All Forum Posts by: Tamara Taylor

I am ready to buy my first house to flip (yay!) and it's owned by a VA bank. They've been slow, which I expected, but now they want things to close quickly. I think they were holding out for a vet to buy the property. Anyway, I'll be getting the P&S today and will have a lawyer look it over. Just wondering if anyone out there has had experience buying from a VA bank and if there's anything out of the ordinary that I should be aware of.

TIA

Tamara

@Kyle Gregg Did you go with the streamline 203k? How exactly does it work for the contractor? Is there a pile of paperwork for him or does he just need to present a scope of work for the bank? What about inspections during the rehab? I ask because I'm about to make an offer on a house and the GC I have in mind hasn't done a 203k in years. Just don't want any surprises.

Thanks!

Tamara

I'm currently negotiating with a bank on an REO. It's been on the market since April. The asking price is $75k. I offered $63k and included a list of repairs which total $52k. After a week they countered with $74k. I countered again at $67k. They came back with $72k. I don't want to pay more than $70k. Do I push the bank more with another counter offer or ask them to pay for 1/2 closing costs? That would put me at $70k and they'll have $72k on their books as the selling price. Seems like the latter would be a win win. Does this make sense? Or am I being naive?

Thanks for your help!

@Nino Alfano Definitely keep us posted with your progress. I'm a step or 2 behind you. I made an offer on an REO (SFH 3/1) last week and I'm learning patience. It took a week for them to counter my offer and yesterday I countered them. My agent says I shouldn't expect to hear back until the middle of next week. Judging from the length of time to get an offer accepted and dealing with the slowness of 203k loans, I might get into this house around Christmas. I just don't understand the mentality of the banks. This property has been vacant for 3 years and needs tons of work. Don't they want my money?

@Rob L. thanks for the link. It was exactly what I was looking for.

@Account Closed I believe you can borrow up to half of what you have in your 401k. You will have to pay interest on this but it won't be a $7k hit. Also, if you can qualify for an FHA loan then you can put down less than 20%.

And your daughter should go after as many scholarships as she can. Tuition is ridiculous these days. Make her work for it! :)

Thanks Mike. And one of these days I'll have time to get to one of your meetings. The topics always look interesting.

Tamara 

Can anyone point me in the direction of a website or book on the Fair housing laws and Section 8 in Massachusetts. I've looked online and can't find just the raw material. 

Thanks,

Tamara

Well, as it's always preached on the podcast: we learn more from our mistakes than in any classroom. Nice job, Brandon. You learned something new :)

And, I'm glad I downloaded all the episodes to my iPod.

TGIF!

Thanks for your response Joel. 

The plumber suggested getting a different automatic faucet that has a little lever on the side to change the water temperature but he didn't say anything about the sensor.

I don't have specifics on the lease. I can look into it.