All Forum Posts by: Tom ONeil

@Jerry Ellis I think I understand what you are saying now.  She made it seem like she was going to be your agent, then at the end of the encounter her offer was basically to open doors for you on properties that YOU found, as opposed to her doing her actual job if she was your agent and finding those properties for you to view.  I agree with you there.

@Jerry Ellis I don't really understand why you nearly lost it, it sounds to me from what you have posted about this encounter that you did not have an agent, were looking for an agent, and she was offering her services.  If she was not "your guy" then I don't see any obligation to actually let her know if you wanted to see anything additional, from the sound of it she didn't ask you to sign any sort of agency agreement.  

The one important thing I want to note though in this situation, you were a customer to her and not a client.  Her duty is to the seller if you are a customer and any information you give her on your own free will about your motivation or what kind of an offer you would be considering she has a duty to pass that information along to her seller.  For example, if you told had perhaps told her you needed to move soon or that you were offering one amount in order to negotiate back to another.

I agree, you definitely need to vet an agent you are going to work with ahead of time to make sure you feel you can trust them, that you are their top priority, and that they will always look out for your best interest.  There are a lot of agents out there who may not meet this criteria, either intentionally or unintentionally.

Something that agents will rarely tell you, your agency agreement is an employment contract with the brokerage, not that individual agent.  If you are unsatisfied with your agent, you can contact the broker in charge to get a new agent or a lot of times they will allow termination of that contract. 

@Thomas S. I agree, as a PM your obligation is to be professional, follow the law, and being consistent.

From a property owner side though, I am concerned about the condition of my property.  From your experience when a tenant is evicted do they typically leave the property in move in ready condition?  How often do you file, get the tenant to pay the back rent, and then withdraw the filing?  Tenants you do evict, how often do you collect?

I am not a property manager, I am a property owner.  I wouldn't call myself "soft hearted" about it, although I can see the perception there.  I am just concerned with the condition of my property after someone who does not have the ability to pay is booted out by the sheriff.

@Stephanie Howard @Maurice Nixon I am a realtor in the South Charlotte, Fort Mill area.  If you have any questions or need any assistance, don't hesitate to reach out to me.

@Atwan Kwan If you can come to an agreement between the tenant and your client you can hopefully create a mutually beneficial situation.  If you go to court the tenant might destroy the place.  Obviously they could be sued for those damages too, but if they can't pay the rent chances are they can't pay for those repairs.  

@Christopher Hopkins @Joey Hampton I have looked into Lima One pretty extensively, and even got a pre-approval from them. That was standard, they wanted to see all your financial documentation, but I haven't used them yet so I am not sure how they are with closings. They do have a fix to flip program where basically they give you a hard money loan to finance your flip and then roll it into a 30 year amortized loan for the rental property. There were a couple caveats to that program from what I remember though. If you wanted to refinance once the flip was done, they would only allow you to finance 80% of the total project cost. If you let the hard money loan season for 12 months, they would let you refinance at 70% LTV on the property.

I think their hard money rates start around 12% with 3.5 points and rentals rates were 6.5-7%

@Nick Klomstad Sorry for taking so long to get back, it looks like the tag didn't work and I didn't see your post until just now.  Similar to what @Brie Schmidt was saying, the best return you are going to see from an ROI standpoint is what you save in interest on your current mortgage. Also, I agree with @Michael Facchini that if you leverage intelligently, it would be beneficial in the long run.  We are still historically at very low interest rates.  Locking them in now is a great opportunity.  Additionally, if your goal is to eventually dump the 9 to 5 and have all passive income, leveraging now while you still have a regular paycheck is important.  Residential loans are hard to come by without established income.

What I am currently doing with my positive cash flow from my rentals is saving them to be used as future leverage.  I have an operating account with reserves to cover maintenance issues that may pop up (I keep about $2k per property in reserve) and then build up the additional savings until it gets to a point where I can look to leverage that amount on a new property.  It may not be the best option for all, but it has been working for me.

@Christopher Iafelice I would be interested in how this works out. When I spoke with my lender recently he told me for an investor to get an FHA 203K they would need to put 20% down. I didn't think an investor could get an FHA Loan.

@Account Closed

If the IRS would like to redeem the property, they will contact you so they can view the property and have you fill out a redemption cost form where you put your expenses. They will only pay you back for improvements that are required to not let the property fall into disrepair.

My understanding is that they usually do not redeem unless they have a buyer lined up on the other side.

This is my understanding, however I am not a lawyer.  If you have found a property you want to bid on, it may be worth contacting a lawyer in your area to confirm.  Better to pay a little bit before than lose out later.

@Nick Klomstad It sounds like you will have a good cash flowing property come July (depending on your insurance and taxes) and you have a low interest rate.  If you have a renter who will cover all of your expenses while increasing your equity in the home, I personally would not pay it off.  Using leverage to invest in additional properties will create a greater future return.  Also, more doors = more stability (If your one tenant moves out, no cash coming in.  If you have multiple units, one vacancy does not eliminate all cash flow.).  

There are a couple ways to look at it, but personally I like to keep that money leveraged at a low interest rate and allow a tenant to pay down the mortgage and build your equity.