All Forum Posts by: Rob Randle

Originally posted by @Greg H.:

Fannie Mae will not sue for non-performance.. The maximum consequence for backing out will be loss of earnest money

 Thanks for the response as well as others in this thread.  My family member was able to back out of the contract.

I have a family member who is in a tough buying situation and I am seeking advice on their behalf.  

To sum it up:

1. He put an offer in at $135,000 on a Fannie Mae home for that was listed for $125,000 and it got accepted (no surprise).  He will be using this home as a primary residence.
2. After home inspection he was able to negotiate the purchase price down to $131,000 due to some issues with the property.
3. Contracts signed.
4. Now family member wants to back out of the deal because he realizes that its not a good deal and doesn't want to spend a lot of money on numerous repairs.
5. He consults RE lawyer who was recommended by RE agent.  Lawyer mentions that seller can sue for "non-performance".

Questions:

1. Whats the best play to get out of this purchase?
2. How much can seller sue for non-performance?  Does anyone have experience on how this works out in court?

RE has created an avenue for success.  Results are measurable and the opportunities are endless.

The process of goal setting, taking action, holding yourself accountable, adapting to the market, achieving goals, and setting new goals is unbelievable.  

Originally posted by @Kenneth B.:

Hello Rob, I cannot give any thoughts on what to budget for common areas. I find it strange that it's oil hot water but gas heat. It may be more efficient to run everything on gas and eliminate the oil all together. 

Also, be sure the oil tank is not below ground, or that there aren't any abandoned tanks below ground.

 Its $6,000 to convert oil hot water to gas I had previously called a contractor about that expense.  But the tanks are definitely a concern I just want to be fairly accurate with my cash flow numbers.

Evaluating a triplex in NJ.  The property has separate gas heaters and electric meters.  In the description it mentions that "landlord pays water, hot water, and common area electric." & "tenant is responsible for heat, electric and sewer bills"

For the heating and cooling information it mentions that the property has oil hot water, gas heating, forced air heating, and zoned heat.  Property is over 100 years old.

Given that this property has oil hot water how much should I factor into my cash flow numbers for water, hot water, and common area electric?

My preliminary numbers are $75 (per unit) for all water and $30 a month for common area electric.  

What do you guys and gals think?

Originally posted by @Kalo (Kyle) Atanasoff:

Hello,

What i usually do, is to set a side "emergency fund" of X amount of dollars...whatever you are conformable with and then start taking 5% capEX and 5% maintenance of the monthly rent

 thanks for recommendation, I will do that

I'm analyzing a duplex deal that I see in my market.  I plan to live in one unit and rent out the other.

Analyzing this multi-family deal there is a separation between repairs that need to be made and repairs that will be beneficial to make.  A repair that I would like to do but may not be in the budget yet is install vinyl plank flooring and removing trees around the yard to create less maintenance.

1. Do you feel that saving for these repairs as a percentage of monthly rent is the best approach if these types of repairs?  My goal is to not sacrifice initial cash on cash returns while creating a plan to create a solid rental.

Originally posted by @Eric F.:

I might have missed this. Are you an agent or working with one? If not can you offer her both sides of the commission.

 Im not an agent but work with a buyers agent.  I feel that I am obligated to use my buyers agent because she has been very helpful.  I bought one from her in December and she has shown me quite a few since then that haven't worked out.

Originally posted by @JD Martin:

If I wanted the place, and I knew there was an offer the same as mine, I would just withdraw and resubmit a better offer. 

 Thats what I ended up doing.  I bumped it up 10k to my best offer.

I could do that. Do you think that's a better option? Maybe that's another reason that the possible dual agent doesn't want a higher offer, because she doesn't know if her buyers can qualify. I personally work in sales and would have no problem introducing myself. But I also don't want to disqualify myself for being intrusive. Talking them might be better because I can receive credit without raising my price.