All Forum Posts by: Traci Cameron

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wow! I’m pleasantly overwhelmed by all the great advice you’ve all given! Instead of replying one by one, I will try to address all your questions to me in this post.

1, this is technically my first flip as an investor. I’ve fully renovated 2 properties that I had personally owned and several more as a volunteer through churches. Long story short, I don’t have a “deal” under my belt yet (I’d like to think I make up for it in my enthusiasm, willingness to continue educating myself and a never give up attitude).

2, I've taken a HELOC loan on my personal residence for down payment. A small local bank has approved me for a commercial loan since I'm putting it under my LLC name with me as the guarantor. The terms are 12 month loan with 20% down at 5.25% interest on the amount I use. I have to put the 20% down only on the purchase price and then I can use the remaining prequalified amount for renovations. Average close time is 3 weeks for them.

3, I’m hesitant about using wholesalers though not completely opposed. I’ve read some not so great things here on BP that has made me a bit gun shy.

4, my realtor is really great about working with me but sometimes her inexperience shows but my conscience and personal integrity keeps me from side stepping her when she’s been the only one to give me the time of day.

As I said earlier, I work a full time job currently which has made it difficult to find off market properties. I don’t quite know yet how to right an offer without a realtor. 

5, all of my offers thus far have been right around asking price. I’m not opposed to giving higher earnest deposit on an accepted offer.

6, I would love to partner with another investor (or contractor for that matter!) but have yet to find anyone interested.

All in all, I will keep working at it and educating myself. Every day and evening I'm not at work, I'm working on REI in some fashion.

You guys are awesome and I truly do appreciate all the helpful feedback!

@Joe Splitrock I am using a HELOC as well for my down payment. I was pleasantly surprised at how much buying power the bank was willing to preapprove me for. $5000 in earnest money is possible but takes weeks to get back if offer is not accepted and I'm not a fan of tying up my cash for a maybe. I'd definitely be willing to up my earnest money on an accepted offer though.

@Jim 

@Jim K.undefined

I like the your concept you described but honestly, I don't know how my realtor's face to face connections are.  She's relatively new (about a year as an agent) but is a go-getter like myself.  Other agents don't seem to have time for a newbie.  But I spend as much time as I can networking and talking about my goals.

@Tim Youse, I've been running my deals through the flip calculator here on BP.  That being said, I"m still learning how to get the accuracy of those numbers.  I get really hung up on holding costs/selling costs because no one has been able to give me realistic data.  I've essentially been using 4% closing costs on the purchase price and 10% on the seller closing cost side.  I'm getting better with the renovation costs to an extent.  Some things I truly have no idea (like subfloor issues) because contractor can't tell me how much I'm looking at until they've actually checked it out and know what the problem is.  Most recently I came across a great deal (though I didn't win the contract) that had a subfloor/foundation issue that could have been a $2000 repair or a $20k repair.  That's a pretty big swing.

Keeping track of my offers is a great idea.  Haven't been doing that so far.

@Eric Neith I’m not sure if there’s wholesalers but I’ll definitely look into that! And probate attorney? Never considered that! How would I approach them (meaning what do I say/ask when I call them?

@Roshan K. and @JD Martin, great suggestions that I’ll use! Thanks for the great advice!

Roshan K. That’s a great way to look at it! I’m still working full time but I do have alerts set up. My realtor calls me when anything pops up. But I will keep at! I certainly can’t say I’m making that many offers per month. The right one will come along.

@Michael Pearse thanks! How did you find an investor to work with? Personally known?

I keep finding incredible properties and have been preapproved for a fix and flip type loan (with 20% down) but can’t get any offers accepted! My realtor (who works with other investors in my area as well) told me that though I shouldn’t give up, it’s extremely difficult to get an offer accepted on a great flip property because the other investors around here are cash buyers. Any advice?? I asked my realtor about the idea of trying to partner up with another investor who’s a cash buyer and I could provide the renovation money. She said that too could be a challenge because of the competitive market here. Am I fooling myself to think others would want to work cooperatively versus competitively?