All Forum Posts by: Mark Harry

Thanks Jon, I really appreciate your advice.

Is it more efficient to contact a local mortgage broker to help me find a financing instead of doing the research myself ? How do they get payed ?

I am thinking of weather operating my llc that I am about to form as owned by just me or include my wife as partner. Which one would be more rewarding for tax purposes.

What I know so far is if I am the only member I would file taxes for the llc under my name. And if it is in partnership then the llc has its own taxes. Does that differ if the two members are spouses (since my wife and I already do file taxes together)

Another question regarding the mortgages, how would sole proprietorship and partnership differ when it comes to applying for mortgage. (the llc is new so it doesn't have credit history or assets)

Thanks Jon for the advice. So I guess it would be a deal for flipping. If my offer gets accepted It would be better to rehab and sell.
what do you suggest?

I put an offer on a property and now shopping for a good source to finance the deal. Here are the details:

- REO Bank owned. purchase price 180k in Lowell Massachusetts. 2 family residential in a great neighborhood, sold AS IS. Needs about 30-40k TLC.
Current estimated value is around 250k. After rehab it would appraise for at least 300k. I can afford 10% down payment.

I plan to purchase it , rehab it and rent it out for cashflow. After renovation it would rent out for $2400 (1200 per unit)

Any advice ???!!

Thank you John, the info you provide is really eyeopening "as usual :D " Thanks a lot for the thorough explanation .

I put an offer on a property and now shopping for a good source to finance the deal. Here are the details:

- REO Bank owned. purchase price 180k in Lowell Massachusetts. 2 family residential in a great neighborhood, sold AS IS. Needs about 30-40k TLC.
Current estimated value is around 250k. After rehab it would appraise for at least 300k. I can afford 10% down payment.

I plan to purchase it , rehab it and rent it out for cashflow. After renovation it would rent out for $2400 (1200 per unit)

Any advice about my best options for financing this deal ???!!

I was watching an infomercial by John Beck's program that claims you can buy properties for few hundred dollars (about $300) from tax foreclosure sales. Can somebody explain that to me???

Honestly, it screams SCAAAAAM !!!! to me

Hi Glavini,
I am from lowell, MA too. I agree with biggerpro I haven't hardly seen any property that doesn't require some type of work to increase its value. And for some old cities here in MA the buildings are really old and outdated. I noticed that the best deals are the ones that require work.
Make sure you do your due diligence to avoid the major problems like foundation issues, non winterized plumbing...etc and you should be fine with the small work.

I count them as a cost of acquiring the property.

Generally I wouldn't put money down if It's possible. Because I'd rather use it to buy more properties, as long as your property has a reasonable positive cashflow, it is important to hold on to your cash if you have the chance to. It increases your cash on cash and ability to acquire more properties.

Depending on how much yearly taxes you pay, house insurance, utilities, vacancy rate in the area, maintenance, mortgage rate. You are really on the edge and personally I would back away. You have to consider also in the future the management fees (around 10% of the rent) because as your protfolio grows you wouldn't be able to manage all of them and you want to ensure that you keep a positive cash flowing even when you hand your property to management company. keep all those expenses in mind when analyzing a property to avoid surprises.

This is just my own opinion, I am curious to see what other investors would think...

oh wow great tip Jeff !, I certainly would never think of the agency agreement in million years :D and the clause in the contract is so valuable.

I searched online and found the listing agent ( Exit Professional Realty) I left them a voicemail, then the agent in charge of the property called me back and I setup an appointment to see the property on saturday.
I left a message to my agent as well but she didn't return my call, so I guess it's clear I am going to proceed with the seller agent.