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All Forum Posts by: Alexander Lommel

Alexander Lommel has started 4 posts and replied 36 times.

Post: A low appraisal threatening to scuttle a deal.

Alexander LommelPosted
  • Multi-family Investor
  • Anchorage, AK
  • Posts 36
  • Votes 10

So, we're in contract on a property. The asking price was 565,000 and we're in contract for $555,000. The appraisal just came back $91,000 below original asking at 474,000. The seller doesn't have a lot of equity in the property but is sitting at 14 years into a 30 year note. (I'm pretty sure she crapped a brick when the appraisal came back so low too). If she doesn't have the equity to pull out of the property I think she won't be able to sell at that price. We're willing to pay a little over the appraised value but nowhere near what the contract price was.

I'm considering approaching the seller about using a wrap around mortgage to move forward with the deal. I could pay whatever is needed to get any equity out she needs and then assume the mortgage at almost the midway mark of her loan and have an effective interest rate much lower than what we would have had through traditional financing since the interest to equity portion of the loan would be greatly in our favor.

All that being said I've never done anything along these lines and wanted to put it out there to see if anyone has some sage advise for me on how to proceed. I'm also concerned that switching over to a side deal and cutting out the realtors would leave a bad taste in their mouths. (even if they did screw up the listing price by $91,000). So if there's a way to avoid upsetting them in the process I'd like to keep that on consideration. I like to be able to look everybody in the eye when I go to the grocery store. 

Thanks in advance.

Post: Chicago Rehab Quote - This seems high. Thoughts?

Alexander LommelPosted
  • Multi-family Investor
  • Anchorage, AK
  • Posts 36
  • Votes 10

I'd get another quote or 2. Also whenever I give a quote and the clients want to know why it's higher than they expected, I figure it's my job to walk them through it and possibly come up with solutions to help them remain on budget. There's times when their budget is just unreasonable with what the scope of work requires, but as a contractor giving quotes it's my job to help them through that process. Start with asking him to walk you through it, if he's unwilling, he's the wrong contractor.

Best of luck.

Post: Retaining wall failing...picture incl.

Alexander LommelPosted
  • Multi-family Investor
  • Anchorage, AK
  • Posts 36
  • Votes 10

Hi there Chris, first of all, I wouldn't even consider attempting this by myself. There's no way you'd want to put in the time required to do something like this by hand. I could easily excavate that out from the back of the wall. I'd come in with a 50 size excavator and start pulling that dirt back. There's not too many places a decent operator can't get to with a mini-ex.

If you don't have any experience building retaining walls I'd STRONGLY reccomend finding a qualified contractor for this one. There's plenty who will give you free quotes. That whole hillside needs to be cut back in order to add either geotextile fabric or some sort of deadman holdback. The number one reason walls fail is hydrostatic pressure and if any water issues are not factored into the rebuild, you'll be right back to a bad situation again.

Bottom line have a couple of contractors give you a quote and factor that into your purchase price of the property.

Wish I could come by and give you a price but Alaska is a bit far.

Best if luck!

Post: Getting Motivated in Alaska!

Alexander LommelPosted
  • Multi-family Investor
  • Anchorage, AK
  • Posts 36
  • Votes 10

Welcome to BP! It's a great resource for sure. What an exciting step for you to go full time. I'm not sure if you've been connected with the REI meetings up here or not. @Roy Schauer is the organizer for one. I just attended my first REX meeting the other night and would highly recommend attending as many as you can. They're all posted on meetup.com

Congrats and welcome to BP again.

Post: 3 bed, 1 bath house for $23,000, but...

Alexander LommelPosted
  • Multi-family Investor
  • Anchorage, AK
  • Posts 36
  • Votes 10

Hey Mike I'd have a foundation repair contractor come and inspect the foundation. Most will give you a free estimate, however if you offer to pay them to write up a repair proposal, that's something you could bring to the bargaining table. I wouldn't trust a regular home inspector to catch most foundation issues . If you offer even a hundred dollars to compensate them for their time, you'd be amazed at how quickly you could get a written estimate back. (It shows you're serious).

Also if you have an attorney who specializes in real estate you can always have him write up your own proposal that gives you contingencies to back out of the contract. Just because their lawyer wrote up a contract doesn't mean that's the one that has to be signed. All of those things can be countered. It might cost you a little money upfront, but if it turns out to have hidden issues it would be worth it.

Hope it works out for you. Be sure to keep us posted and good luck!

Post: New Alaskan Member

Alexander LommelPosted
  • Multi-family Investor
  • Anchorage, AK
  • Posts 36
  • Votes 10

Hi Jimmy, I didn't get a chance to visit with you at the REI meeting the other day, but it was nice to see you there. I'm glad to see you on BP as well. I'm looking forward to hearing how your investing goes in Kenai. My wife and I have talked about buying property either there or out towards Homer. You're a lucky man to call such a beautiful area home.

Welcome to BP again and I look forward to seeing you again at the next meeting.

Post: How to assign a property to an LLC at closing

Alexander LommelPosted
  • Multi-family Investor
  • Anchorage, AK
  • Posts 36
  • Votes 10

Is the LLC the purchaser of the property? If you are purchasing the property under your name you can quit claim the deed ,for whatever interest you have , over to the LLC after closing. If the financing is in your name you will have to put the property in your name initially. An LLC is it's own entity and is used to create a wall of separation between you and the LLC's liabilities. If you're using traditional financing the bank won't allow you to assign the liability to an LLC since they need to be able to come after your assets should you default.

Simply put you can't guarentee a loan with your assets and income and then transfer that responsibility to an LLC (abdicating yourself of responsibility).

Post: Hello from Alaska! Newbies here...

Alexander LommelPosted
  • Multi-family Investor
  • Anchorage, AK
  • Posts 36
  • Votes 10

Sorry for not recognizing you from the small photo on the profile Nate! Glad to see you on the BP site. I really appreciated all of your great insights. I'm planning on the next REI hope to see you there. =)

Post: Hello from Alaska! Newbies here...

Alexander LommelPosted
  • Multi-family Investor
  • Anchorage, AK
  • Posts 36
  • Votes 10

Congrats on the great start and welcome to BP. If yore looking for networking opportunities there are a couple of REI's in Anchorage and Wasilla. Just do a search on meetup.com for real estate investing. We Just had a meet up last week and had a pretty good turn out. We have a few rentals out in the valley and love the amount of opportunities available in such a fast growing area.

Welcome again to the BP site and hopefully you'll connect with us at one of the REI meetings.

Post: New Alaskans!

Alexander LommelPosted
  • Multi-family Investor
  • Anchorage, AK
  • Posts 36
  • Votes 10

Welcome to BP Rodney. We just had an REI meeting at Jitters there in Eagle River, not a bad turn out. If you do a search on meetup.com for real estate investors, you can join and be apprised of the meetings. There's a good group coming together with all kinds of backgrounds and goals. Glad to see another Alaskan on BP and look forward to meeting with you and your girlfriend at the next meeting hopefully.