All Forum Posts by: Lilly Kane

Thank you, @Mark Ferguson , for that information! I also thought it would be too many to ask for, and as I said, the only reason I did was because I thought another valuator would be doing so. After he said he'd be lucky to get 2 or 3, I told him that would be good.

It was 5 properties that we actually walked through, and those 5 for which I asked for comps, by the way.

@Wayne Brooks - I'm not sure what difference it makes in deciding if this real estate agent is the right one for me to work with or if all of the comps should be rehabbed houses or not. My letter is from an internet company and I've got bank statements also from a family member as proof of funds, in case I need him.

Thank you all for the help and advice. I'll try to answer your questions and clarify a bit...

@Mark Ferguson , @Brie Schmidt , and @Tiffany Plovie

I probably should have given more information about the relationship before asking my question. Yes, he should absolutely know I'm serious about this; I brought my pre-approval letter to our second meeting, and I've had several conversations with him. He knows I want to fix and flip. So, when some of you guys thought he probably just didn't want to waste his time, does that mean you feel that his answers were just blow-off answers?

There were 12 properties that I asked him for information and possibly to walk through, but he only sent me info for 5 of them. He said he couldn't find 3 of them in the MLS, and the rest had offers accepted. One of the properties he said he couldn't find in the MLS was listed with his company.

All of the properties are in need of repairs and I had originally asked for 10 comps per property for the 5 houses (the only reason I asked for 10 was because one of the lenders I talked to said their valuators would get 10 of their own). He said he'd be lucky to get 2 or 3. He sent 2 comps each for 4 of them, and then 1 for the one I was talking about where he said there was only one sold house that had been fixed up. That comp was a year ago and says "renovated" in the description. The comps for the other properties didn't say anything about being rehabbed or repaired at all. That was my initial question about him saying he could only find one comp for that property that had been fixed up, because the other 4 property's comps were not fixed up.

@Bryan L. and @James Wise -- I've considered getting my license and will eventually, but is too expensive for me to do at the moment. I just need to find out if this real estate agent is the right one for me to work with at this point.

Tiffany -- Thank you so much for your kind word and advice. I'm sure you'll hear more from me asking questions!

Thanks again, everyone!

I posted a question about comps about a week ago and the question was primarily to see if the real estate agent I have chosen to help me is the right one or not. When I asked him for comps, he only gave me a couple for each of the houses I'd been considering. He said he could only find one comp for one of them, saying it was the only one he could find that had been fixed up and it was a year old. I don't understand why or how he would have to get one that was rehabbed and didn't send me any other ones for that property.

Here are the next few questions that I asked him and his answers:

My questions:

1. Where, in our market, are 90% of houses being sold?

2. How many sales are cash buyers?

3. Could I get a list of bank owned homes in the area?

4. Can you send me listings of properties on the market 90+ days?

His answers:

1. There is no specific area where 90% of the homes being sold.

2. Cash buyers are only a small fraction of all the buyers.

3. I do not have a list specifically for of bank owned homes - it just goes by price.

4. I can't search for homes listed more than 90 days without pulling up each home and physically looking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm just starting out and am not real sure if my questions for him made sense or if his answers would be typical with real estate agents.

I'm just curious to see what experienced investors think, thank you for your time and advice!

Thank you all for the helpful answers. I will take all of them into consideration as I try to figure ARV for the rehab project. I don’t think anyone answered the question about how to know which of the sold homes were remodeled. Is it something that only someone with MLS access would know or is there another way to know?

@Mickie McNie - I will follow your advice as far as asking for what I need from him, and possibly finding another one to work with instead.

@Cameron Sharp - The HML says their evaluators will use 10 comps, but what if there aren't that many within the normal parameters? Will they just go further in distance or age, and then make adjustments?

Is there a spreadsheet or something that I could use for comps somewhere on BP?

Thanks again for the help!

:)

When figuring the ARV of a property that I would like to fix and flip, do the comps have to be sold homes that have been fixed up? How would I be able to discover if they had been rehabbed or not?

I have been in contact with a real estate agent for looking at homes I’d like to rehab, and when I asked him to pull comps for me, he said it was not a problem. I asked him for as many as he could get on each of the five properties that I am considering. He has sent me only one or two for each property. One of the properties, he only sent one and said that it was the only one he could find in the past year that was fixed up. This is where my question above comes in. Do I really need to find comparables that have been fully remodeled as the subject property or is that necessary?

I’m now trying to come up with my own way of finding comps. Redfin isn’t in my area, so I’ve signed up for an account with realquest for comps. Does anyone know if this is a good place to find accurate sold comps?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!