All Forum Posts by: Robert Smith

In my experience with homepath they are not usually willing to do any work or reducing of a price once you are under contract no matter what you find on your home inspection. They used to do this however they have gotten away from that for the most part, not saying it wont be done. For me this would not be a deal. If the numbers are coming in at asking price and you are still putting $20K into the home before you even get the first income check that could be a problem. This would be a pass for me. Unless you are on a time constraint to spend the money such as a 1031 situation I would keep looking. For this one to be a deal they will need to accept what you are ultimately willing to pay up front. Once under contract not only will you lose money one inspections and such, you could lose your earnest money and make the "no-deal" much harder to walk away from now that you have a vested interest in the home. Just getting under contract only works when there is plenty of equity in the home and you are deciding if you want to purchase for yourself or wholesale, or when you know something major is coming to the area that will instantly increase the value of the home or you can owner finance a property with no money down and it has cash flow. This situation doesn't sound like any of those scenarios. 

Other websites to add to your list would be econohomes, hudhomestore.com, homepath.com, and other auction sites such as auction.com, hubzu, williamsauctions, and **********. 

There are plenty out there, these are just a few I personally use. 

Owner occupancy is one why, finding a home that needs work and putting sweat equity into it is something that many people start out with. The home could later be used for the equity to purchase more property or sold and the funds used to purchase more homes. One way you could start now is by wholesaling properties or bird dogging for other investors in your area to find deals, use this money to purchase homes or to fund the repairs with other investors. Starting your business now would give you the credit and history of your company that you could use in the future to purchase homes with loans made out to your company. Leverage and other peoples money is the best way to get more properties with the least out of pocket. It can be done and be done quickly if you stick to your plans. 

The same financing creativity for SFR would work with multi-family, many multi fam owners may even be more open to creative financing due to them already being managers and owners rather then owner occupants. Sub 2, lease option with the ability to sublet the property, owner financing, these are all able to be done with any property.

With legal zoom you get what you pay for. Talk with a few attorneys in your area find who the other investors in the area are using and go to them. You can do a lot of this yourself however something like this needs to be done right and you must protect yourself. Keep separate accounts for personal and business, and talk with your attorney about an LLC or corporation and the differences in paperwork needed and tax implications for each type of filing. Another thing to look at is where you will file your biz. Different states have different rules and regs, You can start your biz in any state and file for the ability to work in the state you are in as your business. You need a company for sure, you are on the right track. Good luck.

Jumping into a venture is a great thing, however the first thing I would do is verify these numbers for myself. Realtor and zillow are the last 2 places I would pull my information unfortunately, these sites are very skewed as well as the information from the person "pitching" the deal. If there is only one house in the market at $259k and everything else has sold $200ish that is also a read flag. You want to be in and out with your money, not sit on property for a long time and let your money do nothing for you. In a position with many other investors is also a red flag for me. First position is preferred, it sounds like there is a lot of risk without a whole lot of assurances in the deal. 

That was the bad, now the good. There is money to be made if the CMA is correct, and the return sounds like something that would be very good for the short period of time you are in the deal. Experience is something needed and 25 years is a good amount of time, claims may be the best choice for their experience.

Overall I would approach with caution and eyes wide open. For the partnership this is a good idea, the ownership and deeds of trust for the property should also be held in the partnership and not with this individual doing the deal. There is no guarantee when investing but you should protect yourself. Maybe a smaller deal where you are in first position would be a better first deal then something like this, give them time to prove their worth and if they hold true and return the money for everyone then maybe give them a shot next time. Ask around the group about them and do your research. Not every deal is a good deal, and as much as it is no fun to be left out, there is no reason to rush into anything either. 

I have not worked with this website however what you are looking for would be the tax information stating where they are mailing the tax bills. This should be the current owner and their address. You can reverse search the owners name and address and many times get their phone numbers. Be careful with this as many people may be on the do not call list, you can however mail them letters or leave yellow letters on their door step. 

Most of the information you can find on your own or have a virtual assistant look it up for you, but listsource may also be another approach. 

Have a letter and mail it out and make sure you follow up. Follow up is the one thing that always gets left out but the people who follow up are the ones who get paid. 

Good luck

It would only be unreasonable not to offer this. There is no sense in payment more then you should be a property and it is worth an ask. I would think your numbers are about right for this deal, based on the potential for growth and the new development starting this could be the right time to pick this property up however the numbers have to be right when you purchase, not when you try to sell. Good luck.

This is very possible, and I speak from direct experience. When talking with owners I always give them the least worst option close. I tell them there are many ways to sell a property however there are pro's and con's to each way to sell and I pitch them the option to sell to me as an investor. I don't want them coming back later and saying I did not at least let them know they could have received more money for the home, but I make sure they know when I buy the home there are no repairs needed and it is for immediate cash out when a traditional sell could take much longer. I have them even sign disclosures that I am an investor and they acknowledge that I am a real estate broker working for my personal interest instead of as a licensed real estate agent. Disclose, disclose, disclose. Real estate is my lively hood and I make a good living as a broker so I am not going to throw that away over a few dollars. Worst case if you cannot get the wholesale deal you could get the listing. Being an agent give you an advantage to finding more deals and ultimately helping more people, that is why I work as both. Get everything you do in writing and remember to have them acknowledge you are an agent and working on your personal behalf. Most agents only see inside the traditional box, good job on thinking outside of it. 

The first thing to look at for me would be the cost of money. What are the fees and penalties to pull out of a retirement account compared to the cost to pull the equity out of the home. A tax attorney or CPA would be a good one to talk with about this as well. Many investors do not want to tie up their personal home in an investment property however this may be the cheaper and wiser decision depending on your situation. You could always do a cash out refi once you have purchased the property go get the money back for your home or retirement account. One thing to look into would be a self directed IRA if using your retirement account to invest in real estate.