All Forum Posts by: Christopher McCormick

Thanks J Scott. That makes sense.

I was reviewing some of my (few) older posts and came across one of your responses.  I'm trying to locate one of your articles on how to maximize an appraisal.  Where do I find that?

Thanks again.

PS: Well I thought that was my first post.. I guess I made my first post four years ago :)

Hello everyone,

Long time lurker, first time poster. I am slowly working through my first flip in Illinois and I'm hoping some of the experts here on this forum can expand on some flipping guidelines in this state. My realtor has stated that FHA won't close on a rehabbed home that you have held for less than 90 days, and that anything between 90 and 180 days the lender will require receipts for the improvements and work in order to justify the increase in the purchase price. The only items I can find online on this subject only reference FHA, such as this link:

http://hudgov.prod.parature.com/link/portal/57345/57355/Article/8336/Where-can-I-find-an-overview-of-the-FHA-Prohibition-on-Property-Flipping-guidelines

Is this an FHA specific requirement, or is this policy applied by all lenders in these types of transactions (buyer purchasing rehabbed home with a dramatic increase in price since last sale)? Am I missing anything here?

Any and all insight is much appreciated!

Kind regards,

-Rookie Chris

Thanks Mindi.

Mindi,

Can you provide us with a URL to some of these websites?

Thanks,

-Christopher

Congrats BP! No surprise here... this forum is full of very experienced and knowledgeable members.

Out of curiosity, who was the member that rolled the counter onto 80,000?

Gentlemen,

Thank you for the response and advice. Plenty of new topics for me to start researching today.

A majority of the members agreed that putting a property into a LLC is the best choice. This leads to my next question as I have found there are a number of ways to do this. Would it be wise to create a holding company and then create a LLC for each property separately under the holding company, or is it enough to just create one LLC per property with no holding company?

In regards to purchasing a property with the intention of putting it into a LLC, how does this process usually work? Do you create the LLC and go to the closing with all the documents? Or is it easier to purchase the property in your name, and then transfer it into a LLC? Does this create any additional complications when giving a personal guarantee for the mortgage?

Joel and Brian, that makes sense to me now. The better condition a property is in.. the easier it will be to finance.

Sharad, what you mentioned in regards to condo's makes sense as well. I was checking out Craigslist earlier, and it most certainly does give a good idea of what the rental market looks like. Too bad this data can't be compiled into an average format for easy interpretation, such as average rental price for 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom, etc, etc, for each area.

Raymond, I will be reading those threads today in regards to the 50% rule.

Bob, this vendee loan program looks like an awesome program...-off to do some research on it. Thanks!

-Christopher

Good afternoon everyone!

Considering this is my first post, I would like to start out by saying what an awesome and educational forum I consider this place to be. I have been lurking around for a while now as a guest and I have to admit, I learned a lot in the last four weeks. There is plenty of good information with very knowledgeable members. Thank you everyone!

I think I am finally prepared to make the jump and start investing into real estate. Most recently I read the "20 year old with sub prime credit but a lot of cash" thread and found myself to be in a similar situation. This topic was particularly interesting to me because I am also in my early 20's; only difference is that I have excellent credit. Robert Dobbs, who seems to know the financing side of the business very well, gave me a weeks worth of topics to research (Thank you, btw! I found the 203K Rehab Loan to be a very interesting program).

I am looking at investing into real estate long-term; the cash flow is the most appealing aspect of the investment and I don't have any intention to sell what I buy. With that said, I am currently looking for a cheap two flat and/or three flat that have the potential to be rented without me having to add money to make ends meet each month. Breaking even is fine, any additional income at the end of the month would be set aside for repairs or investment into other properties.

I have a few questions for some of the experienced members that I am finding difficulty in researching and making a decision on:

For those who own multiple rental properties, do you have the properties in your name or do you structure them into a corporation for liability and tax purposes? If so, what kind of corporation do you recommend be established (LLC?) for the type of investing I am considering?

What is your opinion on purchasing condominiums with the intention to rent it? The reason I ask is because condominiums in many areas are very affordable these days, with the potential to make $300 to $600 a month after taxes, association due, and mortgage payment.

If you had enough liquid cash available to purchase a property, would you put in a cash offer to avoid the hassles of getting a mortgage/paying mortgage interest or would you finance in order to use that cash for future down payments on additional properties? (I can see many pro's and con's to this..-just trying to get an over feel for it).

Is there a website that offers rental statistics? Such as how many properties are for rent in a particular area? I often use the common real estate websites found online and search for rentals in particular areas to get a feel for it, However, I was hoping something a bit more "landlord friendly" that offers all the numbers on a particular area.

Any additional information or suggestion is much appreciated.

Happy Thanksgiving!

-Christopher