All Forum Posts by: Matt Devincenzo

If your credit card is above 30% utilization and you have some cash pay that down below 30% and wait 30 days that might do it. Otherwise not much affects your score very quickly. CC debt is usually one of the biggest score killers and the easiest to take care of.

# 1 thing get the owner to sign until then the deal can fall apart if he changes his mind.
Second get the contract to a title company/escrow or closing attorney depending on what is used in your state and they'll be able to start the process to actually close the deal.

That's the simplified version, but the RE attorney should be able to fill in everything else along the way.

What do you mean by you wouldn't be able to live there 100% of the time?

Like I travel on business a lot so I won't physically be there? But it is still my residence and be where I come home to when I'm not on trips.

Or like I live and work in another city 6 hours away but I'll come "visit" the property every few weeks and "live" there.

See if you can make your offer contingent on the tenant relocating within 30 days of closing.

The seller can make whatever offer necessary to get the tenant to agree to vacate by XXX date and both parties terminate the lease.

If that is agreed to just have the sellers portion of the purchase escrowed until after the unit is vacant and inspected.

Not sure it will work but it might depending on the seller's motivation to get the deal done.

Welcome to BP Daniel,

I haven't dealt with those smells, but my first rehab was a smoker that had live in the prop for 14 years, the white melamine cabinets are now a beautiful uniform beige color haha.

To clean the grease off I would look for something called "purple power" or "greased lightning". It's sold at auto places and I think Wally world as a shop cleaner and engine degreaser. I used it in that house diluted with some water. I just adjusted the strength depending on the level of grime I was cleaning.

http://www.clean-rite.com/purplepower_industrial_strength_cleaner_degreaser.html

For the tile I would consider ripping it out and replacing, or at least removing the grout and regrouting. The reason is because everything seems to soak into and be absorbed by the grout so the smell keeps coming back. If you do that then same thing the PP to remove the grease and then regrout if you decide to go that route.

There are a couple links below about smoke odor that mentions the primer to use to seal the odors. It's better than Kilz and I wish I had known about it when I did mine.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/67/topics/78889-smoker-rehab-keys-to-success-with-tobacco-smoke--before-after-pics

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2012/11/05/getting-rid-tough-odors/

I know for pet odors there are some enzyme neutralizers, you may want to get some for the sub floor under the carpet areas help with that.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/67/topics/74253-cat-pee-in-concrete

The biggest cheap first step is to just literally wash everything down. I left the carpet in and started by scraping the popcorn ceiling, then use a rag and washed the walls from top down and let the grime run down to get soaked up by the carpet before tossing it. After that I washed down the walls wil clean water prior to painting.

It really is amazing how persistent the smells can be. Again welcome to BP.

The issue with that is right now you know you can sell for a profit. If you wait for the full upswing the question becomes; are we there yet? Will you be there or as close to there as you can really get next year when you move?

A mis timing on answering that question could lead to a lower sales price. Some people believe we are in a mini bubble that will pop, some don't, either way things will at least slow down eventually.

Also figure in your rehab costs when you go to sell. If you rent you will have some repairs to make for it to command top dollar when you sell. Those repairs might amount to just paint and carpet but could be much more, especially with tenants.

Those costs will likely be lower when you leave as an owner that cares for the property better.

Kirk Chisholm and I were writing at the same time I guess.

Made the link clickable:
http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/58063-who-is-your-self-directed-ira-custodian-of-choice-why-?page=2

I read this to mean that you were unsure of what a custodian is, if not and you already understood their role then the below is all info you already know.

This is from another website:
An IRA custodian is usually a financial institution, such as a bank or a brokerage, entrusted with the responsibility of safeguarding the assets of a client's Individual Retirement Account (IRA). According to the rules set by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), an IRA custodian must be an approved financial institution; an individual may not act as an IRA custodian. Non-financial institutions that wish to act as IRA custodians must first secure specific approval from the IRS.

The custodian is the institution that currently is managing the IRA for her. What you would be looking for specifically is a self directed custodian, they allow you to make the asset purchase decisions for your IRA. You would have the IRA transferred (rollover is the correct term), and then at the new institution she could direct them to invest in a loan to you. Her IRA would hold the loan and receive the payments as an asset of the IRA just like if she was invested in a stock or other more traditional investment.

How about some numbers to help out. What is your price that it is under contract for? What is it worth in a performing condition? Are there comps, or is it going to be something you have to value based on projected rents?

Let's assume for a minute that there are comps, that makes valuing easier, use those taking a significant discount to account for your buyer having to get rid of a bunch of poorly trained tenants.

If it's rent based that will be more difficult. it might be worth 100K performing but someone has to get it there so they rightfully are going to need to be compensated for that effort.

One thing that may sweeten the deal for a buyer to be willing to pay a little more, is see if he would offer owner financing. If so he could be out of the property, and a buyer might be willing to take the headache because of great terms.

As far as I know pets aren't a protected class so I see no reason why you can't tell them that is why you're terminating. I also see no reason you have to tell them you're terminating, so I say go ahead and do it whichever way makes you most comfortable.

I don't know that there will be too much weirdness, I'd understand if my LL told me I needed to go by some date and appreciate the extra time. Then again I'm not a typical tenant I guess since I also own rental property, so maybe other LLs here can give some advice.