All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

thanks for all the info everybody, I appreciate it!

Ok we will contact a realtor later today or Monday and go from there to get this moving forward.

And that makes since, I would rather have the steak too if I were in there shoes!!!

Do we need a pre approval before moving forward or would it make sense to get a pre approval?

@brian l, I will talk to my wife and see what realty place we want to use, since we will use the same one when selling our home also. Id like to get a good relationship with one for future buys/sells also. Especially if its no cost to me then yeah that makes sense. Hope we can get stuff moving so we can start work within a month or so

ok, that makes since. So then we will prolly just use the listing agent then since we already agreed on a price the agent should not have any conflict of interest. We are gonna accept the house as is so I don't think we will get it inspected unless the lender wants us to, which I assume they will so I guess ok :-) Yeah if we cant get a mortgage on it then it will be a no go, so I hope since its a cheap mortgage on a livable house that a bank will let us. And maybe I should state that in our area typical homes sell for 65-100k I would say, so its not like average homes are on par with country around 150-200k so its not as bad as it sounds. We plan on 25k purchase price, 15-20k into it then when work is done it will be worth 60-70k, but thinking worst situation so 60k. We want to walk away in 2yr up 10k minimum, as we will be doing the work our selves. That's not counting the $350ish a month we will save on a mortgage payment from our current home to this home.

So should we see if we are pre approved for a mortgage on the house before signing a purchase agreement? Or have a clause in purchase agreement that says subject to getting a mortgage on the property? Or is the purchase agreement not binding and just says we have the intent to buy and is not set in stone?

We want to get things done sooner than later so we can get in and start repairs and be done with the major things downstairs before winter comes again! Which in upstate ny leaves us with about 5 good months....lol gotta love it

thanks that's good to know!!

Also the house is appraised at 42k so will be under the 80% mark so we will not need PMI which is nice.

As for asking for the 3%, would we have our lawyer add that into our purchase offer? Or do we use his realtor to sign purchase offer than talk to him?

So we go in to his realtor to sign a purchase agreement then get our lawyer to draw up contract with clauses, like you spoke of?

Or do we get a lawyer then have him drawn up the purchase offer and include the clauses in with purchase offer?

first a little background- So we found a house we like through a family friend. Are intent is to buy the house, live in it and fix it up over 2yrs then either sell it or rent it out. Either way it will generate more profit for our home in the future, since there is nothing in our market we want now and we are at a point in our current home where anymore work we do we wont see the return so it makes since to us to sell.

So the seller has a contract with a realtor so they have to go through him.(2k he gets regardless of sale price, so a flat fee) We offered them a price that they accepted, verbally, and when we were talking to him he said that his realtor told him to have us come in a put a purchase offer in on paper so its official.

I have a few questions id like to ask on what order we do things, or what thing we have to do for that matter.

Should we be using our own lawyer or realtor to handle anything, on the buying side? And if we go in and have his realtor give us papers to sign and what not will we own his realtor anything or does the contract they have with him include the paper work for buyer? If we have to pay him for his services then we might be better off getting our own realtor im assuming?

And we plan on selling our house, but our plan is to get approved for the mortgage (it will be our second primary house mortgage with the hope our house sells in 1-2 months months so we have time to do the things we want to do before we move in (update electric to 200amp, and put in new kitchen)

So we will be taking on 2 mortgages for a few months, we have the money available to cover them both for a while if need be, or we could take less for our home if it came down to it and still come out ahead.

Wondering what steps to take, I don't see why we would not get approved since the house is only 25k we are buying and we have more than that in equity in our current home. And we have the money to cover the repairs we want untill we sell our house and get the money back and we both have steady jobs with great credit.

So what order do we do things? Get a preapproval from a lender, then call lawyer or realtor or use there's? Then list our house once we know all is good and we can get this one? Am I missing something here?

Thanks ahead of time for any responses!

We plan to getting a 20 yr mortgage on the place and want to put as little down as possible that way we have more to put into it and can still get another rental unit this summer, so we might even go the 30yr route but I think that's only a difference of around $35-40 a month so the 20yr makes since.

and you know what kind of work your getting. The person who gave you a "good price" do you know them or have you worked with them before? If its the cheapest you could find then chances are (not always) that the work will be on par with there "cheap price" If you plan on making the drive to check on there work then might as well do it your self since you plan on going anyways. And I would do 2 coats, chances are you were gonna pay for only 1 anyways and They would prolly use an all in 1 sealer and stain. That is how I would quote someone. I bet you can do it for half the cost. Use stain and sealer combo to save time and money.

Point is if you have the time and you do it your self you know what your getting (within reason) and your SAVING MONEY (that means making money in my book)

I would drive there and get a cheap hotel if the place is rented out and do it yourself, or take my pop up camper and live in that for a night or weekend. If place is not rented pack a sleeping bag! You can def do it in a weekend. You can power wash or sand. If you power wash you need to let it dry.(bring cord and fan to help) Sanding does really well but just make sure to sand evenly. With out railings it will go very quick, and I think I would sand if it was my choice especially with out railings. You can rent a floor sander for $70 bucks for a day or for like $45 for 4 hours which is plenty for a deck that size. Add sanding pads and what not and say $90 for 4 hours. Then id bring a smaller air compressor to blow off dust after sanding, and give it a quick blowing before sanding to remove leaves and what not. Return sander, start staining. On a nice day you can do this in one day with a deck that size for sure. Maybe stay one night and hit it again in the morning if need be.

I know Will said his time is worth more than $400.... but if you don't do anything then you losing $400 plain and simple. Im not of fan of "my time is money" to an extent. Unless you have something else you could be doing that day to make more money then ok... But if not and you going to watch tv and do nothing then was watching tv really worth $400? And if so you can rent my couch and tv for a day or weekend for $400!!!!

Time is money.....lol... im not saying anything bad about Will and im sorry if this comes off as an attack, its more an attack at that mind set. Im newer to REI but not to making money. Most of the time when people say that my time is worth more than that, they dont do anything to generate money during said time frame. So if indeed there time is money then doing it your self will save you money and you will be paid in a sense and gain the invaluable knowledge so next time it will get done quicker. Unless your loaded, very busy, or you plan on dumping the place soon for a nice profit, or never plan to own a property with a deck again then pay someone else. just giving my .2c. If your balling out of control and don't mind giving away profits then by all means pay someone else. Im too cheap for that, my time is worth something only when im doing something. As I type, my time is only worth as much as the dirt outside, no more, maybe less since the dirt has a value I guess :-)

Saving money on a project is the same as making money in my book!!

refinish the floors and use ceramic tile. The whole point of renting is to make money. In the long run you will save money with the tile, if not the short term also as vinyl can be pricey too. The install is the hardest most expensive but it is not that hard to do. You can get tile from lowes or home depot for $1 a foot if your a bargain shopper and don't mind the everyday look, or even better if you've never done it before go with bigger tile, like 18"x18" then you have that many less to lay. You can get a wet saw to cut tile for $100-$200 then have it for your next project, and its not that hard to install. After you figure out your starting point use the tile spacers and just roll with it. They might turn out slightly crooked or uneven since your not a pro but to the tenant or untrained eye they will look mint and last forever. Make sure you get extra, if someone drops something you can chip up the one tile, replace, re-grout and its good to go!

As for the wood flooring, you can rent a sander for a day for $75 buck and have at it. Buy the stain for $50(more or less depending on how big an area) and do it your self also. Vinyl is nice since you can lay it quick but if you have to replace it every few years then you not saving time in the long run.

Why give away profits when neither task is too hard to do? That's the way I look at it. Plus it nice to feel the sense of accomplishment!

Either way good luck!!