All Forum Posts by: Michael Zagorsky

So my Wife and I are considering if we would qualify to do an FHA streamline re-fi on a primary residence-turned-rental located in Gardendale, AL. The house is underwater so we would not qualify to do a traditional re-fi. The home was purchased with an FHA on a 95/4.5/0.5 structure with the second mortgage being paid off. Our longer term goal has been to sell it, but we don't see that being feasible for the short term.

The original purchase price was $94k in 2009. The current remaining balance of $80k at 5%. I would guess the current FMV around $75-80k.

I was wondering if it would make sense to consider if a FHA streamlined re-fi would make sense in light despite higher MIP premiums (We currently pay a MIP of $38/mo). One thing I want to investigate is if we can bring some cash into the equation to get the MIP waved on the refi. Also, was wondering the expected cost of such a re-fi as I have not spoken to anyone yet that deals with a FHA streamline.

I'm trying to figure out if I can bring $7k to the table and get a non-MIP FHA in the ~3.75% range.

He is in Orlando, but I can suggest http://www.waughpa.com/

Birmingham has good areas and bad areas as far as places to buy based on the history of the city.  Historically I would say I think the traffic on 280 is stating to force some people to areas that were previously not considered.  If I were looking to buy in Birmingham I would say Crestwood, Gardendale, and Cahaba Heights.   

I'm a big fan of Gardendale.  I would call some of the houses "B+" but their school district is really helping with appreciation and making it a possible buy and hold.  

That's my conclusion too, but I wanted to check to see if there was something I am not thinking about.   The only thing I can think about is buying the oldest tax lien from the investor and foreclosing but that seems like a long road to hoe.

Based upon some nearby comps, I would call the ARV $42.5k-$54k.

So I'm new in real estate investing looking primarily into getting into buy and hold.  

I picked up on the following lead.  Right now as a newbie I'm thinking this situation is not something I can move forward with but wanted everyone else's opinion.  

A woman was looking to sell her house in Cocoa, Brevard, Florida. I would guess the ARV on the house is in the $45-65k range. It belonged to her husband and she said that the mortgage has not been paid in over 5 years. She does not have any documentation on the mortgage, but I show the mortgage in 2004 for $74k and the last assignment being in 2013.

I show 4 years of tax liens held by various investors totaling about $5k before interest, also a water lien and code violations.  

I have not inspected the house yet or met with the owner in person, so I am unsure of the properties condition, but I would guess the current value in the $25k range.  

I'm not really sure of my next steps in this situation.  It looks like I would have to deal with a ton of lien holders and the bank before I could get it and I figure the bank would get almost nothing.  

Also, if I pass on the house because of the level of rehab needed, should I try and get a wholesaler involved?

Any thoughts?  

Thanks for the feedback.

Overall for my local county I can have a fair grasp of property records and tax records and I can likely get my hands on mortgage records (to estimate equity) and permits (to estimate major CapEx items).

I don't really have a good source of rental price or listing data other than maybe figuring out a Craigslist scrapping tool or the Zillow API (I think limited to 1,000 queries a day).  

The next question I have is what I would be able to do with this data?  I could try my hand at wholesaling but I'm not sure that's my cup of tea.  I'm wondering if raw land flipping might be a good fit.  

I am starting out so my initial thoughts are to be conservative with conventional financing, minimal leverage, or smaller dollar deals.  So maybe my first goals would be finding areas with the right balance of cash flow and appreciation and wait for a deal to show up...

So I know someone who mentioned that his father in-law, who works for a investment bank, managed to get him an interesting mortgage for his primary residence.  He says that it is conforming mortgage.

Basically, instead of putting 20% down into equity on the property, he put 20% in the form of equities into a escrow account.  There were rules where the bank could call for additional capital to be paid in the stock value dropped below 20% and he would get his additional earnings out if the portfolio appreciated.

Anyone know anything about what these arrangements are called so I can read up more on them and if they exist for investment properties?

I got a call my from property manager about the rental I current own long distance in Birmingham, AL.  They got a call from the tenants that the HVAC system stopped working and the service company they brought out concluded that the HVAC system needed to be replaced.

We expected this, it was on it's last legs an we were planning on replacing in fall.

The property manager came back to let me know that the replacement would be $4,600 but that the quote was not in writing (and it took them a day to get me a written quote to my inbox). I asked how many bids they got:  one. 

I protested and they got me a second bid for $3,500.  

All this took about a week from when the unit went out to getting the new unit installed.  

Overall, I know that it is unreasonable for a management company to spend a lot of time shopping for every repair, but to single bid a major CapEx seems to not reasonable.

Just wondering what everyone's else experiences with similar situations is.