All Forum Posts by: Michael Lemieux

Just curious, can a contract for deed be recorded as public record? Will it show up in a title search?

Hi Jason,

Thanks for the feedback. I don't have any experience even remotely close to this, just a vision. I've been in the construction industry for 30 years, and I've seen models like this work. This is a plan that I've had in my mind for 20 years now. I'm sure others have looked at this area, but don't have the big vision. I know it won't be an easy task. I haven't even looked at this property in years. I just started to work it back in to my 10 year plan, when I thought, why wait?

It is, I truly believe, what could be referred to as a "no brainer", except for the obvious lack of $20m. I fear sharing this plan w/ big developer who may just cut me out. I'm trying to figure out how to position myself in the middle of the deal for the long run. This will be a residential development with plenty of "pie" for everyone from utility contractors, gcs, investors, realtors, etc.

I checked out your website a few days ago, I like it and left a thank you comment.

Hypothetically speaking, if you KNEW about a land development deal that could make a lot of people a LOT of money, but didn't have any extra 20m kicking around, how would you make it happen?

We have actually had a few houses in the years that my wife and I have been together, and we have actually made money on all of them, but it was largely "luck", & what was happening w/ the economy. The house that we had prior to this one we bought in the sub prime, sign your name, get a loan time of 2004. We purchased the house for $ 176,000, w/ 100% financing. We actually couldn't even afford the $2000 for the homeowner's insurance to close the deal, and our mortgage broker told us " I'm making enough off of this deal that I will loan you the $2000." "free house!" We sold the house a year later for $215,000 + a Mazda 626.

Side note, talk about creative buying, my wife and the buyer were haggling over a couple thousand dollars when she stated " I need to get a car out of this deal", to which he replied "I've got a car, actually, I have 2, take your pick". I was impressed w/ his quick thinking, and we made the deal.

The house that we are in right now is what I consider our first deal. We were familiar w/ the house and the tenants that lived here. Our son actually rented a room from the couple that leased the house. By coincidence, my wife ran into the girl who was renting the house at breakfast one morning, and the topic came up that the owner wanted to sell, and we should check it out. We met w/ the owner, found out that she had inherited the house, rented it for a while, and wanted out. I asked her if she would hold a mortgage, and after we explained to her what that meant, she said that she would talk to her lawyer and let us know. She consulted her attorney and said "yes". We gave her $500 (yes, $500, not a typo) and bought the house. At the time, since we hadn't owned a home in a few years, we qualified as "first time homebuyers". We received $7000 back from the gov't which, in effect, paid for our closing costs. Another almost "free" house.

When we took possession of the house, it was pretty rough. We thought that we would clean, paint, and move in. But, (!) there was a sag in in the Florida room, (now dining room) ceiling, so I HAD to poke it with a stick. three hours later half of the house was gutted. It went pretty fast because the termites had helped out a lot. Since then we have removed walls, replaced about 90% of the electric, re graded the yard, installed new water line to the house, landscaped, (including moving 20' palm trees w/ shovel and pick up that were free on craigslist), insulated, etc.... My daughter, 11 at the time, and I actually pulled a new copper hot water line under the slab. I'm now in the process of enclosing the carport to make a garage, and finally installing central a/c. I would not have done all of this if it were purely an investment property, but since it was our primary residence, well.....

Now, we have considerable equity in the home. We have almost doubled the value, and have been aggressively paying it down. We are about to re fi and convert this to a rental. Almost amazingly it is already rented w/o any advertising, our tenant asked "how soon can you be out?" We haven't even found our next home yet.

Just wanted to add that I'm lovin' BP, and tellin' everyone.

Thanks Aaron, yours was one of the podcasts that I particularly enjoyed. I was just listening to "think and grow rich" on you tube, while typing about my first couple of deals, and hit a wrong key, and erased it all. Love the "beach in Thailand" concept. Thanks for sharing w/ BP.

I'm not sure where to put this, just wanted to say that I love the podcasts! So far I've been able to listen to about 30 of them at work, in the last week. What a great way to pass the day. If anyone hasn't listened to the yet, you have to check the out. No matter what your interest is in real estate, there is something for everyone there. Thank you Brandon and Josh, keep up the great work! And, thank you to ALL of the guests that have been on the show, I gained something from every single one of you.

Wayne,
You were right. I talked to a smaller bank today and think we can make it all happen. Looks like we're going to have our first rental property!

Thanks for the input. The primary reason for the re-fi is to pay of a 30k balloon that is coming due at the end of the year, but because we do have some equity built up, the thought was to pull the cash out for a down payment, and still have some reserve. I was not necessarily trying to show additional income from the rental, rather to show it as self sustaining, rather than as a liability. I don't know if that makes any difference. Again, thank you all for the feedback.

We currently own just the house we live in. We have substantial equity in our current home. We were hoping to refinance our current house, pay off the existing mortgage and convert it to a rental. I was told that I would not qualify for two mortgages, even w/ the first house rented.

If we put our current property in a land trust, will it help w/ qualifying for the second mortgage? What about a portfolio lender? Does it cost a similar amount to place a home in a trust as it does to close a deal?

Thanks to every one hear for your knowledge and input. Love the site.

I am in a similar situation, although we have substantial equity in our current home. We were hoping to refinance our current house, pay off the existing mortgage and convert it to a rental. I was told that I would not qualify for two mortgages, even w/ the first house rented.

Personally I would go for option 4 on your list. I also think if you place your current property in a land trust, then it will not show in your name on the tax log and may help you w/ qualifying for the second mortgage. I'm going to do some more research on that possibility for my own purposes.