All Forum Posts by: Mike Carino

My first credit card, was a target card. Had no income but they still gave me I think 400 bucks. Though I had the 400 bucks saved, I maxed it out with an ipod at the time and made consitant payments paying more than minimum. after about 6 months when almost paid off I requested to bump up the credit to 1000 was accepted. Did the same with Best Buy card pretty much at the same time and repeated the process. Next thing I knew student credit card offers started coming in and the rest is history for me with loans from banks. It actually really got me started to access to money in college to start buying and flipping car actually when I was your age... Than again this was before a credit crises shook the nation..

Apply and keep debt low and keep asking to bump the amount of credit every 4-6 months even if its a couple hundred bucks at first. Next thing you know you can be out of college with excellent credit and start on the right path with banks for your adventures.

Good luck

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Ask around investors in the Midwest area.. Illinois, Indy, Ohio, MIchigan, with that budgeting you can target very nice suburb areas that will give you a good cash flow in a steady B class markets. Not a particular city I would narrow down, all states around the major cities and universities you will be fine.

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@Maurice Boston

I do apologize to my first posting, though I was joking, I can not let a fellow Detroit investor suffer. You are a newbie on this site, and have alot of questions. There is a wealth of information on here if you know what your looking for and have a direct question there are alot of people that will help. As for your situation, you obviously know something outsiders do not about your neighborhood and know there is potential in the properties Couple options to play are..

1)Look for a bank that can lend you some money.. Hard this time around in Detroit homes, but it is based on the location. and the direct surrounding area. But since you are living in one, there are programs on there that will lend money to owner occupied homes and can lend up significant amount based on the rehab. As listed from other investors in this post. Take that money and budget rehabs on both as much as possible. Focusing more on getting the rental unit.

Other lenders can be found on the detroit land bank site.

http://auctions.buildingdetroit.org/Financing

2) Take a small personal loan. Get what you can to rehab, and put it in the back of your head to pay it off with the rent you would have. So this means focus on the rental home rehab, and do the minimum to live in the other for now

3) Get a business identity and get a business credit card with 12month 0 interest for rehabs. Pay everything on it. I even paid contractors through paypal to pay off rehabs. I have had very early success using credit cards to my advantage. Though many are against this route it can be quite possible to pay off the debt within that timeframe with the high cash flow potential you can get in the rental property.

4) No credit no money? Look for a money/credit partner. Yes your giving up skin on the properties but that is better than losing them. There are many investors and wholesalers in Detroit that will take on the ride, if the property is in the right spot.

5) Find a wholesaler and/investor that can wipe your hands clean, and watch how they work. This would be a significant learning experience. In the real estate game especially here in Detroit, move onto the next deal.

Dont get discourage, just know your end game and go with it. Good luck

1 Vote

Originally posted by @Maurice Boston:

I bought two property's in the city of Detroit and I have had them for a little over 3 months now and I was wanted to know the best way to sale or get money to fix and rent out then get a loan I'm stuck need to find some away to get going

Get fire insurance and let the city take care of it lol. Am I right guys?

Maurice do I even want to know where these properties are? Put it on craigslist and let someone bail you out

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Originally posted by @Garret S.:

I'm tired of the midwest (Chicago suburbs). My wife and I have lived here our entire lives. We do not have kids yet or any other main reasons to keep us here. So, we are deciding to sell our house, leave my job, and move to Washington, Seattle or surrounding areas. As of right now, I will not have a job lined up because it's nearly impossible to get a job if you're not local, I've been trying for years. We are putting our house up on the market in July and expect to sell the house rather quickly, based on the history of nearby properties. Once we sell the house, we will only have the money made from the sale. The plan is to find a place to rent month-to-month while I intensely look for a job. After landing a job, the goal is to house hack a duplex as soon as we can. This is where I could use some advice and I have some questions.

1. Is there a good way to find a place to rent with a month-to-month agreement, as cheap as possible? Keep in mind, I have 5 well-behaved pets (1 dog, 4 cats) and I will not have job yet. We would be willing to pay upfront.

2. Assuming I land a job, how will that gap in my employment history affect my chances of getting a loan? Will I need to be in this job for a certain amount of time before the lender accepts it as my income?

3. Finally, I would love to make connections with real estate agents and other investors in Washington, especially those who deal with multifamily homes.

Thanks in advance.

Good for you man. Take life by the horns!!!! I hear it on a weekly basis from my wife on why she wants to go back there. You will love Washington, and if your really love the culture and the outdoors, you will not come back to the Midwest. If all else fails you can live out in the woods out there lol. I have family down towards tacoma 45 mins south of seattle. You can find affordable living and more flexible/ affordable rents. But this also can come with a little tougher crowd of neighbors. But hey, your form chicago, tough neighbors wouldnt even compare.

Good luck! Enjoy the sunshine in the summer before it goes away

2 Votes

Originally posted by @Joe Kling:

Originally posted by @Travis Beehler:

Originally posted by @Jay Hinrichs:

@Mike Carino

who finances homes in Detroit once your past your 4 or 10 mortgage slots.

and how does it go with appraisals... when you have so much wholesale activity.. where an investor buys a home for and in rehabbed etc 40k and then says its worth 80k... I would have to think lenders understand there are two values there one the real value and that's the 40k and the other a paper value the 80k since NO one would pay 80k for the home.

Are there portfolio lenders in Detroit allowing people to ramp up and own 20 to 50 homes or more.. will B2R or Colony lend in these areas ?

Once you get up into those numbers, I'd suggest looking at traditional commercial financing. There's a TON of lenders who will be happy to lend to do, especially large national banks.

Hey Travis

Thanks for chiming in. The issue Jay was pointing out is not merely in the number of units, but in where the units are located. A lot of banks are willing to make those commercial loans in a lot of areas, but might shy away from the Detroit Metro area. I've reached out to someone at B2R to see if they will lend in the area. I've heard feedback both ways at this point, so I want someone from the group to answer me directly.

I can't speak upon b2r or any big bank lenders as I have no experience with them. You must understand when you say "metro detroit" is not problematic areas for lending, and have values behind the houses and homes being sold for market value. A plane ticket out here will show you the difference.

A better question to clarify what your looking for is what is your goal? Cash flow and completely leveraging every penny through banks? How much do you need to be living comfortable and live in cali on the winter months? Can this be a achieved that with 10 units? Does it take 50? Maybe skip the homes and go into commercia lending with apartments on the westcoast. Just a thought

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Originally posted by @Joshua Woolls:

Originally posted by @Mike Carino:

Originally posted by @Adam Smith:

@Joshua Woolls @Mike Carino

Unfortunately I don't know much more than what I posted above. Mike's summary seems about right on process, however I know that a lot of properties get pulled from the auction even after the list is made public. My understanding is that generally those houses are pulled as homeowners get current on taxes or get payment plans in place.

That suggests you could work something out to get the house current and transfer title once it's off the auction. You're definitely going to want a lawyer here though. The exact order of how to do it could be tricky, and I'd want a strong contract with the home owner.

All that said, I think it's a super interesting strategy. Please let us know what you learn.

Better off waiting for the list to come out in August (maybe sooner) if you have not already made contact with the owners. Once that list is out put t your research to work, determine your max bid, and beat out competition. I know a handful of investors (such as myself) that know exactly what they are going for, how much to expect in rehab, and have talked to the people in the homes to know exactly know the situation they are walking into.

I was in contact with the treasurers office and this is what I think I have learned:

The properties have already been foreclosed on (as of June 12th) and at this time they cannot be redeemed. They are in the process of offering the properties to the local governments. If the local governments do not take possession of them at the cost of the outstanding taxes then the property owners will have one last chance to get squared away. This will be sometime in early August. There will be a short time(2-4 weeks?)that these properties can be redeemed before the auction.

If anyone is working in the city and wants information, let me know. I have a couple of burbs that i am working and I kind of want to keep that info to myself, but I would be willing to share any info that is not relevant to what I am doing. In return, if anyone has been through the actual auction process, I would love to talk over coffee.

Thanks

Oh booo. You want share your target spots to the world? hahaha. Just kidding. PM me you've made it clear to me you really just want the basics of the auction. I'll take you up on that drink.

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Originally posted by @Adam Smith:

@Joshua Woolls @Mike Carino

All that said, I think it's a super interesting strategy. Please let us know what you learn.

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Originally posted by @Joe Villeneuve:

Originally posted by @Jay Hinrichs:

@Joe Villeneuve

talking about bringing in Credit partners ? there are no portfolio lenders that will loan on Detroit rentals? Small commercial banks... Credit Unions... I suspect for locals that live there they can get this.. someone who does not reside there probably not.

I have a local Port Lender.

@Joe Villeneuve, you beat me to my response.Local small lenders is what is happening here. Rather its portfolio/blanket loans, or investors seeking out 10 sfr loans.

@joe kling

If 10 is not enough cash flowing for you here. Partner after 10 like my fellow neighbor @Joe Villeneuve preaches it on this topic.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/50/topics/2066...

Jay, you seem to know this area very well from previous posts I have read in the past. You may be surprised what people are paying for in homes to the west in Livonia/ Westland and down Southgate/ Wyandotte to set the market values. Are you still active in Southeast Michigan?

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All Forum Posts by: Mike Carino

Mike Carino has started 7 posts and replied 122 times.

Post: Building credit through credit cards

Post: Rental property analysis

Post: Breaking into the REI game... and living in BAY AREA, CA

Post: I bought two properties in the city of Detroit and I have had them for a little over 3 months now

Post: I bought two properties in the city of Detroit and I have had them for a little over 3 months now

Post: Am I crazy?! Quitting my job and moving to Washington.

Post: Why is your market the best?

Post: Advice needed on unpaid property taxes in Detroit(Wayne County), MI

Post: Advice needed on unpaid property taxes in Detroit(Wayne County), MI

Post: Why is your market the best?