All Forum Posts by: Laura Srocki

Your welcome! I’m only about to start the investing in rentals journey, but I’ve spent my whole life with champagne taste and a beer pocket book. So I’ve figured out how to get the look I want as cheaply as possible. Also I’m an artist and I have also figured out how to paint almost anything. I also used that primer on my kitchen counter, then a faux granite with latex and a coating of epoxy clear finish. Turned out great. No one knows unless I tell them. I always tell them though. 

@Dennis M. I have painted ugly outdated ceramic tile in a couple bathrooms in my own home. You can use a special primer, the last one I used was shellac based. Worked really well and dried fast too. I think it was zinsser, from Home Depot. Then you can paint any color you want. I chose white semi gloss. It’s held up for years just as well as any paint. I even painted the ceramic tile inside the shower. But I used an epoxy in there. By the way they do sell epoxy for tub and tile, but I was brave or crazy and used appliance epoxy spray paint! Guess what it worked and that was four years ago. 

@Alex Deacon thank you and whens your next workshop?

@Alex Deacon thank you again, yes we did discuss this last week. I was mostly worried about the rehab costs I hadn’t really looked at this history except I knew it had been listed for a while. 

I just read a blog post about offering in a Freddie Mac REO, and it said asset manager wouldn't consider an offer less than 12% off. But this doesn't seem like the same situation as far as competition goes. So you think going that low might work? Is it likely they wound counter or just flat out reject it. And if they do can I come back with a higher offer?

Sorry so many questions!

@Michael Garofalo thank you that makes me feel a little better about that. I wanted to be all in for 50k maybe a little more. I’m figuring 52k would be about 75% if 70k. So that would keep me 25% under market value. So as long as my rehab budget plus 10% or possibly more for overage would be pretty safe?

@Michael Scott thanks for the feedback back! Not sure but this might be the same neighborhood, Vernon is one street over. 

HI, i posted about this property a week ago and i have a follow up question. would you be interested in a property that has been on the market for a very long time? or would you make assumptions that something must be very wrong with it and walk away?

it's a distressed property so of course there are some things wrong.it's freddie mac REO, way past the owner occupant period which ended in january 2018. it was originally listed at 50k dec 2017. went under contract in july at 42k, now it came back at 38k. but looking on redfin it was on and off the market since 2012.

its in a neighborhood where houses are selling between 70k - 135k. in fact the 135k looks just like this one and its on the same street. on the inside it's pretty nice, seems like just paint and flooring. might need new mechanicals etc and some mold in basement. 

so as a newbie i'm thinking, what am i missing? is the fact that no one else has bought this mean i should steer away from it? it's in new ken in a nicer neighbor hood of that area. hoping to walk through a 2nd time this week with contractor friend of mine to get a rough idea of total costs for everything before moving forward with an offer.

thanks in advance for any input!

i have a follow up question, maybe i should start a new thread but here goes. This house has been sitting for 250 days according to redfin. Also it's been listed and relisted off and on since 2012. Is this just a bad sign? i guess it went under contract in july and then came back on the market a couple weeks ago. So i'm wondering can this be a good deal if no one has bought it and it was contingent in july and now its back and they dropped the price from 42k to 38k.

Also if your making a cash offer on a foreclosure and you want an inspection is it a good idea to make a lower offer even though they just dropped the price again?

@Charlie MacPherson

hi, and thank you for your feedback. there are updated electric panels but we also saw knob and tube and would like to get rid of it. even if i use the unlicensed guy i would want it inspected as well..

I'm not flipping this but i might want to sell it someday. And being a rental i want everything to be done properly. 

thanks for the tip about the columns, i'll add that to my list when we see it again.

@Jim K.

I'm  pretty confident in my contractor, he's done some work for me at my house. He built his own house and is working constantly. i know him personally and trust his word. He's so busy i"m not sure when he'd be available so i might use someone else but he's willing to look it over. Actually we looked at it last Friday with his son and i took mostly video. the house was built in 1925. And it has two separate updated electric panels but we also spotted some knob and tube but can't tell if it's still connected.

i'm not against having an inspection, i'd prefer it. Although when making an offer maybe i could low ball it without contingency. most likely i will have my guy check it out and if he thinks it's not a money pit then maybe i'll make an offer with an inspection contingency.

thank you for the mold link, i will read up on that. and i bet there is a test you can do to find out what kind of mold it is. i'll google it.

And again, thank you for your response and the time you took.