All Forum Posts by: Lee G.

Anyone ever run into a requirement to pre-qual for a loan with BAC for them to even look at an offer?

We made an all cash offer on a duplex that's REO by Bank of America and the listing agent required us to pre-qual with BAC before submitting it. Our offer included several proof of funds letters and they still required it. Anyone ever run into this?

You hit it on the head. I've shied away from SFRs because of the risk piece of it. I had to more or less gut a 4 plex I own and the tenants in the other units paid my mortgage while the other two were uninhabitable. The other thing you perhaps aren't addressing is scale. The more units you have together, the easier it is to address issues. Four units under ONE roof is better than FOUR roofs and FOUR units. And lastly, buy based on numbers... Too many people buy buildings because they are pretty but then end up loosing their butts because they don't know even the most basic real estate math.

LMG

Heck with the hard refurbishments, just do a RUBS (Ratio Utility Billing System) , which is a system that computes each tenant's share of the utilities based on the unit size and sends them a bill. There are tons of companies that do that. The hard part is simply getting the tenants to accept that they are paying bills.

I'd hop in and talk about getting started. I buy and hold student rentals. I did my first property with an FHA - I find it strange how few people know about that tactic.

Rob -

Twitter is best for listening and detecting trends versus driving actions, though this can be done.

The first step is to follow people who are interested in the stuff you are interested in. There's a recent post where people from BP gave out their twitter handles (I'm leegientke).

You then need to tweet (or retweet) stuff that might be of interest to your followers. You should also be paying attention to what your followers are saying. If you pay close enough attention, you can detect trends. if you see a trend developing, answer/fill it some how. Your answer can be a blog post on your website, which then gets tweeted out to your followers.

More than anything, be authentic and allow yourself to be vulnerable. Yes, this is a highly public forum but if you have a question, ask it -- you'll get an answer. If you are an expert, show off your expertise.

And lastly, some personal advice. Set up filters. It's easy to blow hours on twitter (like facebook) BSing with people and building a following. Know what's important and what your ultimate objectives are (website traffic, relationships, trend following) and keep that in mind.

I've e-mailed you a copy of an article we did for the National Pest Management Association that has a "how to" guide and a case study on social media. If someone else needs it, PM me and I'll get it to you.

-Lee

OdorXit will kill the smell but you'll have to do something about the paint and dutct work...

@leegientke

Just make sure to block the pay per view and premium channels on your cable. I had a tenant go nuts one weekend...

You'll need to live in it for you to use an FHA loan.

You mention a house note - is this for your residence?

Just get an FHA loan... You can buy it with 3.5% down... Solves most of the problems except for the rehab expense.