All Forum Posts by: Tjimon Louisy

@Vishal Amin Congrats on the deal, and solving the mystery of sub $100k lending. Interested in knowing which lender you ultimately found, as I am also looking at entering Cleveland market. Additionally how much of an interest rate premium are they charging to originate loans at that value. 

Firstly, the PM needs to go. They are charging you money and not providing any service and also appear to be heftily marking up maintenance. Take this as a lesson for throughly vetting any PM you contract (a good PM cannot save a bad deal but a bad PM sure can kill a good deal).

Your boots on the ground person seems to be a valuable resource, I suggest using them to find an attorney or other appropriate professional in the area to handle the eviction process (your current PM performance leads me to believe asking them to handle the eviction is a bad idea). 

While you missed out on the low down payment benefit of the house hack, I still think it is your best option here if your job offers the flexibility to move to Ohio. Live in one unit and rent out the other unit. I can assume your cost of living will go down compared to New York. Additionally, I recommend self-managing for at least a little bit, as it will allow you to get hands on with the property and develop an understanding of maintenance costs among other things (this experience will allow you to better vet PMs in the future). Use the time in Ohio to build out a team to support you as an out-of-state investor, especially if you are looking to continue to invest in Ohio. Once you feel satisfied things have stabilized, you can move out and let the team you assembled take over. 

What does not kill you makes you stronger. I obviously have no insight into the actual deal or your life, so take my advice and apply your context. For example if the house is a money pit (lots of maintenance) or not set-up to cash flow, then you might be better off selling it to cut your losses. 

If you plan on doing one deal turnkey then maybe. Even then I see the potential for the family friend (friends in business are not always beneficial arrangements, so take with caution) to add value well in excess of $2000.

It becomes a no brainer if you plan on becoming an investor, as having access to someone with such a background (flipping and owning investment properties) is almost invaluable. 

Obviously I do not know either agent personally, nor do I know your investment goals (for this purchase and/or future), so I strongly suggest you answer the question “who do I think is best equipped to assist me in achieving my goal”.

Real estate is a long game, so truly take a step back and think about it . Do not want you to be short-sighted and maybe damage a relationship that could bring you $100,000s over $2000. 

Will caveat this with everyone’s goals and idea of a “good deal” will be different. When it comes to house hacking, the ultimate goal is indeed to live for free/ make profit, but by no means is having to come out a pocket for a small amount a loss. If that amount is significantly less than rent you would have had to pay, then you are “making” money through the money saved (this is not even accounting for equity you are building). You would definitely want to underwrite the deal for when you move out in the future to ensure it make sense, but there is nothing wrong with house-hacking for more than 1 year to build up savings to snatch up the next property. 

Hey Kaci,

Congrats on the deal. Interested in knowing where the house is located in relation to the university. I am out of state investor interested in Lubbock and have heard mixed reviews regarding the east of side of town and would love to potentially talk about your experience for some perspective. Also, did you use a contractor or did you DIY the remodel of the back apartment?

Without knowing the innate details it would be difficult to tell you exactly what options you have. I would speak to your agent (assuming you have one) on the best path forward and be completely honest about how you feel. Potentially there is an inspection contingency in the contract that allows you to back out without any penalties. 

One thing I can say is if it does not feel right, it might be better forfeiting the escrow than taking on a money pit. 

With very little context of what state and the exact nature of the showings (how many days, etc), it would be really difficult to tell you what a fair price is. I suggest you ask the person to quote you a price and then get two other quotes from realtors within the location for similar services as comparison. From there you can make a more informed decision as to what “fair” is, as opposed to us taking educated guess on this posts. 

Also share the city/area your showings are in, that would allow some of the experience realtors on BP that operate there to chime in.