All Forum Posts by: Tom C

My wife was not happy about taking the risk and still isn't. I did sit her down and promise to make wise purchasing choices and then I explained the whole game plan. She agreed to jump on board and help me with the rehabs. She does not want anything to do with dealing with the renters. Either way I would have done it with or without her. If I let her make the hard choices it's hard to tell where we would be. She is not someone who is comfortable with being out of her element or taking any type of risk.

This may be old fashion, but who is in charge of the family any way? We have very different roles and we each know exactly what our roles are. Supporting the family falls on my shoulders, so in the end I will decide what is best in that area. If she's not happy about that, then she can make her decisions on her own. I know this day and age this sounds horrible, but it is the way it works at my house.

Agree with Mike.. You may also consider offering a referral fee to your current tenants. Word of mouth works well here.

Keep in mind that REO's and HUD's require proof of funds or the letter before they will even accept your bid.

I watched a REO that I just picked up go from a list price of 48K to 16,6K within the 8 months that I was watching it.

You didn't see any signs of mold before you found it in the walls and how did you discover it in the walls?

It is stand practice in my area for the banks clean up people to remove all carpet to prevent mold. Also, the mold disclosure agreement is normal. Unless you are sitting on a slab, you should be able to see if you have a mold issue.

John,

Sometimes we have to do this. I just refi'd one property up to 70% LTV in order to pull 21K for another purchase at 16K. I pushed the refi out to 30 yrs at a lower rate and payment remained at near my orginal payment which was set at 10 yrs. The 16K property after rehab of 3K will have an ARV of 60K and will rent for $600 per month. So for a loan of 45K for 30yrs @ 6.75, I will have 2 properties producing $1200 per month in rents. It wasn't my first choice to do this so soon, but starting out, I couldn't find another solution when purchasing properties in this price range.

Mike is also the master of his own domain.. Meaning that he does have to worry about the man laying him off and not being able to gain access to his equity to pay the bills. Let's hope we all get in that position in the near future.. :)

Depending on the location, taxes and insurance could make a huge difference in this deal.

for those of us that still have to rely on a full time job else where, I like the concept of having that money liquid verses being tied up in a home. I would much perfer to have instant access to 50K sitting in an investment, then sitting in my rentals that I can't touch when I loose my job. It's awful hard to put that equity when you are unemployed. With that said, your property still has to cash flow after you pull that equity out.