleep at night, which allowed me sleep too. 
The lesson learned there is to do my due diligence before purchasing. 
We recently purchased a half acre in Santa Clarita as our personal residence. We decided to do some homesteading. But before purchasing I decided to check my zoning codes and ensure we were zoned and permitted to have animals. It’s very rare for our neighborhood but because of the rare half acre we have, we are zoned to. My nieghbor also has chickens and informed me to watch out for the city because were weren’t allowed to have animals. I understand that HE isn’t allowed to have them because of his less than 11,000sq’ lot but I’m perfectly within my rights too at half an acre. 
I’ve learned from my last mistake. Conduct your due diligence before you buy and if you’re already in the property then it’s better to be transparent and bite the bullet up front than to lose sleep over it. Money isn’t everything. We took a $40K loss on that property. I wish we would have held on to it because of the appreciation but hind sight is always 20/20. 
Now I’m very careful to run my scenarios through the calculators offered here on BP to ensure the numbers add up before purchasing. 
Good deals are far and few between but one bad deal can wipe out profits from  years of good deals when you’re first starting out. Slow and steady wins the race. 

As for the ADU and reply from the GC regarding a quote to have plans drawn up.
we recently had a GC meet with us to give us a bid on an ADU. He did mention that the first step would be to have his architect come over and take measurements to draw up blueprints. He mentioned that the architects plans would be around $4K-$5K. 
So the fact your GC wanted to start by having plans drawn up sounds pretty legit. Before any work were to begin or even before they collect any money you would have signed a contract with them outlining the scope of work for the project. 

Hope this helps. 

Hi,

This is exactly something I’ve been looking for in this area. Unfortunately I have a prior commitment until 8pm I’m East Ventura. Is there a way I could get a list of the vendors?  I’m going to try and make it by 8:45pm. Is there a way I can get catch up material or perhaps a packet of the information beforehand so I won’t be so behind once I arrive?

Thank you

I believe he’s been trolling BP under the alias John B. Golder. That’s who put me contact with the fake James Grant. Unfortunately I found the hard way and too late. 

Hello,

Does anyone know if affordable mortgage lending is a legitimate lender or not?

Thank you,

Sam

Hi, 

Has anyone else had any more recent experience with affmortgagelending.com?  They  contacted me last night,  after someone from BP told me that they would put me in touch with a mortgage broker in the California area. Then after a few quick exchanges via BP, they told  me that someone from California would be calling me in 30 minutes. And true to his word in 30 minutes on the dot someone called me  with a Los Angeles number. The caller had some broken English but seemed really legitimate and sent me a link to their website to fill out an application. After I filled it out they continued to talk with me via text and after Negotiating terms we reached an agreement of 100% finance on 425,000 in exchange for 10% interest with a six month balloon and two points upfront and two points after closing. Also they would have someone meet me at the auction with the cashiers checks.   Mind you this conversation took place via text message from approximately 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM West Coast time.  Initially, he called me and we spoke for about seven minutes. Again, he seemed legitimate. It wasn’t until 3:30 AM when I got up for work, that I decided to research reviews online and BP. Via text message, he did mention that he was an active lender and that I could find him  as an active business via the secretary of state website. So I went on there looking for him and was not able to find him, however, I admit that I am not very savvy with that search engine.  The biggest red flag for me, was that part of our agreement is that I would pay him the two points upfront via a cashiers check deposited at a bank and that they would utilize .5% of the two points upfront to complete underwriting/lawyer/application processing.  Then on the morning of the auction someone would meet me at the auction with cashiers checks and if I was not the winning bid, they would reimburse me the remaining 1.5% of the initial two points that I had already put upfront.  Does any of this seem like normal practice?  To give a little more context, I am trying to purchase a foreclosure from Auction.com, and the purchase requires cashiers check payment only.  I did notice that they have 15 star review on Zillow.com. Does anyone else have any experience with them? 

Hi All,

Perhaps some one knows of a lender that can produce cashiers checks for a Cash only auction, on auction.com in Ventura, CA. Unfortunately the lender I had lined up in LA, is unable to deliver a bidder up to Ventura on April 4th. If anyone knows of a lender, who can deliver cashiers checks on site to an auction.com event this Thursday, April 4 2019, I should be able to provide whatever documentation you need by then, with exception to an appraisal (it’s an occupied, foreclosed property). 

Thank you,

Sam