All Forum Posts by: Mark Vejnar

Property taxes are calculated using the county's millage rate. Therefore it's not unusual for property taxes to vary from county to county, or even from subdivision to subdivision within the county depending on the millage rate used in that area. Some locales will also have additional fees and charges to pay for schools, medical facilities or other public projects - and sometimes those fees pay for golf club memberships or new personal vehicles for people in county/city government (it's not cool but it happens, and it's perfectly legal in many cases). Contact the assessors office and ask how the assessment is calculated. They will be more than happy to share exactly how they calculate and where the money goes.

@Account Closed

Gumtree? 

Please contact me immediately upon discovering a system for consistently driving motivated buyers into your pipeline. We can JV and get obscenely rich selling this to new real estate agents in the US!

The historically proven method for sourcing motivated buyers in the US is to have listed properties to market through channels which may include those you reference.  More listings equals more buyers. Perhaps you could try reaching out to some top producing agents and ask them about response rates.   

@Doug Thompson

The bank is interested in income. Comps are more relevant to residential 1-4 unit properties; I'm not saying they're not considered - just that sales comparison doesn't generally carry the same weight for commercial property. Cost and income carry more weight with properties like this one, and NOI is a key factor. I know you don't want to spend anymore money on this, but I think you need your own appraisal from an MAI. The appraisal is as important to deal structure as the engineer's report is to physical structure - and in fact the appraiser may want to review the engineer's report. You're probably looking at less than $2,500 for an appraisal for this type of property, but it will be money well spent. You'll learn about many things you don't even know you don't know about yet. It'll be delivered on a narrative report. Read the report thoroughly and ask the appraiser as many questions as you want. They love discussing their reports and will be flattered by the interest.

@Mike Dymski

Where is it located? The housing office has a great loan program right now and you won't have to worry about the new CFPB restrictions on private lending. It's capped at $50k, but they might point you towards another product or program. 

@Jay Ritchie value used is current market value. Comparable sales apply. 

@William Howley

Have you considered adding a certified appraiser to your team? They can do a desktop appraisal for you for a little more than you pay for a BPO. They can also supply you with comps at a reduced fee, but will give no opinion of value. Many appraisers actually offer comp checks as part of their business. Typically realtors and brokers are the only users savvy enough to call, but the occasional investor or home owner will inquire after this service. 

@Carol Hall

Benjamin Dodd advocates a 25% margin of safety with respect to intrinsic value. Market value rarely reflects intrinsic value. 

@Jonathan Morrell

What @Chris Mason said. So many cape cod/salt box owners leave money on the table by not heating the second level. It's a $500 upgrade max.

Most off markets I've been exposed to were conventionally financed, but often subject to repairs per plans and specs. However my background is appraisal contracting mostly with institutional lenders. I seldom compiled reports for private lenders and only a few were cash buyers. 

Many distressed homes will not sell on MLS. There could be structural issues beyond deferred maintenance, title issues, sometimes boundary lines are screwy and need some legal legwork - any number of things. Fires, pet hoarders, smokers, meth labs, flooding, parties, vandalism, gangs, shot houses, deceased resident (for months sometimes), code violations... The posters on this forum could fill libraries with the circumstances that will cause a property to be distressed and not salable on the MLS.

Every challenge has a solution. Can you be more specific? Can you describe some properties you're looking at? Are they SFR, MF, Commercial, Land, development/redevelopment? Or are you more focused on capital structure in general?

Would your friend throw in some wet and fatty kudu biltong as part of the deal? Or maybe a box of nestle peppermint crisp and matching box of mint top deck?

Is it actually cat urine or was it a meth lab? They smell similar. I'm not wisecracking. If you buy the cat urging house make sure you budget for many gallons of OIL BASED kilz. Oil based is the only kind that works to eliminate odor. If it was a meth lab you'll probably have to demo and get some kind of environmental certificate - but honestly I don't know as I've only ever ran from meth labs.