All Forum Posts by: Vonetta Booker

When looking for off-MLS deals, I'm good at striking up a rapport with sellers--but not great at closing. I'm still learning the ins & outs of creative deal structuring, and I'm often worried that I may not be offering sellers the most options because I don't know about them or how to structure them & make them sound good to the seller.

I'm wondering if anyone's ever hired someone to negotiate the deal for them, say, as a partner--and then perhaps give them a cut once it closes?  Is that a thing? It's something I'm willing to explore as another area of delegation to a team member who's better in that particular area than I am--as a means of getting deals closed. 

If you've partnered up w/ someone to help close your deals w/ private sellers, how did you structure it & how did things work out? 

i think Jaime offered some great non-MLS ideas. I'd keep the MLS open as an additional option if you happen to see something decent there, but just not the only one... know that you're going to get a LOT of competition on it & because of that, prices often get bid way beyond their value. Know & stick to your numbers & don't get caught up in all of that. ☺

 Yeah, Bob...someone DOES line my pockets; they're called tenants.  The fact is (whether you want to accept it or not), you can buy and repair a buy/hold til the cows come home...it's all for naught unless you have TENANTS in them who are giving you some cash flow...aka "lining your pockets."  Have a good evening. 

@Brian Stone, that's great! You're taking action, and that's the most important part because that's where you'll really start learning.  

Just curious, where did you find your partner? I'd like to do the same kind of partnership w/ someone but not quite sure how to find one. :-)

Thanks for your input, guys. I was kind of wondering how he'd walk away w/ 10k or anything if he owes that much & short sales on it.  So, I'll have him reach out to my short sale guy.  There's another owner I talked to in that same area who doesn't want anything but to be done w/ his property, similar situation--so I'll approach that in a similar way as well & see what comes of it.  

As for wholesaling, I've heard of some doing it w/ short sales not in the traditional way, but moreso doing a double-closing on it. 

Hi, BP--let me know if there's any deal to be constructed from the following:

I talked to a private seller the other day who has a vacant, fire damaged 2F in town. He's been an absentee owner for a number of years, trying to negotiate with the bank for a short sale with no success. The property has 2 mortgages on it totaling about 300k, & he also mentioned he filed for bankruptcy several years back. He said he'd be happy to walk with about 10k. Other 2Fs in that area have sold for 40-50k.

I'd like to acquire the property to either wholesale or buy, fix & hold--what's the best way to do this? I have a realtor colleague who specializes in short sales; I was thinking of bringing him in to negotiate one with the bank. If so, how does that work? Would I pay him a fee (perhaps built into the sale price?) or would he pay me a referral fee for giving him the listing/lead? (I'm licensed, BTW).

Also, could I wholesale this short sale if needed? Thanks--just trying to figure out the best way to structure this to work for all parties. 

I called back and asked them exactly how they're factoring the DTI. According to them,they're factoring the monthly payments of the entire HELOC amount, which is what makes the percentage sky high. This is my first time applying for a HELOC, so is this a normal way for them to calculate the DTI?

Thanks for your input, guys.  @Upen Patel, they claimed they got it from one of the 3 reporting bureaus, so I went & pulled all three, didn't see any of the info they claimed.  So yes, I'm going to go back and speak to a supervisor--but at this point, not sure if I want to work with them if they're screwing up this early in the game, lol. 

I applied for a HELOC with TD Bank, and after nearly a week of calling & checking on my application (they initially claimed it would take only two days), they finally said my application was denied. "Based on what, exactly?" I asked. They claimed my debt-to-income ratio was a whopping 76%, and that I'd missed a mortgage payment. Well, something didn't sound right (since my credit's great & I haven't missed any payments of anything in a long while). I pulled my 3 credit reports and found that my DTI's actually only 25% (TD said their limit was 36%), and that mortgage payment I missed was a single 30-day past-due back in 2010 (the account's since been closed via a quitclaim after my ex & I divorced).

I'm fuming right now, since I don't see any of the info anywhere they claimed to turn me down.  Has anyone else experienced this? Do I have any recourse, or should I just move on to the next bank? (I just don't want this to happen again for some reason.)

Would you qualify for a portfolio loan, since you've passed the 4-mortgage mark, @Simon Koithara? Perhaps talk to some portfolio lenders and see what your options are.