All Forum Posts by: Brian W.

Are you making offers on spec homes?

Does anyone know the rules about using gift funds for investing in property? I heard you cannot. Does this rule vary by lender, state, or is it federal. Have a client that was hoping to use funds from a parent for this, up to the $14,000 max.

You just need to be upfront and find an investor who is also a real estate agent. They will understand and I'm sure there are plenty in your area. But if you're going to Realtors as a complete stranger, then yes they will ask for a lot more info since you don't have a relationship with them.

Jeremy is correct, and your rental rates seem fairly accurate so you may need to keep looking. The 1% rule will be a bit tough to find right now.

Hi Raj, when you say not attractive can you elaborate. Do you mean physical appearance or a financial criteria you are using? What price point are you looking at?

Based strictly on what you've written I'd say she should definitely keep the deposit, and you should pay for the one room floor damage and the areas that need painting - not the whole house. If you offer her a check somewhere in the middle and say this is what we think is fair above the deposit, hopefully that will be good enough and everyone can move on. It will show you have no interest in trying to drag things out.

Partner with a full-time agent who is willing to split all deals 50:50. I am trying this concept now - she works 9-6pm Mon thru Fri, and I take all calls after 6pm and do all house showings with buyers Saturday and Sunday when most people can look at houses. Same thing for listings, you would do all open houses on the weekend. It can be done, but most people want the whole pie which is why it's hard to find agents willing to partner like that. The biggest problem is on hard deals where you have to negotiate with the other agent during the day, call the lender, and follow up with the title company. Lots of moving parts if you have a job where you can't step aside during the day. If you think most deals will be like that, then propose 60:40 where you get the 40% because you're doing less work.

In Texas, it comes down to whether you signed a buyer representation agreement with the agent, which states if you find a home (even FSBO) you will be on the hook for the commission unless the agent can convince the FSBO seller to give them the commission. This unfortunately happened to me with a friend years ago. I took them house hunting for months and they spotted a FSBO. When they realized I wouldn't get paid they stopped returning my calls. What's sad is that because they were my friends I would have settled for losing the commission to save the friendship, but they automatically assumed I would ask them to pay the whole fee. The FSBO seller got nervous when he heard I was their agent and wouldn't sell them the house until they talked to me. We ended up in a parking lot where they wrote me a check for $1,000 to drop any pursuit for a higher commission - I think the home was $300K at the time. The seller called me to verify I was cool, with everything, and I told them I was never trying to hunt them down, I just wanted to talk. I learned a lot from that situation about people and communication.