All Forum Posts by: Alex Gruenther

Originally posted by @Christopher Goldie:

Check out www.hudhomevalue.com for your area. It shows trends and statistics about the accepted price vs list. Usually what I have seen is between 95 - 105% of list in the OO status. That doesn't account for properties needing rehab work though. The longer they are on the market the less they will take, sometimes well below 45% of original list. There are some great deals there if you are patient, also a little hint, bid daily don't wait to hear back.

I haven't ran across this site before, this looks like a great way to do some historical homework on the HUD sales. Thanks!

I couldn't make the numbers work so I went for a bid at 81% of list. I knew that I wasn't going to get the property when I was bid #32, and that is the case.  Back to looking for a property...

Thanks all for commenting, it sounds like there is no one out there with experience bidding in the owner-occupant period.  I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes.

I found a HUD I wouldn't mind living in after doing a complete rehab. Does anyone have experience with bidding in the OO period? Will they accept lower than asking prices, or just wait until the invested period hoping for higher bids? Any recommendations would be appreciated. Cheers, lex

@Darrin Carey thanks for the great reply.  

Why wouldn't a rental property meet the 70% ARV rule as much as a flip? Do you put better upgrades (longer lasting) into rentals?

I'm definitely not looking for trashflow type of properties.  I'm looking for good properties that military families would want to rent when they move to WPAFB.  

I agree that I probably will never be able to afford my custom builder for $70-200k ARV houses. I hope that I'm able to network in the near future to find a couple well respected GC's in the area for when I land my first property.

What are your thoughts on 3br/1baths in Beavercreek?  I may have found one for a flip, but hesitant since they usually doesn't sell well in most markets.

-Alex

Hello, I'm looking for some suggestions in picking out a first property in the Dayton area. My wife and I previously rented out our house outside Boston since we had to move due to a job and at the time we just couldn't see the house.  We had a very good experience renting it out for three years, but decided to sell this summer while the market was good.

We are now looking for a property to rehab (minor or complete) to either flip or keep as a rental.  I've been working with my realtor for some time now and can't find a property that seems to fit the 70% rule.  I have a feeling its due to one of the following reasons, but would love your feedback or help.

1) My brother-in-law owns a custom home building business in the area and I've been using for contractor quotes.  I know he does amazing work, but I think he may be too expensive for a regular "non-custom" single family home and this is pricing me out of flips.  How do you find that contractor that does good reliable work, but doesn't charge an arm and an leg?

2) I'm not sure I understand what's required to upgrade to make a house marketable in the area. I had my Realtor run some custom MLS searches such as reports to show all houses that sold with CDOM < 30 in the school districts I wanted. None of them had custom features (granite counter tops, custom tile, etc), and thus I couldn't determine what fixes are absolute musts vs nice to haves. What's the best way to determine local market features that sell houses fast?

3) After listening to many of the BP podcasts, and reading lots of material everyone seems to say newbies have a hard time pulling the trigger on their first property.  Why would I want to pull the trigger one something that isn't going to turn a profit?  When do you know it's the right time?

I appreciate any feedback you have.

Cheers,

Alex