All Forum Posts by: Marzieh Rostami

@Jonny R.

And of course be sure to tell the appraiser the number you have in mind when he/she comes to the property.

That always helps.

@Jonny R.

If you don't like what you see don't hesitate to negotiate. I applied for a HELOC last year with chase the first time the appraiser didn't even bother to come in the house. He had done a drive by and had appraised the house at our purchase price and of course never even saw the $40k in updates. I argued with the bank and they sent the guy back and he came up about $30k in value. I disagreed again and they asked me to send some comps myself so I did and they increased the value another 5k whic in was ridiculous so I gave up and applied with wells Fargo. Their appraisal came back at the exact Number I had in mind. Which would be real market value.

So if you don't agree with the appraisal let them know or consider other options.

@Caleb Heimsoth

Well we haven't been able to agree on this one and she insists that she wants to buy it under her name not the LLC and she wants to do this her way.

My offer will be under my name and her offer under her name. But if her offer IS accepted and not mine ofcourse I will be helping her with the project even though she is being very stubborn!

I guess a better question is will she need to disclose anything when putting in the offer.

@Mike Wood

Thanks for the information. This was the contractor I used for renovations on my own house which wasn't major and he came in Lower than anyone else and did good work. But from what you're saying it seems he may not be giving me the best price this time around. I will definitely check with other contractors. Thanks.

So my sister and I have just started investing together and we have formed an LLC. we have been looking for our first deal for a long time and haven't found one yet. I found a house a few days ago on the MLS that seemed promising. I called the listing agent and asked to see the house. I went on my own without my sister. The house to me required a lot more work than it seemed from the pictures. I wanted to put a very low offer but I wanted to do this through the listing agent. I thought there maybe more incentive for the agent to favorably present this low offer to the sellers since the agent will get double commission. If my offer is accepted then all the better.

On the other hand my sister who has not seen the property thinks it is worth much more then the amount I am proposing because of the location even if we need to do more in renovations. She doesn't like the idea of not using our own agent and she is telling me if my offer doesn't get accepted she wants to go back with a higher offer this time with our own agent.

My question is, if it comes to that, will there be any legal complications? Since we work together.

@Joshua Mayo

Thanks for this detailed post. I had never heard of this before so it is very interesting and informative. Please keep updating I'm very curious to see how it goes.

@Mike Wood

Thanks a lot for your detailed analysis. I hadn't looked at it this time way.

This was very helpful.

My contractor was telling me it doesn't cost that much more to build than to reno ste these homes which are I extremely bad shape. That's why I started to think about building new. But it seems like guy out are right. It doesn't make much of a financial sense. I will have to keep looking a property that needs less work.

@Pedro Tavares

Thanks for the suggestion. I can't live there myself so unfortunately those types of loans don't apply.

Is this something you have done yourself? Is it worth the hassle compared to the option of renovating a house?

@Mike Wood

Thanks for the information..when you say it will make valuation a problem do you mean that I might have trouble with the loan for when the bank is appraising the property?

I am gambling on a neighborhood that has just recently starting to gentrify. There are new construction one on each block maybe but it still hasn't altered all that much. What I mean is that there are lots of houses in extremely poor conditions so lot values are still relatively low. So a 5000 sf lot will cost around 150k. According to my contractor it will cost around 200k to build a small house. Would you say this would not be worth it.

@Greg Dickerson

Thanks for your response. My contractor says he can build for $110/sf

If that is true then I think the numbers could end up working for me. I'm thinking of maybe building a duplex which I think would bring enough income to cover the expenses.

I just don't know if the price my contractor is giving me is realistic or it will end up costing much more. I will get more quotes and prices from other people if I actually decide to do this of course.

I was just wondering if there could be any other downsides to this strategy. Given that in the end it will be a lower quality, smaller duplex when compared to all the other new single family construction around. Thinking that I might want to sell 5-6 years down the road.