All Forum Posts by: Chris M.

Hey guys, I am in the process of purchasing a retirement home for my mom. The home is in a depressed area and we are purchasing it for just $24,000. The contract is already signed to pay for the home in cash. I was pre-qualified for a personal loan, but after they looked at my tax returns they rejected my application. I've tried a few different lenders. The problem is I am self-employed and my latest tax return shows 0 in income because we write off everything to avoid paying taxes. This puts us in a really tough position. 

My mom's landlady just passed away and they will be selling the place she has been renting for 18 years now so she pretty much has to move in the next 90 days. I am now looking for other funding opportunities, but it all seems difficult being self-employed. I'm wondering and hoping if there are any private lenders on BiggerPockets who are willing to lend to self-employed individuals? Our business is doing just fine and we have good cash flow (and can prove it with bank statements)... it's just that our tax returns show no income because we write off everything for taxes.

Would a hard money loan be applicable here? Or, are there any private lenders here on BP who would be interested in lending $24,000 with interest? 

I am determined to purchase this home for my mom so she can retire in peace. Any advice you guys can give me would be great. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to reply. 

@Michael Ealy thank you very much for these helpful tips. I have a question on #2 - what is the best way to check a title like you mentioned? I've found the deed on the county assessor website which shows him as the sole owner but if there is a way to look more deeply into the title that would be great. Thanks again!

Hey guys, we are currently communicating with a seller who inherited an old home from his mother who passed away and he is an absentee owner. He opened a line of credit on the house that he ended up becoming delinquent on. Now he's working with the bank issuing the credit line on a short sale of the house. I am pretty sure we are going to pay for this home in cash, and we are working with an agent who already sent us a contract. The price they're asking is about $10,000 less than the total that is owed on the delinquent line of credit, hence it being a "short sale." I'm going to be honest: this is all totally new to me and I'm a bit worried that we're going to sign this contract then turn around and find out there's some huge issue going on we weren't made aware of, although I don't know what it could be. The home is a couple thousand bucks behind on property taxes and needs some repairs. I am doing a physical inspection myself in a few days, but due to a tight deadline placed on this deal by the bank, we don't have time to set up a professional inspection and it is an older house. 

My question is this: based on the situation described above with a short sale on an older home is there anything we have to make sure that we do/check on? 

Again, total newbie here. I am of course going to verify that everything is legit with the bank. I'm also going to study what to look for in a house inspection and how to estimate repairs better. Also going to check for the 10th time that there's no weird tax/zoning issues with the home. But there's so much I don't know about the short sale process. Is there something we need to prepare for? Fees? Steps?

This is the closest I've been to finally owning my first piece of real estate, so any advice you guys can give me would be a huge help. Thanks all and hope to hear from you.

Hey guys, been searching in my home state of Oregon for a county/area of the state whose zoning permits living in travel trailers/manufactured homes... and can't seem to find anything. Are certain states more friendly toward travel trailer/manufactured home living, possibly like Texas? It seems everywhere in Oregon allows a max of 14 days of camping in a travel trailer and many areas do not allow manufactured homes. Thanks for any tips on this.

@Jay Hinrichs been noticing the same... the cheapest land is definitely out in the high desert in the middle of nowhere. Thanks for the tip about Lake Billy Chinook. $10,000 isn't totally firm, but we definitely want to do owner financing, preferably with low/no money down. Again the idea is to park our travel trailer on this land for living purposes and eventually get my mom a manufactured home to live in on this property. Perhaps "driving for dollars" would work for this as in finding property where it looks run down/abandoned and contacting the owner? Determined to make this happen!

@Linda Hastings I've come across them but haven't looked too deeply. Will start today. Thank you for the tip! My mom has worked very hard her entire life and deserves to retire in peace and security. I'm determined to make this happen for her. If you know any other benefits for army veterans retiring like my mom when it comes to buying land/a manufactured home, besides a VA loan, I'm all ears. Thanks again.

Hey guys, so a couple things are going on right now: my mom (who is a veteran) is ready to retire in peace but needs help to do so and I currently own a travel trailer and am looking for a place to park it and potentially live in it for a while. Currently in Oregon, I have been on the hunt for a vacant piece of land, from less than 1 acre to 10+, that we can acquire via owner financing with a total price of $10,000 or less. We prefer that this lot of land has power/water/septic already set up. With this lot of land I plan to park my travel trailer on it to live in for a while and also plan on getting my mom a manufactured house to put on the land for her retirement. 

I've been looking on Zillow... but most Oregon vacant lots of land under $10,000 are out in the middle of nowhere with no power/water/septic. Even bought a list from ListSource, but for some reason 90% of the entries are houses even though I specified Property Type Vacant Land. 

My question is: can anyone point me in the right direction? When it comes to searching for vacant land, what do you guys recommend? I am determined to help my mom comfortably retire by next year. Thank you very much to anyone who guides us in the right direction on this.

Hey man that'd be awesome! I think partnering up would be a good way to avoid some bad mistakes and learn faster. Looking into the Austin area... it seems to be a hub for activity that keeps growing. 

Think Jim is right on getting the license: it might cost a little extra, but it seems like being an active real estate agent would be one of the best ways to become truly educated in a local real estate market.

Hey, Jim, it's e-commerce. Yes, very good idea on announcing a date publicly to friends, family and peers. I watched a BP podcast where it was discussed that telling others about your objectives/goals increases the likelihood you will accomplish those objectives like you said to avoid embarrassment. 

Yup you're right about lenders... they do want to lend. From all of the BP podcasts and research I've done, it seems local credit unions are often the best bet for new investors. Planning on having my dad co-sign for the loan since his credit is good. 

Glad that I've spent a lot of time educating myself... read multiple books, watched tons of BP podcasts and other videos/podcasts on RE investing.. but 2019 must be the year of action. Even if it's just some little 100k rehab house... the first deal will happen this year. 

Awesome, thanks for the link, Jim, will definitely check it out. I'll be honest: I've been stuck in what BP calls "analysis paralysis" for a few years now and currently have nothing invested in real estate. I've decided to make 2019 the year of action. Always thought about getting my RE license and becoming an agent to get things started as a way to really learn the market in the real world and think that's exactly what I'm gonna do. Currently discussing ideas with my dad for my first deal. He's retired but interested if I can put together a good enough deal where we'll both profit. My personal credit isn't the best, and I'm self-employed so my declared income on tax returns is pretty low, so don't think I could qualify for traditional funding at the moment. Basically thinking about making real estate agent work my side hustle/2nd full time job to start making a little extra money for myself and to learn the market before I start seriously investing. Especially in a state like Texas that I haven't spent a whole lot of time in. Basically going to identify the states/areas that are the most landlord-friendly and go from there.