All Forum Posts by: Mike Lee

HI,  Just to share some personal experience as I bought my personal residence last year where the seller was selling the place "AS IS".  

This was my first time buying a home.  The condo needed repairs but nothing major.  We gave our agent our offer and we would ask him if he thinks it will go through. Whether or not OUR offer would get accepted?  Too high? Too low?  Our agent replied, "What I think is irrelevant.  What matters is what the seller thinks of the offer and each sale/purchase is unique.  I will put in what ever offer your comfortable with."  Our agent also said that "AS IS" only means seller is less willing to negotiate and may require a little more finesse. 

In the end, our offer was put through $10k less than asking with inspection as contingency.  Inspection came back with 25k worth of damages.  We negotiated for half the repair costs, seller agreed and we bought the place.

Just thought I share my experience.

@Andrew Postell  The read is from the same guy as was mentioned on the other thread that @Ben A was referring to "Replace Your Mortage".    it's actually to a site and they send you a digital book.  Posting link here might be against the TOS for this site.

@Terry Lao  the idea is that there would be no one in the second position.  The heloc will be enough to pay off the original mortgage and the bank with the heloc will be in the first position.  the guys on the other thread that @Ben A referred to above explains it much better.

@My Pham Thanks for you suggestions of a heloc just for unexpected expenses.  Which is a good idea will definitely keep that as one of the options.

@Ben A  Thanks for the Link to the other thread.  I've been reading and it did shed some light on a few other points I did not think of.

@Terry Lao Thanks for the input.  Actually I currently have a 30yr fixed with 3.125%.  

The idea in the readings is to replace mortgage letting the heloc bank be in the 1st lien position rather the 2nd lien.  Do banks not do this types of loans?

Hello all, Just bought a condo last year as a personal residence in Chino Hills, CA. I stumbled across some readings about HELOC's and how it helps pay the home mortgage down faster and paying less intrest. On top of that I can still us it as a checking account and still have easy access to the equity built up in the house.

The thought of it is very tempting.  My only issue is i'm afraid i dont know have the knowledge to analyze the situation from all angles and not able to accurately weigh the pros and cons.

any help from this great forum would be greatly appreciated.

@David Greene  Thanks David for the reassurance and advice.  It's a bit difficult to persuade the wife to put the house on the sidelines when she keeps listening to people telling her that buying a house now is also investing in ourselves.  I keep telling her if she time it right it's an investment.  If it's wrong it's an expense.  Just like right now buying a house in Cali with a small down payment cost the same as rent.  so it is an expense.  Thanks for confirming my thought process.   Now that i'm reassured i'm headed in the right direction with the right mind set, I will hit you up for some advice about out of state investing.  

Thanks once again for sharing your time and experiences.

For me my biggest hurdle is just finding the right deal and going up against investors with more money than me.  I'm thinking its because i'm in California.

After paying off over 100k of debt I finally was able to save up 40k to start shopping for a home.  I started looking at houses for my primary residence about 4 months back.  I was mainly looking for fixers due to myself having some construction back ground I wanted to fix up my own home.  However, when ever I saw what looked like a good deail, (only 80% of market) i'd contact my agent and schedule a walk through.  Since I work full time I only have time on weekends.  But many times by the time the weekend rolls around the house would be either pending status or backup offer status. 

After a few weeks of this I decided on a change of strategy.  I would look for houses needing less TLC.  But those houses in the area I want are 475k+.  I would have won a bid for a house at 490k but after losing a whole nights sleep thinking about a 3k monthly mortgage I decided it wasnt for me.

I just dont konw how people do it in LA.  Which now has forced me into another mind shift.  I"m now contemplating whether or not to buy a condo and after a year buy a 2nd and renting 1st out. and keep doing that for the next 3 years.  but that strategy would only allow me to buy 3 condos in the next 3 years cuz my debt to income probably wont let me buy 4th.   And after the 3rd I'd probably be stuck for awhile until i can save up a lot of money.

Or an alternative to buying condos in LA would be to invest out of state. But so many unknowns and so scary when the investment is so far away.

oh boy! didnt realize it's been such a long 4 months. Sorry for the lengthy post.

WOW! Thank you all for your inputs and advice. 

Ok so here is the deal for my rejected viewings.  2 of the properties were short sales and currently occupied. Selling agents would only show it if we submit an accepted offer subject to inspection.  Another rejection was because owner was still in it and would only show it after they had relocated but they listed it early.   So wont be able to show for another 2 weeks.

@Mike Smith Thanks for the words of encouragement.  

@Alexandra King  Thank you for the tip.  Let me finish up with the line up I have now.  If these dont pan out I might just starting look where you suggest.

@Bob - I see what you mean. But unfortunately MLS nor other sites provided any additional info besides basic bd/ba and square footage and a pic of the exterior. Thanks for your input. I guess I have some work to do with my REA.

@Lee l -  thanks for the reassuring advice.

@ Leland - thanks..I will take that up with my REA and have a go at it and see what happens.

@ Bob - I'm new at this, not even sure what i'm doing.  Just taking things one step at a time and trying to learn as I go.  But I can assure you I'm not trying to waste anyone's time.  i'm pre-approved for loan already just havent' been able to find the right property.  It seems finding the right property is a science in it of itself.  Starting to get a bit overwhelmed with learning and applying the methods and  not knowing if i'm applying it correctly.  Howevee, still chugging along slowly.   But I'm confused by your last statement.  If i dont consider the condition of the interior how do I estimate for the fixup cost?

Thanks Curt.  that would make sense but they could just advertise an open house.  but anyways...

So now since we can't view inside the property, how will we know what to offer? what should we base our offer on. I don't want to get stuck making  an offer that is too high?