All Forum Posts by: L. Brown

@Simmy Ahluwalia it will be an investment (rental) property

I have a friend who wants to sell his home and buy another home out of state. He is open to selling it to me as an off market deal. He wants $375k for it. Based on my numbers, using traditional mortgage, I will breakeven (income=PITI,expenses, cap ex, etc) if I buy at $285k. I got him down to $330k. I spoke to him more and found out he needs $120k proceeds from the sale of his current house to go towards the purchase of his new home.

I am trying to come up with some creative financing to make a deal. One thought I had was to give him $120k cash and then assume the mortgage on the house. The issue is I’m not sure if I can assume the mortgage if I plan to use the house as an investment property (the house is currently his primary residence).

I welcome any other ideas, thoughts and suggestions!

@Michael Glunk- following up on one of your ideas- how do I find properties that were listed and then removed?

 @Michael Glunk- Awesome advice, many of the things you mention I haven't done, and am more than willing to try. Thanks!

 @Carlos Ptriawan - Great idea, hadn't thought of that!

Thanks for your advice, Benjamin. Yes, I can certainly hold on with living in the attic- at the end of the day, I have a roof over my head, running water, and temperature control. Just not happy with my living situation. I'm unhappy, but it's not death. :-)

At first I was looking for duplexes or more but I was getting beat out on numerous bids so recently I switched to looking for single family houses that I would live in and rent out if/when the market got better, just so I could have some more space. Maybe I'll rethink what I am looking for.

Joe, thanks for your reply. I'd love to dig deeper on some of your points. Can you explain what you mean when you write "learn how to design offers into deals". Specifically, what is the difference between an "offer" and a "deal"? 

Also, how does one analyze markets (instead of properties)? What is the difference between looking for deals vs. looking for opportunities? Specific examples are welcomed.

Lastly, you mentioned it's important to develop strategies that lends itself to minimum cost to the REI and terms where someone else pays. Can you suggest some of these strategies?

I'd love to consider your comments in the context of clear action items/steps. 

Dylan, I am familar with 1031 exchanges, but have never heard of a DST. I will look more into this and follow up. Thanks for the suggestion!

Hello BP,

I really need some advice. I bought my first duplex in 2020, where I rent out the larger part of the house and live in the attic apartment. The plan was to live in it for a year and buy another investment property (a duplex or higher that I would live in). High rocketing home prices, increases in the mortgage rates and insane competition has kept me from buying my next property. Living in the attic apartment was ok for 1 year but we are not into year 3 and I can't take it anymore. 

At first I wanted to buy close to where I live, but it's a high cost of living area and I would consistently get beat out by people offering way over asking/market and/or cash buyers. So I decided maybe I would look farther out, but alas, the same experience. The last property I looked at had 25+ offers and was under contract a few days after being listed. I am somewhat surprised as I thought the high interest rates would keep some from buying. I guess not.

 I admit, I'm pretty frustrated and not sure how to move forward. I would welcome any suggestions you may have.

Hey BP, I currently have a house that I rent out but would like to remove the current tenants, renovate the basement (by adding a bedroom) to re-rent the house at a higher price. This is my first time doing this, any would love recommendations on resources about how to do this, ie. how to budget for the renovations, how much to increase the rent by, cost/benefit to see if it’s worth it, etc.