All Forum Posts by: Chris L.

Wes,
Hope this works out great for you.
Let us know the end of the story.
Good Luck
Chris

Wes,
I never play the highest and best game because I know that I can get another deal.

However, if you believe that there is not another deal as good as this one then you have to decide if you are willing to pay the extra $$'s.

I have had times where I believed that the listing agent was holding my offer long enough to bring in another buyer. Tough to prove but at least here in Ft Wayne there is enough inventory to just say : Next.

My motto is right house, right price, and right location or I move to the next deal. Plenty of inventory to not be happy with where you end up.

You have to decide if this house at 36.5K is better than other houses available at that price.

Good Luck

Wes,
This is a buyers market. I don't know if the home that you are after is in Cedar Rapids but here in Ft Wayne, there are more deals than I have the time and money to turn around.
I have found it valuable to never fall in love with a property because there are plenty others available, especially at this time.
I have also lost a few deals where I felt like the listing agent was "playing games." That happens and there is probably nothing that you can do other than to find another deal. I have made sure that I keep track of homes listed by a few agents and I steer clear of them.
My guess is that there are bunch more deals available that are as good or better than the one you are looking at.

Keep hunting and good luck.

Mike,
Welcome to BP?
What part of Indiana are you from?
Chris

Michael,
This may not help because I am fortunate to live in an area with great values. We have found our properties on the MLS through a realtor.

We have bought enough properties that we actually had a bank/realtor work with us on a bulk foreclosure that we had access to prior to hitting the MLS.
That was really nice to say the least. I think that we ended up buying 6 out of the 25 or so properties.

We have purchased all of ours for rentals to this point. However, we are starting our search today for some that would be good candidates to rehab and flip.

Most of ours have been REO's; however, we have purchased a handful from worn out landlords.

Despite the fact that we have picked them up from realtors, I monitor Craigslist as a daily task to keep track of the market. I have viewed many homes from craigslist, some from wholesalers, but the value has not been worth the price. I found one seller that had 29 homes and was desperate to sell. The homes were in such poor shape that they were almost not worth picking up for free. It was obvious after going through the homes that we were better off to continue to cherry pick the REO's. It is a great buyers market right now so our philosphy is to pick the right home in the right location at the right price.

There are many investors on BP that invest out of their local area. As I stated in the beginning, we are fortunate to live in a great investment area.

Good Luck

Ruth,
Elkhart has been hit hard by the RV industry wide downturn.
A friend of mine that owns restaurants there said that they are starting to hire again in the RV industry.
I don't really have details but if that bears out you should eventually see a pick up in demand for your rental properties.
Good luck

I have been a buy and hold landlord.
Last month, I brought my 19yr old son to our REI meeting.

Larry Goins was the speaker. My son got excited about the possibility of wholesaling so I am trying to learn some new skills in that area to teach him.
Not soliciting here. However, Larry is offering his online bootcamp for $1. I am actually going through the informaiton. You view them online so you need to sit at your computer for a while but a lot of information for one dollar.

I don't think that he does anything out of the ordinary other than automate his process. Of course, I have not done any wholesaling.

I am struggling with how do you wholesale when properties (in our area) are available on the MLS (reo's) for under 10K. I think I understand in normal times that a wholesaler brings value by finding motivated sellers not listed on the MLS.

Anyway, I enjoyed Larry's presentation. He seemed genuine to me.

Still trying to learn the concept so I can teach my son those skills. It has been fun to watch him get excited and eat up the CD's that we have from his Larry's course. (not the online course I was talking about.)

Doug,
Do you have financing or funds lined up?
When you know what your monthly payment will be you can add your other costs as well.
Your financing will run between 3K-4K per month depending on rate and length of the loan.
Taxes: 1K
Insur: 1K
(I always like to estimate high)
Utilities?
Miscellaneous MX costs.
I would anticipate your fixed costs to run between 6K-7K per month. I might be high but would rather plan for the worst case.
Right now it sounds like you have a solid tenant in the store. When you get the warehouse rented, you would about cover your fixed costs and your profit margin will depend upon your apartment rentals.

This is a lot to take on for your first deal. You step into managing apartments and take on a pretty good debt load right away.

I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm.

This has the potential to be a solid deal.

Good Luck
Chris

Doug,
This has the potential to be a solid investment for you. With that said, I am not familiar with your area and I don't want you to make your first deal on my quick review of your numbers.

Do you attend a local REI group?

I would recommend that you run the numbers by someone at the local level so I don't mislead you in any way.

Keep digging and good luck.

Chris

Doug,
MX is short for maintenance.

Do you know what the annual utilities cost?

What are the insurance costs per year?

If all of the numbers are accurate and there is not a lot of deferred maintenance, this could be a good deal for you.

Chris