All Forum Posts by: NA Jones

I love banking with our credit union for alot of reasons. Here are just a few:

- We've got more interest from our savings account (from "dividends") in one month than we did in 10 years combined at the big bank.  

- Our credit union visa: 10k starting limit, 9.49% APR, no cash advance or balance transfer fee. Our big bank visa: significantly lower starting limit, 19.99% APR, with hefty cash advance fees and 24.99% apr on cash advance.

- Our auto-refinance:  denied by the big bank.  Refinanced through credit union at .99% - that's right, less than 1%!

The big banks online banking system was much better...  but a small price to pay.

You might want to read your contract.  If memory serves, it might very well clearly state that the property cannot be dewinterized if any sort of plumbing issues were noted in the property condition report.  

Is the inspection necessary?  Are you financing this property or was it a cash offer?

I'm surprised they'd even let you fix the plumbing issue on your dime before closing.  If you decided to go ahead and do that, I think it'd be highly unlikely for you to be able to recoup any of that money if you decided not to close.  The house is as is for a reason - the bank isn't making repairs and they won't be reimbursing you for repairs you make whether you walk away from the deal or not.

There are lots and lots and lots and lots of threads about this very subject.   A little searching will help you find others experiences.

For me, I got my license to help kick start our REI ventures. It has been worth it's weight in gold as far as being able to view MLS listings without going through another person. That said - it was time consuming, costly, and has put a lot of pressure on me to create opportunities to use it - which has me doing more retail transactions than I anticipated doing - good for $$, not great for time, good for experience. We wouldn't be where we are though without my license so at the end of the day I'm glad I have it.

Howdy neighbor and Welcome to BP!

I took the course online, so it had a proctored exam after the end of the course - which I failed THREE TIMES.  THREE TIMES failing the exam before even getting the COURSE CERTIFICATE. I'm not exactly a dumbass either ;)  

So yeah, it happens.  ;)  Don't worry - the licensing course and exam doesn't mean diddly squat when it comes to actually using your license in transactions.  Experience is much better than education :)

I'm on board with "90% of your job is maintaining relationships, so not returning an email when you said you would is a big red flag."

It's important that you have associates on your team that are their word.  If they can't bother to email you what they said they would, why would they ever follow through when something important is on the line - like your pending settlement? 

It's not your post, it's the whole situation that is confusing :)  Your friend is desperate to sell yesterday, but dodges his realtor... who somehow you are involved with (why do you call his not-even-realtor about his house?) yet you are considering getting your license to swipe what she probably thinks is her listing ;)  

You say you want to buy the house, but you don't want to pay any money down AND you don't want a mortgage...   not sure what kind of suggestions are looking for to make THAT work... that's all :)

I too fail to see how the numbers make this a profitable buy and hold.

One number that's missing from your story is how much it's worth - or how much you think it could sell for.  You said he wants 420k.  That's nice - is the place valued at 350k or is it valued at 580k?

I'm going to make a huge assumption and say that what he wants is probably either well above - or close to - market value. I'm not getting the vibe that there's a lot of meat on this deal. Lets say though - If you DID "put together a team of investors" and rehabbed it, what's your ARV?

What the #$%& kind of realtor takes over a week to do a comp analysis and come up with a suggested list price?  Your buddy wants to sell yesterday yet he's willing to wait a week for something that an assistant can pull together in no time at all?  Pfffft.

Since you don't want to buy it (which is confusing in and of itself considering the title of this thread) why don't you convince your friend to give you 3 weeks to get licensed.  Take an online course, take the test, get your license - you'll pay 2.5-3k out of pocket and the day you are licensed - bam! you get your first listing.  You sell it at his desired sales price of 420k, at a 2.5% commission rate, minus the brokers fees and you'll clear enough to cover the cost of your license, pocket a couple grand, and you've broken into RE.  Win win.  It's like wholesaling but...  not.  ;)

Are city/county/town taxes based on the number of units in a dwelling or strictly square footage?  We're looking at a property that for years has been a 4-unit and we would convert to 1 unit.  Would the taxes increase/decrease with this change or stay the same because the actual square footage isn't changing?

Hello all!

We are looking at an old Victorian that has been hacked into 4 apartment units, but we would want to restore it into a SFH. Obviously we have lots to consider..

Anyone have experience with this that can share the lessons learned?   What are some of the things we should look out for / budget for?