All Forum Posts by: Travis Zurawski

Episode 1: Foreclosure Buy

What do tons of people do after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad. They start looking into real estate, trying to find an income producing asset to increase their wealth. So after reading and going to the seminars (which were mostly B.S.), myself and my father started an LLC. We created a company to start our real estate careers and protect our future assets. Next we started to look. Look online, look locally and contact with brokers as well. When you are new to the game it can be tough to start out. Know the lingo, know your numbers and know what works best for you. Don't over extend yourself to quick. A lot of deals online won't make sense by the numbers, its a last ditch effort to oversell a property in many cases. But..... I paid for a foreclosure website, that would show pre-forclosures, foreclosures and auctions from all around the US. I looked for three months on all the sites and all the databases for a good start to our investing career. Mostly focused on multifamily apartments. (Which is our main focus now. Send anything my way if you are an interested seller.)

I won a number of auctions online and all were rejected by the bank for not reaching the reserve or the minimum they want to make off the property. FINALLY after 4 auctions I finally won and was accepted for a bid on a SFH right in the heart of my home town. (East End of Long Island) My bid was accepted at a number I didn't believe. The winning bid was $ 168,000 in an area where comps were ranging from 400k to 750k. This was a home run...until I had to deal with an eviction.

Episode 2: Rehab

This eviction was frustrating, but a great learning experience and really a win win. After a few months, a court appearance and a cash for keys negotiation, we finally gained access to the home. It was mistreated, lacked utilities and of course outdated. There was a lot of work to be done, we had the plan to put as much as it needed into it to become a rental as we could. Not to be cheap, but to keep our cashflow high. After some hard work, learning experiences and learning new trades, we reached a decision that the house would become our residence. It was turning out too nice and the area too ideal. Eventually through all the improvements the all in budget was 240k, which was still great. We had planned for less, but thats the way it goes. Especially in a foreclosed home, there can be many things wrong that you don't get to inspect before you buy it through auction.

Episode 3: Refinance

After 7 months of rehab, most of it DIY, it was time to refinance. The home was bought with a line of credit, so to pay it back we needed to cash out refinance. The problem arose that I personally did not own a majority share in the company. (50/50) The company had held the title for 8 months at the time and we decidedly transferred title to myself, thinking this would make the process simpler. WRONG. The title would now need to be held another six months in my personal name to refinance according the the mortgage company. Currently still trying to refinance as soon as possible and hoping to not wait the six months. My thought was the property was held free an clear by the company in which I own half of. This wasn't the case in the brokers eyes. Would be thankful for any recommendations provided.  

The house now has a value between 420k-450k, with an all in budget of 240k. Looking to get as much from the cash out refinance as possible, when it goes through. 

Here are the before and afters. Any questions or advice about the process, moving forward or bigger and better deals PLEASE reach out!

BP members!! Advice is needed! 

I am a new investor with one property under my belt already, but I am looking to obtain a new property through creative financing options. I want to approach the owner of the home with an offer for seller financing. The owner is a relative, the property is neglected and it could be an amazing investment. Without a lot of freed up capital I wanted to approach the owner with this deal. Any ideas on how to structure this deal in a way that it is enticing to the seller and a great option for myself/additional investors? Any help or examples would be amazing to learn about. 

HELP NEEDED!!

Recently, I was the highest bidder on an auction that was fore a single family home foreclosure. The bank owned property was listed and eventually brought to auction, through auction.com. The seller has accepted my bid and we are now in contractual negotiations. 

This is the first auction/foreclosure that I have been apart of. This home currently has the owner still occupying the house. The property is in New York and the eviction laws ca be tricky and time consuming. The property is planned to be a fix and flip and getting into the home as soon as the deal is closed is a concern. If the current owner is not ready to move, we would expect rent. As they have not payed the mortgage, there is no telling whether they would be trusting enough to pay a month to month rent until they are ready to move. 

What is the best way to deal with this situation? 

@Lexi Teifke Thats a great point to consistently try new methods and even changing up the method to same receiver. People can respond to your mail in different ways with small tweaks and various approaches. I am a small start up operation and just trying to get out mail constantly takes a lot of effort. I think understanding the leads on a more individual level can help show a more personal interest. I will keep trying different approaches. 

So I have found that the deals on-market are getting slimmer and slimmer. I have been adventuring into off market deals and pursuing them with some direct mail tactics. I have used a letter format to convey what I do and how my service to the property owner could benefit them. 

I wanted to know from those seasoned in direct mail campaigns, what the best approach is for reaching the off market deals. Those are the ones that seem to have the value. I would really like to hear some suggestions on a successful approach. 

Sean, 

Being outbid has been the main issue. We have located good investment properties, but the bids have been at levels we just don't think will provide enough return at this point in the markets cycle. Most of the properties have been found through MLS listings. I have sought out pre-foreclosures and used a direct mail approach. Finding the off market deals is something that I would like to be better at. I have focused my efforts in areas that are quite a distance away and have found trouble locating and approaching those off market opportunities. Any suggestions?

Whats holding me back. Thats a hard question. Because if you knew you would not want to continue to let it. I have a developed strategy that I believe in time will bring profits. The point is not to chase and fall in love with property, but to listen to what the numbers tell you. The areas I believe to have good potential have been flushed with over heated sellers market. The difficulty is to trust your metrics and investment goals you are seeking to reach. The margins are becoming slim in many areas and our offers have been exceeded in many cases to levels, where we cannot see the cashflow profits. 

To look inward, you cannot blame the market, it will be what it will be. I could network more effectively, but it can be difficult when you are investing in out of state areas. I have recently shifted my focus to the growing foreclosure market and trying to take advantage of the increased supply in the market. 

The moral of the story is stay committed and put in the hard work, deals will come and they will CLOSE.  

As a young avid investor, I have spent the past year learning and doing a lot of market research . I have created a deal analyzer program through excel and have searched continuously for rental income properties. I have a partner and formed an LLC. We have made multiple offers in the Jacksonville Area, searching for small commercial rental income producing properties. With an eye on much of the listed properties on the east coast, I have noticed the deals getting thinner and thinner. I wanted to ask anyone out there if they have any advice on getting that first property.

I feel that we have made the right moves and focused in good areas. Sellers are just looking for prices that we just don't see enough meat on the bone. As of late, the focus has transitioned into foreclosures and auction sales. The auction sites are competitive and many times the reserve is not met. Our goal is to get into the apartment complex arena and cashflow from rental income. 

Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help.

Along with using the traditional real estate sites like Realtor, Crexi and others, Is there any recommendations to find 10-30 Unit Apartment Complexes?

I have been looking along the east coast in cities like Jacksonville, Charlotte, Orlando, as well as across the midwest. Looking for places to search for a strong potential in the apartment rental market. Thanks for the responses. 

Bigger Pockets team! I am looking for realtors in Jacksonville, FL to seek multifamily investment opportunities in the area. I love what the Jacksonville market and am trying to expand my network in the area. I have been actively looking in the region for the past 3 months and really want to ramp up our search. Really look forward to expanding my network into the Jacksonville Area!