All Forum Posts by: Stephanie Birkhimer

Hi all,

I currently have an offer in on a house (not sure if it will be accepted) and have been working out the numbers for when I plan to sell it. Long story short, it makes much more financial sense for me to be a licensed realtor so I don't have to pay those fees come closing. I'm now in the process of looking for a real estate school so I can take the course and then the exam. Are there any in the Malden/Boston area that people would recommend in particular?

Thanks!

@Derek T. Thank you! That was very clear, I'll be asking the listing agent right away.

@Derek T. We have some time. Our current apartment lease ends in July, so it seems like the timing might be perfect. The realtor did say that she's seen short sales close in as little as 15 days though, so we're trying to be prepared for any length of time.

Hi all! @Max O. and I are working on purchasing a 3-2 home for a live in flip, and just found out today that it's in short sale. We were wondering what advice people might have, and any questions we should be sure to ask. It's our first property, so we want to be as prepared as possible!

@Joel Owens I don't think it would have the space for that. We really didn't like it either way. It needs a lot more work than we're willing to put in at this time.

@Micki M. We haven't looked at 3 bedroom houses. We weren't really looking for single family homes to begin with, I just happened to stumble across this one. It's in a great location for our work commutes, and the price is (I think) pretty low. The listing mentions that it needs some mostly cosmetic TLC, but since it hasn't sold yet in almost a month, I'm suspicious that there's something majorly wrong with it. Either way, I doubt it's in great shape. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Hi all,

@Max O. and I have been looking for a multifamily property in the Wilmington, MA area for several weeks, but have found ourselves looking at a single family home tomorrow afternoon. The original plan was to live in one unit of a multifamily and rent out the others, but the prices in this area made that much more difficult. Instead, we found a small 2 bedroom single family house in Wilmington that we're considering buying and renovating. We are thinking that we would live there for a year or so to reduce our tax hit, so we aren't super concerned with turning a big profit right away. The idea is both to stop paying rent to someone else, and also to get experience in the real estate business. 

Regarding our walk through tomorrow, what questions should we be asking the realtor/what issues should we keep an eye out for? The extent of our experience looking at properties was apartment hunting this summer, so any advice would be very much appreciated! 

Thanks!

I'm currently trying to get started with investing, but ran into a slight snag. When I spoke with a bank this week, the guy seemed very concerned about my lack of resources. I have a salaried job and just a $475/mo car payment in terms of loans, but I have less than $2000 in actual savings. The bank guy made a big deal over how much it would change my potential loan (~$60k) if I had to borrow the down payment. 

My main question: Without getting too complicated for the newbie, what are my options for financing without a down payment? I'm trying to decide if I need to change my plan or spend a few years saving.

@Ann Bellamy I'm not sure what the real benefits would be of looking into commercial loan options right now. My primary goals for purchasing a property now in Massachusetts are to reduce my living cost by renting out the other parts of a multifamily house and to gain some experience in the industry. I am planning on moving out of Massachusetts within the next 5 years (probably closer to 2-3 years), so I'm treating this more like a learning experience and a way to get my feet wet than anything else. Do you believe that there would be any significant positive to taking the steps you've mentioned right now? If not, then I think I would personally be more comfortable sticking with what I know more of for my first purchase. 

On a side note, I'm trying to plan for the meetings. Another BP member suggested the Black Diamond meeting to me this week, but I wasn't able to make it. Do you think they are worth the travel/time input, or will BP provide the info I need?

@Mike Hurney I just graduated in June 2014 and began work at my current job in August, so I definitely don't have 2 years. Do you think that will hurt my chances of being able to get traditional financing?

The issue would be in actually getting the financing. If neither of us can get a loan great enough to buy a multifamily home, then we may end up pooling resources to buy one together (50% of something is better than 100% of nothing!)

We're both recent college grads, so we might not look all that desirable for a bank.

@Max O.