All Forum Posts by: Sean Lambert

Ask for a copy of the seller's Schedule E to check how much rents were received the past two years and what was spent in repairs.  How much time have you spent in the neighborhood?  Scout out the neighborhood.  

sounds like a fun project.  post pics!

@Saurabh Mehta track down the real homeowner that she previously rented from (use county records). Sounds like she might have listed a friend’s phone number as the previous landlord.

@Nathan Grubb

Total guess: Sometimes when the house/bathroom is warm, the cold water will cause condensation on the toilet tank. If the water is warm, maybe it reduces the condensation.

When the weather changes, maybe they turn off the hot water and turn on the cold water?

@Wealthan Pan always get an inspection unless you know what to look for. Just because you’re buying as-is doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to inspect what you’re getting into.

@Staci Craft stick with the rental. Real estate is usually a slow game that takes time.

As mentioned above, winter is usually a slow time for filling vacancies.

@Benjamin Rosemont. Sounds like a fun project.

Are you getting a bank loan or is the seller financing it?

If the seller is financing, you could do a balloon in 5 years and at that point you could get a traditional mortgage. By that time, the house should be worth more (because of the sweat equity). If the house appraises, you could pull money out using a HELOC.

I, personally, want to pay loans off so I would amortize the loan out, so at least some of the monthly payment is going towards principal.

Get funding lined up first and get a pre-approval letter, which you can include with your offer when you find your first purchase.

I have an Excel workbook for each property.  Each workbook has about six tabs.  The first one is the main sheet that has the address, with income and expenses, both of which are summed from the other tabs.  The other tabs are Rents (shows rent received for the year), Travel, Meals, Repairs and Utilities.  The first tab also has a cell for Insurance, Mortgage interest and Taxes.

I just load the spreadsheets onto a thumb drive and hand it to my CPA.  My CPA takes care of depreciation.

Good luck.

Advantages are you have access to listings before others might see them, or before they come on the market.  You also grow a network of investors, realtors, contractors and lenders, all of who can you use for your investing as well as connect with your clients.