All Forum Posts by: Omar Hamza

That's really unfortunate. I hope this property ends up in better hands, because it's on a great lot but needs a lot of repairs and updates and less taking advantage of low income people.

Hey folks, for all the good this community does I think we should also highlight bad and morally questionable practices that would harm this business. I have been searching for low COI cities with a focus on transit-oriented development and seeing what cities could be candidates for growth.  I was surveying Allentown and came across a property that had been purchased in early 2022. In that time, rents were increased on 2 units from about $900/M in rent to $1300/M in the span of a month all of who are low income. One unit has vacated and another is in the process. 

There is shoddy work all over the house, such as drywall covering areas where the roof leaked and obvious bubbling and mold smell in the top unit I got a picture of the roof but not the drywall in the tenants apartment. This is cleverly hidden in the listing.

Clearly, besides the fact that that property is overpriced on bogus numbers, it is a pretty deadbeat move that hurts this business. RE investors should bring value to their communities, not milk them.

This was at 510 N 9th St 

@Mike Cumbie

That makes sense, and to be honest I haven't done my due diligence on that particular property yet, it just came up and put ideas into my head based on the description! But you're right, I think at the point we are in now it's better to just shut off and focus on the project ahead of us, and instead reflect on our decision making process for the next property.

@Joe Villeneuve

You're absolutely right, it's not the last property. But as younger first time home buyers, our main challenge right now is capital so we want to make sure it's in the best place to help us out in the future. And exactly as you said, great deals are never in short supply, it's finding them. So better to own our decision now and work to put ourselves in a better position to get those good deals in the future.

@Joe Villeneuve

That’s a fair point. It’s not so much that it’s a bad deal, but another property could be a better deal.

For example, our current closing is for a fix and flip vs. a house that just came on the market that’s a converted two family to single family that can be converted back. In my mind, that property has more longer term income potential vs. the profit from a fix and flip, by house hacking and BRRRRing.

The way I see it however, is that as a new investor I wanted to get my foot in the door and any mistakes are a learning experience. So I’m taking it with a grain of salt, and also working on my own fear and doubt.

So my partner and I have finally put up an offer on a property that we saw, it's a rehab that's stretching our budget a bit (I think we fell for the trap of offering more than we should have) but based on the numbers can still make us a decent profit.

However, as I still have alerts on I've seen a number of house to come on the market that seem like better deals since we signed the purchase agreement. We have yet to get the home inspection done, but the earnest money has been sent to the seller and it seems like we are generally in it with this property unless we want to lose the earnest money.

That leads me to 2 questions;

1. Have you ever been a similar situation where you found a better deal than the one you are closing on, and felt the FOMO and decided to back out of the existing offer or soldier on with the deal you had in hand, and;

2. How did you back out of the existing offer with minimal penalties, if at all possible?

I appreciate any responses, and definitely looking for insights from someone who has done it before. Thanks!

 Will do, thank you very much for your response!

How does a realtor get involved in the auction process? I'm still pretty green in this area, and I was curious since I've seen online auctions that seem to just do the bidding online.

Hey everyone!

I hope you're all safe and well in these crazy times. My name is Omar, and I am in the process of learning more about real estate investing. I have been analyzing deals daily in a workbook I built based off of the calculators on this site and others I found. I'm starting to get a good handle on comps, by analyzing sales of similar homes in my area within the past 6 months to determine my ARV, and utilizing a contractor who is a family friend to help estimate rehab costs.

The goal for my first deal is to do a fix and flip and my partner and I have been working out what our desired ROI from this deal. We have been looking at homes together and have gotten advice from another family friend who is in the business to look at auction properties. However, we have already seen houses over the past three weeks with a realtor, who has been absolutely helpful and patient with us as we are looking through these properties.

My question is, if we were to come across an auction that we think we can get at a good deal, would it be poor etiquette to bid on and potentially purchase the house if we have taken up our realtor's time? What would be the best way to proceed in this situation?

I appreciate any advice you can give!