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All Forum Posts by: Paul Granneman

Paul Granneman has started 3 posts and replied 79 times.

Post: Negotiating seller concession versus lower purchase price

Paul GrannemanPosted
  • Investor
  • Colorado Springs, CO
  • Posts 80
  • Votes 26

What did your inspector say?

Do you have the contacts to get the repairs done?

If you are buying and holding the properties, who do you trust more – the contractor the sellers uses to make the repairs or the folks you work with on a regular basis?

I just bought a house and did both – negotiated a lower price and obtained seller concessions to repair several major items. There were several things that needed fixing that the seller paid partial money into the escrow and I arranged for the repair and paid the rest.

I guess my take on it is that it is not an all or nothing situation. Negotiate fairly and honestly and things tend to work themselves out.

In my example the roof was damaged enough by hail that my inspector assured me that it would not pass a code inspection. I spoke with the seller about it and he talked with his insurance company. They agreed to fix the roof and it did not cost the seller anything. That was one of the seller concessions that I obtained, a new roof and it did not cost me or the seller any “real” money.

Post: Cash-out refi after full-cash purchase

Paul GrannemanPosted
  • Investor
  • Colorado Springs, CO
  • Posts 80
  • Votes 26

Youn can do the cash out refi after a seasoning period (typically 6mos to 12mos).

That you will NOT get a loan in the name of your LLC - is my guess. Just do the normal cash out refi in your own name to payoff the HELOC.

Post: Accept or deny?

Paul GrannemanPosted
  • Investor
  • Colorado Springs, CO
  • Posts 80
  • Votes 26

If he has a local business then you should be able to check out the reputation of that business and determine if he has the means.

Also, asking for his taxes for the last couple years might be a good idea.

The other side of that coin, if he has a successful business and only pays himslef 18/K per year, he may soon have issues with the IRS.

Post: Fair Housing and Babies

Paul GrannemanPosted
  • Investor
  • Colorado Springs, CO
  • Posts 80
  • Votes 26

I agree with @Bob Bowling. An 11 year old is not adequate supervision for a 3 year old. Even the 11 year old would probably be too young to leave unsupervised in any situation as well.

Typically babysitters are 15 years old and up. This is a case of bad parenting and it needs to be addressed.

Post: 92% of ALL Real Estate Investors only own 1 or 2 properties...

Paul GrannemanPosted
  • Investor
  • Colorado Springs, CO
  • Posts 80
  • Votes 26

I have no scientific facts - but...

From my observations on the BP forums I would say that the 80/20 rule applies to REI ownership.

80% of the members own 3 or less properties and the other 20% own much more than that.

Maybe Josh can start a poll or the BP folks may already have some of that data.

Post: Are you Pro or Against 401(k)?

Paul GrannemanPosted
  • Investor
  • Colorado Springs, CO
  • Posts 80
  • Votes 26

My feelings are much the same as @chris simmons.

If you have a full time job and your employer provides a 401(k) company match, then at a minimum you should be contributing enough to get that employer match. To avoid fees and in an attempt to preserve your capital the smartest move is to invest your 401(k) money in index funds, unless you have the knowledge and risk tolerance to make better choices inside your 401(k) plan.

Too often the choices available in 401(k) plans are really bad and if you are not careful you can do poorly with that investment.

That was the case for me. I had several 401(k) plans with past employers that I just let sit in their plan because I was lazy. It ended up costing me some growth. Recently I rolled over all those old plans into a self-directed IRA at Charles Schwab and now my returns are much healthier and the fees have dropped as well. I still have some "rogue" IRA's that I will consolidate into another self-directed IRA for REI purposes.

Investing is a state of mind and each person has their own level of risk and ideas as to what is a good and bad investment. Diversification is not as rosy as Wall Street people would have you believe. It is better than nothing, but if you have the tools and education you can target your investments. One of the best books I ever read was One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch.

Investing in REI is also challenging and rewarding. It does not have to be an all or nothing proposition.

Good luck to all!

Post: NH duplex

Paul GrannemanPosted
  • Investor
  • Colorado Springs, CO
  • Posts 80
  • Votes 26

Looks like if you do get these "fixed" up and closer to market rents "$1250/ea" then you will still be close to broke when everything is factored in. Even in my newbie brain - unless you are getting them cheaper, it is not a deal.

Post: Financing for Newbie

Paul GrannemanPosted
  • Investor
  • Colorado Springs, CO
  • Posts 80
  • Votes 26

It seems to me that the easiest way to get started is to find a 2-4 Unit MFH and live in one of the units. Get an FHA loan with as little as 3% down and make sure you can fill the vacancies with good tennants.

Post: Seller Pays For Repairs?!?!

Paul GrannemanPosted
  • Investor
  • Colorado Springs, CO
  • Posts 80
  • Votes 26

Repairing things (at least in my latest transaction) was based on the Home Inspection. I was buying a property. My inspector did a thorough inspection. I negotiated with the seller to replace the roof because my inspector indicated it had hail damage and would be a possible problem with the city inspector. Also, the inspection revealed that there was a problem with Radon gas in the basement. I negotiated with the owner for him to pay half of the cost for the mitigation of the Radon.
After those things were accomplished we went to closing and I bought the property.

Post: Free Wordpress Landing Page

Paul GrannemanPosted
  • Investor
  • Colorado Springs, CO
  • Posts 80
  • Votes 26

How much creativity do you have?

Have you looked at Square Space?

There are a few other sites like Square Space that you can do yourself that look professional. Most of the heavy lifting is done for you by the site.

Another sire to check out is Wix or Weebly. They are basically do it yourself or you can go to elance.com and sites like that to find a custom designer.