All Forum Posts by: Christopher David Harris

Hi Cami!  My wife and I are also in Cedar and would love to connect sometime and see what we can make happen!  

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $250,000
Cash invested: $70,000

Bought as a Primary residence to get us out of our last property. We anticipate refinancing our 5.941% interest rate when rates drop to lower the payment to make this a viable cash flowing rental property.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Our area is exploding, and it's close to our other rental property. Given that our area is still growing and expanding I anticipate that our prices will continue to rise as we're still lagging behind a lot of the rest of Utah, so we're investing for a few years out.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

MLS, Listed at $275,000 offer accepted at $250,000

How did you finance this deal?

20% down Conventional, used previous HELOC for 50% of down payment.

How did you add value to the deal?

Property smelled of heavy smoking. We removed the popcorn ceiling, replaced Cabinets, flooring, baseboards, repainted, replace light fixtures, replace all the outlets, etc.

What was the outcome?

We got an appraisal for $305,000 gaining $55,000 from the purchase price. Opened another HELOC on the unit and got the cash out at a cheaper rate and paid down the previous HELOC making the Cashflow from those units even stronger.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

We should have negotiated more after the initial offer to get a slightly better price since the smoke damage was more extensive than we initially thought.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

We recommend our mortgage broker Todd Memmott with Legacy Mortgage to everyone, he's been great for us.

My wife and I got a property under contract a few days ago.  We just got a copy of the seller disclosures and know with certainty that the seller is lying about 2 things.  After we looked at the property, we got a copy of the signed lease agreement for the current tenants that allows us to give them a 30 day notice to vacate upon closing.  HOWEVER, the seller marked that the home was not being used as a rental.  Lie number 1.

When we lined up our insurance on the property our agent informed us about a claim made for a little more than $10,000 in Sept. 2021 because of water damage. The Seller denied that any claims were ever made on the property. 

Now we're getting an inspection tomorrow that will tell us a lot about the place.  But given the insurance claim she's lying about we're not sure what recourse we might have.

We're working on getting more information on the insurance claim, like what was it for? Who did the repairs?  etc.

So ultimately, having proof that she's lying about $10,000+ worth of water damage what could that mean legally?  Could that be grounds for a lawsuit in the future?  We'll probably have our realtor send theirs a message asking for honesty.  Do we just inform them that we know about the insurance claim and hope for the best?  

We'll more than likely be asking for a lower purchase price at this point, but if she denies lowering the price should we just close and take legal recourse against her if the damage is still present/ unfixed?  It'll make a good cash flowing property, but the seller clearly can't be trusted.

It was my biggest mistake in hindsight, but it was still a great decision.  I finished Property 2, and just posted details.  Now onto bigger and better things!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $148,200
Cash invested: $5,000
Sale price: $220,000

I bought this home in Parowan UT. for 148,000 and have remodeled it to an ARV of aprox 215,000. I did most of the work on my own.

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $216,000
Cash invested: $25,000

Bought a Single Family, and put in a small apartment in the basement to cover living expenses.

Pictures attached are before and afters of the Kitchens. One of the Basement Bedrooms was turned into a fully functional Kitchen(ette).

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

There are no other options for my price range available in my area

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

For sale by owner, listed on Zillow. We offered Full Price at $225,000 and the appraisal came in at $216,000 so they took the appraised price.

How did you finance this deal?

5% Down Conventional, 6 months in I Refinanced out of the PMI.

How did you add value to the deal?

I remodeled both the upstairs and downstairs to add an apartment which acts as a rental unit

What was the outcome?

We build $100,000 worth of equity into the property and my mortgage is paid every month by the tenants.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Inspections inspections inspections.
We had almost everything wrong with the house, and we skipped the inspection.
ISSUES:
-Water pressure regulator was shot and was at 160psi for months. A lot of the valves were replaced, toilets all replaced etc.. everything was bad that we found.
-Roof Leak
-Water Drainage issues
-Clay Soil
Luckily I have access to everything I need for free or very cheap, including a plumber friend who did all the plumbing work for free.

I bought a single family home 4 months ago and I am almost done with converting it to a duplex for my first house hack.

I put down 5% 
i’ll have built in about 25% equity (I’m guessing) so theoretically I should be able to cash out and get my down payment and rehab cost back,

What I’m not sure about, is where to begin with refinancing it into a company name?

Especially since the company will be brand new..?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $148,200
Cash invested: $5,000

I bought this home in Parowan UT. for 148,000 and have remodeled it to an ARV of aprox 215,000. I did most of the work on my own. New flooring, cabinets, paint, roof, lighting, ripped out the jetted tub, and framed in a tile walk in shower.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

it was the right price, and It is up the street from my Parents Cabinet Shop (Harris Custom Cabinets) so I had easy access to tools needed for the flip

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

It showed up on the MLS and on the Same day because i know this market I scheduled a showing. I first offered 140,000$ and we ended up negotiating 152,800$ including having the roof to be redone.

How did you finance this deal?

I received a first time homebuyers Grant from the State Bank of Southern Utah for 7,500$ which covered the Down payment, then SBSU financed the rest. Except for the cost of the remodel. Which my parents are carrying the cost til it sells, because most of it is what they sell out of the cabinet shop.

How did you add value to the deal?

A lot of Sweat Equity

What was the outcome?

I'm House Hacking, and renting out 2 of the bedrooms, while i'm opening a HELOC to pay back the cost of the rehab. The plan for now is to take whats left on the HELOC and use it to buy another property.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

My Mother was the Real Estate Agent so She ended up not taking a Commission, and used the money to pay for part of the rehab.