All Forum Posts by: Rob Jones

Hey Julie Beck welcome to the forums! I live in Fort Myers, FL and our area(Fort Myers/Cape Coral) is a hotbed for rentals. Feel free to send me a DM if you'd like some info about certain areas inside southwest Florida.

Roberto Moita what are you needing the software to do?

I was reading this article this morning and thought I'd share it with the subject matter experts on the forums. It looks like about 3.3 million HELOC's will be resetting to fully amortizing loans over the next couple of years, more than half of which are on underwater homes. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on the micro and macro impact of this! http://realestateinvestingtoday.com/3-3-million-helocs-scheduled-reset/

Welcome to BiggerPockets Jordon Atkinson ! Let me first start by telling you that there are some really knowledgable people up hear so be a sponge when it comes to soaking in information from others. I've gotten so much knowledge from real estate books so, given your certain case, I would highly recommend purchasing the BiggerPockets book on Investing in Real Estate with Little to No Money Down. I've read this book twice now because the insight is so great. One other thing I would recommend is to never be afraid to ask questions. You don't know what you don't know and the only way to know is to ask questions. There are many mistakes that can be avoided by simply asking for help. Best of luck to you!

Thanks for the input so far everyone.  I guess I should start by adding this is not in Fort Myers.  I live in Fort Myers currently but I do all of my investing in my hometown of Greenville, NC because I am very familiar with that market and it has been successful for me so far.  To address a couple of things from above:

@Matthew Augustine I am actually not thinking that the sellers asking price is too high. I honestly think it is priced correctly for my area but, based on what I've seen from the comps, I'm worried the place won't appraise. In speaking with my realtor a few minutes ago, she mentioned she has some comps that will justify the $89.9k price and she will be sending me those comps shortly. Secondly, as I think a little more about your statement regarding how long it would take to recoup the rehab investment I begin to realize that I would have a higher CoC return if I let the seller take care of the rehab as opposed to trying to get the place for less and paying my maintenance person to do the rehab. I guess I was more fixated on the sales price as opposed to my return. Thanks for the insight.

@Brian Barfoot as I'm sure you know all markets are different and there is not one set rule that works the same for all markets. In my area the 1% rule is about as much as I can get when I'm buying something off the MLS. I have a full time job and manage my rentals myself so I'm sure you can understand that I don't have much time to do direct mail marketing or cold call homeowners to find off markets deals that I can get for a steal. I have stuck to the 1% or above rule so far in addition to some other metrics and have been treated well up until this point. At any rate I appreciate your feedback and wish you success in the future.

Hi Everyone,

I have been presented with an off-market deal by my realtor and I wanted to get everyone's input. 

Deal is below:

Solid Brick Duplex built in 1977

2 Bed/1 Bath per side

Currently rented on 1 side to the same tenant for 4 years at $500...not sure if they are month to month or yearly

Other side is recently vacant but was rented to same person for 8 years at $500

Will probably need a new roof in approximately 10 years

Will need new water heaters in less than 3 years

Asking price is $89,900.  This price includes new cabinets, counter-tops in kitchen and bath, stove, possibly fridge, paint throughout, new carpet and vinyl in side A(the vacant side).  Side B(the occupied side) was redone 4 years ago prior to the new tenant.

Once the new side is overhauled I am 100% positive I could place a tenant for $600 per month generating $1,100 per month in gross income.  The thing I am really worried about right now is the appraisal.  There aren't many comps to pull from and not more than 4 months ago a similar duplex(exact same floor plan and build year) that is a stone's throw away sold for $70k.  If the seller is firm at $89.9k I am highly doubtful that this one will appraise at that price or even close.  If this happens I won't be able to get financing.  To be quite honest I am comfortable paying the $89.9k because the numbers still work at that price but I would hate for a cash buyer to drop in and steal this because I cannot secure the financing.  Also, seeing that it is off market and has yet to be listed, I'm uncertain the seller would even entertain an offer in the $70k range right now.

@Jerry Padilla I will be talking to you about this one.  What are your thoughts?  Any additional input from anyone as to how I can make this work, thoughts, questions, concerns, etc. would be great!  Thanks in advance for the responses.

I have a friend who just locked in a 30 year fixed at 3.25% on an owner occupied home.  Purchase of $240k.  He and his fiance are both first time home buyers.

I was just quoted 4.75 on my 4th investment property. 30 year fixed at 85% LTV.

@Vida Dillard  What did you do the first time this individual locked himself out?  Why did he think it was okay to defy the lease and get the locks changed himself?  Has there been previous non-compliance that you let slide?

I'm not quite sure if there is anything that you can do now that the tenant has already changed the locks.  Seeing that this is now the second time he has locked himself out, I would set up some guidelines in the event that this happens again.  Make him fully aware that, even though he is just changing the locks, he is violating his lease and all violations, regardless of how large or small, are grounds for eviction.  Make him aware that an eviction will be on his record for quite some time.  Is it really worth it to have that stain on his record over something as simple as changing a lock?

@Andrew Bishop and @Nathan Click thank you both for responding.  I have been enamored with my 8-5 recently so I apologize for the late response.  I'll be reaching out to both of your shortly.

I look forward to hearing back from you both!

Thanks for responding @Robert Grant.  I just sent you an e-mail.  Looking forward to hearing back from you.