All Forum Posts by: Marian Smith

Financing for 30 years if you can make payments on a 15 yr. I refinanced when rates got so low because I also read that the real estate investor I admire most in town finances his investment properties for 15. I just assumed 30 was best as the depreciation schedule matched better--1st property. I guess the real rule here is to buy right, which is positive cash flow with a 15 yr mortgage. Mine just barely cash flow but have half the PI payment going to principle. Free and clear by age 67! (That actually seems like a long time to take to make a buck.)

I have only had to screen tenants a few times as I only have 3 properties. But I came to the conclusion that everyone in my market 1100-1300$ has issues. The rest seem to buy. I first look at income--I am amazed at how people want to rent what they can't afford. That said, I really can't give any advice on interpreting the credit reports other than as stated by others, it is one tool. My last tenant makes 80k and has some sort of engineering degree and he said he had a foreclosure in Arizona and was moving here for a job with a Fortune 500 firm. I didn't run a check, just figured his new employer wouldn't have hired a deadbeat.

Great responses. It looks like FNMA will accept offers of 77% in some markets. BofA 74%. Other banks 70%. My Deutsche offer was 87% 90 DOM and HUD took an offer of 87% on the first day open to investors.

Anson, I am curious as to whether the banks countered on your offers; and if so what was your first offer? How low can you go and be taken seriously?

Eduardo, maybe the houses you picked were too pretty. The nice ones in my area often sell close to list.

I blow in a ton of insulation to reduce the workload. Then I wait for problems. I had my A/C guy look at units in two properties when I bought the properties and then had problems months later. So it didn't seem to prevent anything. So I hose off my outdoor condensers' fins and spray for ants and have been changing filters for my tenants every few months. I will have the freon checked every two years if there are no problems. But so far I have problems and I have everything checked out or cleaned then.

This is kind of a duplicate of an earlier post. I hope others will share. My properties were in Williamson County Texas which has a fairly high foreclosure rate considering how well Texas has been weathering the recession.

My last deal:
Duetsche Bank Jan 2011
Original list 99k
List 89k
DOM 90+
Bid 74, Bank countered 79,
agreed on 77 but negotiated 10k off because slab sloped so 67k, 10k in fix up (didn't fix slab as minor) and rented for 1000 month

Deal 2 July 2010
HUD list 160k, bid 139k the first day it went to investor bid and was the only bid. (8k Tax credit had expired) Bid accepted. $300 fix up and rented for 1175 per month--in 10 days. Currently rented for 1325. 15 year note with Chase at 4.5% with 25% down.

I want to hear about some low offers that got accepted!!

I read where the Freddie Mac CEO said they were averaging 94% of market value. Our MLS posts sales data with the selling price juxtaposed with the asking price. The thing is, the current asking price is not the same price as 4 weeks ago, or 8 weeks ago or 12 weeks ago.
A house might originally list for 150k and by the time it is reduced to 134K and it sells for 129k has been on the market for 90 days. Is that 94% of market value. Yes because 150k wasn't market value because it didn't sell, 140k wasn't either; but 134k was close because it prompted a bid.
But this scenario makes the "our properies are selling for 94% of market value" meaningless.

I wanted to run an electric line for a plug in the kitchen in case i ever wanted to switch to electric. But it was going to be over $300 so I blew it off. 30 feet of wire and the electrician and breaker.

Great video on youtube. The one thing that had always bothered me about buying real estate in a SDIRA was that you could not depreciate it--as you don't pay taxes on an IRA. The video made it clear that if you don't depreciate real estate in an IRA then when your IRA sells it you don't have to repay the depreciation. (If you hold real estate outside an IRA you repay depreciation when you sell whether you depreciate it or not on your taxes.)

Thanks for your replies. I called a local foundation company and asked if they had ever looked at the address and bid it and they had. It was around a 10k job. So lets just say a house that should sell for 90k but it needs the 10k foundation work done. So a buyer wants it for 90k minus 10k foundation repair minus another 3k for collateral damage from the foundation repair. But then the buyer knows there aren't many buyers interested in this type of house. So minus another ?K. Everyone says walk. Why? If everyone thinks there are better deals then who will buy this and at what price? Will it go to auction and be sold for 43K? Be sold in a lot of 200 houses for 25k each--to the ex-ceo of Countrywide?

Thanks for your replies. I don't know how to run the numbers backwards as the plan was to buy the pig, put lipstick on it and rent it out for 15 years. Worry about the foundation when it is paid for. Slab on grade. Just don't want to overpay. Leave money on the table. List is 90k and other foundation problems in other neighborhoods have actually listed for 65-45k--similar homes. But this neighborhood has better schools. I want it for 55k.