All Forum Posts by: Jim Gordon

dal1
I guess I am working in the old days. I have lender contacts that can still do a cashout refi on a property with no seasoning and we do make an appointment to get together and come up with a stratagy.
I chase away more wana be investors with my initial consultation than I end up working with. All you have to do is talk to them about the realities of the business and it causes a lot of them to rethink what they are doing. All I can say is that no one I deal with will get into this without their eyes being open.

Navydoc -- Hillary in 2008 -- Republican sweep of the Senate, House, and Excutive office in 2012. With the current economy the Republicans have not had great support. The last time we had a balanced budget is when we had a Republican house and Senate and they continually cut the spending requests of the Democratic President. The people that I talk to seem to place blame for we are going through on the Presidency so let them have their wish and we can watch what happens.
Every thing goes in cycles and we have had a good run on this latest economic growth swing. People do not look at cycles but look to place blame, give them a good reason to place blame. We as a country can stand anything for four years look at the Carter era.

Hillary and Bill in 2008 -- It is part of a long range plan.

The listing agent represents the lender not you so I would recommend having your own buyers agent. They can represent you and help to determine the ARV of the property. A good agent should also be able to help with finding deals and give advise on what is normal for an area and what to put in a house that you are rehabilitating to get the most return.
Sometimes a lender owned property is not a deal!!!
Case in point -- A couple of months ago I was working with a family that wanted to purchase a lender owned property. It needed some work and was available for about 165 -sold for 162. They bought a movein ready home a block away with a finished lower level for 185. I talked with the buyer of the lender owned home and they have 15 in repairs plus labor and no finished lower level. Who really got the deal?

If you are in it for the long term cash flow is what you use to determine your purchase. If you are trying for appreciation gain then you have moved from investor to speculator.

The lenders look at at an offer from a NOO differantly than they look at an offer from a owner. I have had Freddie Mac repair an Air Conditioner, clean the basemant and throw in a dehumidifier for an owner occupant. For a NOO all I can get is price and not a very large discount from list. The standard reply is that they are not interested in selling to make investors money and would rather sell to an owner occupant.

I will second the 5 d-cell mag light. The light in someones eyes is bright enough that they can not see and the contruction of the unit is tough enough that if you drop it on something (like a head) you should not damage it.

Minna sounds like a deal but why would he not place the property with a manager as it seems to generate enough income to cover property management and a return for him.

Check for deferred maintanance and work orders on the property.

There was a property that I saw that would have worked in my plan that was on the market 3 months ago. I know the area and knew that the health department had just came through and issued work orders. This property would run about 30,000 in repairs so it was out of the running.

Also check zoning and see if the property is permitted for 5 units or if some of them are added on without permits.

As for the electric that is a way to increase income but look into how much it would cost to convert to unit metering and realise that you are subject to the current leases and you will have to pay the electric until the current lease expires.

If you could ask them directly they would tell you that they are not pricing properties to sell to investors but to owner occupants. They already know the amount of repairs the property needs and are aware of the FMV of the property. They have it priced to a "sell in 30 day range" by the estimates on repairs they have and comps in the area.
In my past experience with them you may be able to get them to drop 5%. I have had a client offer on a fanny property get the offer rejected and 2 weeeks later the price was dropped to under our offer so they don't have a lot of flexability in pricing.

Jon my understanding of the Detroit area right now from people that I have talked to is that there are many REO properties and there might be appraisal issues because all the comps in an area may be lender owned sales.