All Forum Posts by: Preston C.

I am a licensed realtor in Kansas and Missouri, and was just curious if anyone had experience or knew of anyone that was an agent and also did inspections on the side. As an agent I've noticed my market seems to have a shortage of both inspectors and appraisers, so I thought about getting into it myself. The only issue I can think of would be doing inspections on my own deals as an agent, obviously there would be a conflict of interest there.

@Bruce Lynn I agree. I’ve actually worked with realtors that have told clients that the market is as good as it will ever get and not to wait to sell. And just the other day I saw a realtor on Tiktok that had several videos about how the market was going to crash and how she was helping sellers get their equity out before the market crash. That’s actually what sparked this post. I am actually licensed in KS and MO, but it’s been a while since studying for my licenses. I thought I remembered something about making promises about the market to consumers being illegal practice, but I could be wrong. I’ll have to look back and see if I can find where I saw that. Either way, it would be tough to prove or enforce.

I have clients ask all the time what the market is going to do. I just state facts that I’m aware of and that people have been waiting for a crash the last 10 years. I would feel terrible telling clients the market is going to crash and then a year or 2 down the road their home is worth over 25% or more what they sold for. Just look at the last year as an example.

I’ve seen a lot of agents lately talking about the market crashing soon, and using that to their advantage to get people to sell their home. Is that really legal for realtors to do? It definitely doesn’t seem ethical to me, as no one really knows for sure when or if the market will crash. Stating facts about what’s happening in the market and with interest rates, politics, etc. I get is ok. But flat out telling people the market is going to crash soon doesn’t seem right.

Thanks everyone for the responses/info. This house is actually just on the KS side of the border. I am actually interested in buying it to live in short term and potentially rent out in the future. I've learned that these Hubzu auctions are a bit odd. They have a reserve priced pretty high and the starting bid goes all over the place every time it relists. I've been watching patiently hoping I can get it at a decent price. As of right now the price isn't low enough just yet to be worth the risk to me. 

The main thing I was wondering is whether or not I should knock on the door. I thought that could give me an advantage as a bidder knowing at least something about the interior of the home. I figured the worst that could happen is I'd get the door slammed in my face and told I can't see the house. 

@Walter Aaron Poling I appreciate the response! It just makes me nervous buying something without knowing the condition and possibly having a hard time evicting the occupants. I thought maybe I could knock on the door or give them a call if I can find a number just to get a feel of how they may be and potentially get a look at the house. The particular property I am looking at would need to drop a bit more in price to factor in the risks involved.

Anyone have experience bidding on/buying a property that doesn’t allow viewings or have interior pictures because it is occupied? I found a house I am interested in buying and the auction is on Hubzu, but I’m a bit nervous about bidding or trying to buy this without knowing what the condition of the inside is like. Bank has owned for 3 months but the previous owners still live here and even have their Christmas tree up (so I’m assuming they don’t plan to get out soon). Would it be worth knocking on the door and asking to view it or asking about the condition? I’m worried they would be hard to evict if I did end up winning the bid.

Sorry if I post this in the wrong section or if it's been posted about before (I couldn't find much on the topic), but I am wondering how others with rental property keep track of travel expenses related to managing a rental property. I found a template online for excel that I use to record my income and expenses and it has a section to track mileage and multiplies your mileage by whatever the allowable rate is for business travel ($0.535 cents last year). I've used a local tax service business previously to prepare my taxes and they said they just need the mileage related to rental expenses. So I'm guessing they did the same thing and just deducted it themselves. 

I was just wondering what others do when preparing their taxes and how you may record your miles or expenses related to travel?

Its probably already been mentioned in some way or another, but I would say a huge mistake people make starting out (aside from screening well) is being flexible on terms of the contract. If you're flexible even on just the slightest terms, tenants will take advantage. For instance, not following up on late fees when tenants pay late. They will pay late every month and eventually may stop paying all together. Even if you think you have a good tenant, you need to make it very clear that the terms of the lease aren't flexible. If the rent is due the 1st and I don't have my money on the first, I make sure to let them know right away. Another thing is letting people split up the deposit and/or rent. If they can't come up with the money right away every month you are more than likely going to have problems. 

That's sort of what I figured. Just didn't know if anyone else had similar experience or knew the best way of going about getting a loan given my situation. I guess I just need to start checking around with banks. 

Hi Everyone,

So I've posted before about my first house purchase, which is currently a rental. I'd like to buy at least 1 house next year to live in and later turn to a rental, and possibly another rental. My current house after renovation I think should appraise for at least 50k, probably higher. It is completely paid for and cash flows about $550 a month or so. I'd rather not sell this house if I can use it to finance other purchases. I'm also heading into my last semester as a grad student (thought this may be relevant for financing). Planning to have a job lined up after graduating.

So my question is, what is the best way to take out financing on my current house, or is that even possible before getting a steady job for a few years? I thought maybe I could use a co-signer to help get the loan. The idea is to take out financing on this house for down payments on other rentals. Would it be best to go with a line of credit, home equity loan, or just standard mortgage?

Something else I thought I could do for a house to live in was an FHA loan, because I could probably come up with 3.5% down for the houses I'd be looking at buying in my area. The goal is to buy as many rental properties as I can get financing for. The first worked out very well and I'm pretty confident I can do the same with multiple properties.

Thanks for any response.