All Forum Posts by: Sandra Holt

 To view the properties, I simply called the listing agent and asked if they'd be willing to show it. I only had one agent give me a hard time. I saw a couple short sales and REOs and with those, I told the listing agent that if I was to put an offer on the house, I would use them to do so and they would earn both sides of the commission. My rationale for that was that they had the best relationship with the bank and could negotiate on my behalf much better than I could. With the standard retail properties, I was clear with the listing agent that I was representing myself. 

In submitting my offer to the listing agent, I just submitted via email and I detailed exactly how I came up with my offer. I complimented the homeowners on the upkeep of the house and listed all the things that I liked about the property then I detailed what I thought were shortcomings that I thought justified a lower offer compared with other properties for sale in the neighborhood. I also stated that if my offer was accepted, I would follow up with a formal offer. Fortunately, I didn't have to because the listing agent offered to draft it. Because I'm an attorney, you can bet that I read over every line before signing but there was nothing that the agent tried to sneak in.  Incidentally, the listing agent was been so professional and knowledgable throughout this whole process that if I ever did need an agent, I'd use him. 

I am financing the property through my local credit union after putting 25% down.  I hope to be able to offer all cash eventually, but I'm not there yet. 

 Persistance is key!  Good luck!

In my area I use frankly.com and they have a feature that allows you to pull up comps by year. I love it. You might be able to use it as well since one of the areas that they service is VA, but it may be restricted to Northern VA.

@KIMARD EGLETON , at this point I wouldn't do anything differently with the townhouse that we finally selected.  There was a short sale in the same neighborhood that needed at least $60K worth of work because it was a wreck and I thought briefly of putting in an offer, but I didn't want to wait for the bank to eventually turn down by super low offer and lose that time finding something nicer.  

I did do a couple things though that I wouldn't repeat leading up to this purchase.  The first was that I targeted another neighborhood by sending the homeowners letters stating that my husband and I were very interested in buying in that neighborhood.  It was a mistake because my letter sounded too desperate and I got a bunch of people calling me who wanted retail+ for their house.  One guy called me and "offered" his house to me for $20K above the highest price that I had seen houses in that neighborhood sold for.  And, oh yeah, it wasn't updated at all inside whereas the others were.  He said that because it seemed like I really wanted to move in that neighborhood that I should be willing to pay his price.  I turned him down politely then he told me that he was a real estate agent and would be willing to be my buyers agent.  Seriously, why would I go with a realtor who tried to rip me off in our first exchange???  Then he had his real estate partner call me and try to sell his agent services to me.  *sigh*  Anyway, desperate letters was my first mistake.  My second was that I didn't drive all the neighborhoods in the area where I wanted to purchase before sending the desperate letters.  When I did, I found the area where I ended up buying had much larger townhouses for a better price.    

I concur with @andriase scott and will also add that sometimes there are listing services that are specific to your area. For example, I primarily use Frankly.com and love it because it gives me so much more information than the other sites but it's just for the MD, PA, VA, and DC area.

Sure I can share. The newest townhouse we got is in Kings Contrivance in Columbia and we paid $255K for it. There are 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths. The average sales price for the neighborhood in 2014, (which are all the same townhouses) was $285K. Our first townhouse we bought about 10 years ago in Jessup and we paid $175K and the FMV is about $275K currently. Ratios? Sorry, but I'm a newbie so I don't know what that is...

 These are all great examples. Thank you for sharing them!

@Jeff Formeller Sure, the first rental was a townhouse that my husband and I were renting and when the landlord wanted to sell, we asked if we could buy using seller financing (since we were two poor law students and couldn't qualify for a mortgage), and he agreed.  Seller financing was awesome and I highly recommend it!  When we outgrew that house (and had more cash!), we rented it out, and moved into our current primary.  That townhouse has been rented out for the last four years by the same three, professional women and I couldn't ask for better tenants.  They can't screw in a lightbulb to save their lives, but the house is immaculate every time I stop by.

This one that we just bought was one where we just hunted in the neighborhood using the approach that @Andraise Scott outlined and we were lucky to score a deal.  The townhouse was always intended to be a working office for our law firm and we are thrilled that our obligation is a thousand less than the rent we were paying for the dinky offices we currently have.  And we're building equity to boot.  The day that my offer was accepted, a friend asked if we had a place for her good friend to rent since he was in the beginning stages of a separation.  Since we bought the property with the intention of renting out the basement apartment, it was such good timing and we now have a tenant in place when we close.  

Anyway, that's probably more detail than you wanted, but there it is!

@Andraise Scott This is the first time I've tried this strategy and I love how it worked out, so I'll definitely be trying it again.  It's interesting how different strategies work in different areas.  Congrats on getting your newest property and getting a tenant already!

@Mark Forest Thrilled to be buying houses is exactly how I feel!  The rent checks aren't too bad either ;)

@Joe Fairless Buying in Columbia is HARD!  Howard County (where Columbia is) has a school system that is consistently rated in the top 5 in the nation so housing prices are high.  If you do have a rental, you'll have potential tenants knocking down your door especially if you have a property that's big enough for a family.  

This townhouse that I just bought, I got for $30,000 below last year's median purchase price for that neighborhood and I think I got a steal.  Most investors though would laugh at that type of "discount," but for my area, that's good.

Investing in the fringes of Howard County is a better bet than Columbia.  

If anyone who invests in Howard County has a different opinion, I'd love to hear it.