All Forum Posts by: Ralph C.

Hey Yall!

The Military is relocating miny family to the Savannah, GA area and we are looking for any meetup groups or REI Groups in the area. Seattle area groups have been amazing and I have made amazing connections and learned a tremendous amount from the groups, hoping I can find the same in GA. My wife and I have been working on wholesaling, no deals yet unfortunately but we have put in the work so eventually as we continue to bust our butts it will pay off. Looking forward to getting started in GA around June/July time frame. Thanks for any responses. Hope everyone is doing well!

Nick

Hi All,

I'm also new to the Atlanta area. We own a single family property but we want to change it to multifamily by building a few units. It's in the Jonesboro, Clayton County, Georgia area. I talked with a couple of reps at the zoning board and they say it's highly unlikely my request to change the zoning to MF will be approved. We are gutting the inside of the property anyway so now would be a great time to build the units. Does anyone know of any loophole that I could pursue to legally get the MF units approved?

I'm looking for some input.  The property is around Cypress Hills near East NY which are supposed to an up and coming Brooklyn neighborhoods.  It is a legal 2 family with two apartments and a fully finished basement.  The basement is essentially an apartment -- two means of egress, a bathroom, kitchen cabinets and sink but minus the stove and fridge.  While I do see the potential benefit of marketing it to renters as a possible "duplex with separate entrances" or an apartment with extra rec room / storage space, I'm concerned with possible C of O issues.  

As long as a stove and fridge are not placed in the basement, is that ok?

Could a microwave and mini fridge be used in the basement without issues?

If anyone has experience with such setups - particularly NYC BPers as laws may be different in other states.  Please let me know if it's a good idea; or a potential major headache.  Does anyone have creative suggestions on how to make this work?   Please let me know.  Feel free to PM me.  Thank you.

@Charles Stewart II

I do have some experience with Do Hard Money

It neither a positive nor a negative, its in the middle

I like them in the fact that it's a second set of eyes looking at the deal. I've tried to include them 3 times in a deal and and have yet to actually have them fund it. First experience they denied a property, said the crime rate was too high but I still went ahead with the property and now its a cash flowing cow. Tried to include them in another property but they denied again because it was too far away from civilization lol they called it agricultural land, which looking at hindsight, I'm glad they denied because the location was indeed awful (very specific buyer would have been needed) and I was just trying to make it work in my head. BAD idea. The last time I've tried to use them was a hot mess. They came in to do an evaluation of the property which costs $650. The evaluation process is supposed to take 3-5 days which is okay, I get it. It took 10 days to finally get the final evaluation report. They hire local people in subject property's area and the first person they hired was taking too long so they had to re-hire another evaluator which took another 2-5 days. And through out all this time, I HAD to stay on top of them. Not once did they say, "Hey Jonathan sorry that it's taking too long we're trying to solve the problem" It was always me emailing them (they have no direct phone line which is a HUGE inconvenience) saying "whats taking so long" "Can I have an update on the situation." And what really drove me nuts was that if I didn't say anything, they would have thought everything is okay and peachy, it's just a small set up but in reality I have investors money on the line and I want to know whats going. Not once did they send updates on where in the process of the evaluation they are in. 

Long story short, they denied again and I ended up wholesaling it to someone who wanted to use it as a primary residence. When I finally got a hold of them during that 10 day time frame, we agreed that we can go "halfsies" on the $650 evaluation fee. They didn't hold their end of the bargain of 3-5 days and instead took twice as long and I thought that was fair to only have to pay $325. So we agreed that if the deal didn't get funded then I'd get my $325 back and if the deal went through then we'd leave this all behind and focus on the project. So a week goes by and no money was put back in my account. I finally get a hold of them on the phone after plenty of emails and they said we never agreed to such a thing, that theres no note of it on my file. By this time I've had it up to "here" with them so I asked to talk to higher management and they said the $650 is non-refundable and they have no control over who they hire. (In my head I'm thinking, so if i hire a bozo contractor and he just botches up everything, your telling me I have no control over that? That saying "sorry" to my investor is sufficient enough?) They wanted to make things right by adding another package to my membership which I don't even use. I expect excellence, and when I don't receive it, I get heated up. I don't tolerate mediocre people. 

My advice to you. Stay on top of them. Get everything they say in writing including names (shame on me) and trust me when I say that a no direct phone line is a terrible inconvenience especially when you have a question or concern and you have to email it to them, wait until they view and respond, and then they email back or call you. 

If you do get a project funded by them, please let me know how the process was. My experience could've just been a fluke.

I do however will give them 1 more chance on another project. I do still want to experience a HML on one of my projects.

Let me know what you think. Good luck!

Hey guys I was wanting to know what type of real estate license I should get. I want to be an investor and I want to have a license for access to the mls and for educational purposes. I have noticed there are several different types of licenses and I am not sure which one I should get. Also does anyone know if I obtain the license in Georgia can I use it in Alabama?

Thanks, Karsen

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but it seems most wholesale deals are put under contract initially with no "skin in the game" from the wholesaler. 

Hi All,

I am having an issue with my Seller's attorney making said Sellers wary of our deal. The attorney did not like that fact that my purchase agreement was not on the standard state form, and also that my earnest money was so low. 

So, my question is really two questions:

A) Has anyone else had issues getting deals done on proprietary purchase agreements which are not the official state form (C.A.R form in my case, being in California). How have you navigated this issue?

B) Has anyone else had issues with getting the sellers to feel comfortable signing when you are essentially not putting earnest money down? (I list $1, just to open escrow with a title company.)

Unfortunately for me, putting down a substantial % is not an option as I am dealing with $1M+ homes. I know that the end buyer will be using a standard state purchase agreement and will list a substantial deposit, but how do I get my sellers to feel comfortable to sign my contract with no emd before that step?

Any and all advise gladly accepted!

Thanks

Nick

 In Dan's thread (see above) he said that payment is only expected by 3pm the same day. I took that to mean that you have time to leave the auction and go to the bank to get the check, then come back to the courthouse and make payment.

My team and I are getting our finances lined up and are looking at properties for our first flip. We want to make sure we explore all options when finding deals. We have scoured the MLS listings but I think we should also explore the foreclosure auction process. We want to have all avenues open to us and don't want to be intimidated by foreclosures. Are there any local investors out there who regularly attend the courthouse auctions who would be willing to let me tag along to learn the ropes? I can buy lunch and help you with the deal however I can.