All Forum Posts by: Vince Impellizzeri

So as it turns out it's not so much a counter as it is "here's what you have to do to comply with regulation". My realtor talked to the listing agent, and the listing agent said Fannie Mae requires a 10% EMD if the offer is all cash. It's non-negotiable apparently. So I ended up just doing the $9700 EM, but turns out I didn't have a choice if I wanted the offer to be cash. It was either that, or revert to conventional financing. So there's a lesson learned. Thanks everyone for all the input and help!

Thanks for the input guys! Yeah, this is a little different than a normal investment deal for us. I wouldn't pay this much or come in that strong with an offer if this was strictly an investment property, but rather this is a house can be a home for us, and someday will become an investment. In good condition it's ~130k, especially given the lot ( 1.3acres in the city). I would say this is a C house in an A area. Foreclosures rarely happen in this neighborhood. This house was on the market for 30 days @ 106k, 2 days ago they dropped it to 96k, the day after that I put my offer in, and at that point we found out there were multiple offers on the table. I didn't want to mess around, not get the house and then have to start paying rent where we're currently staying. That's the reason for the above list cash offer. Do you think the bank is likely to turn down the offer entirely if I come back with less EM than they requested? I'm willing to take some extra risk given this is more than an investment property for us, but I don't want to be dumb about it either. Which is why I'm asking you guys; to save me from my ignorance. :)

Hey guys!

So I made an offer on a foreclosure which I intend to fix up, live in with my wife as our first home for 5-8 years, pay off entirely and then rent out. The listing was $96k, I offered $97k cash ( my parents are helping out with the cash part via their 401k ). The bank countered my offer asking to move the closing date to Oct. 25th (no problem there), but then also asked for $9700 as the earnest money deposit (currently my earnest money dep is $1000). What should I do? It seems that increasing the earnest money is pretty low risk and I wouldn't want to lose the house just to make a point, but am I risking NOT getting the house by only raising my deposit to say $3k? What are your thoughts? 

Thanks for the advice Jay! Really appreciate your input.

Vince

Hi folks! I'm just getting into this real estate investing thing, and I'm looking for advice. I live in suburban Grand Rapids, MI. I work two jobs for a total of about 50 hours a week. My wife and I are in a stable financial position, and I have about $20,000 to work with for investing. I have no current investments. I'd like to get into rentals, single or multifamily, and my goal is financial independence in about 10 years. I'd love to get advice from some of you who've been doing this for a while about what YOU would do at 24 years old with $20k for your first investment property(s). There's a ton of options out there, and while I'm not afraid of taking some risk or putting in elbow grease, I want to make sure I start out right. Thanks in advance!!