All Forum Posts by: Wendy Stclair

Hey there! curious if you have done anything with your lot in Nicaragua - we are looking at some property there and curious about how it is going. 

Anyone considering investing in this town i just wanted to give my 1 year of experience and advice. Bottom line, don't do what i did. 

1) Don't buy through a turnkey provider -they promise they are doing amazing renovations of quickly gentrifying neighborhoods.  FALSE - No neighborhoods are quickly gentrifying in Baltimore. Everything works slow and the city govt is completely inept at a minimum and possibly worse. Further it could take MONTHS after closing for your new home to be rent ready as the city seems to slow roll any new permits for anything. I was 6 months before one home was even ready to rent.  

2) Don't believe it when anyone tells you "Zillow is wrong and those photos are old" - no they are NOT. A burned out street on Zillow is still a burned out street today. 

3) Dont believe it when they say your property taxes will be low for 3 years - its a luck of the draw when the city wants to reassess your home and it could be THIS YEAR and cause that $400 to skyrocket to $2,000 or maybe - if you are super unlucky like me - $5000  

4) Related to #3 - BUY PRE-RENOVATION not after, so the sales price does not trigger a re-assessment and cause a 522% increase overnight in property taxes from $800 to $5000 within the first year.

5) watch out for SUPER HIGH UTILITIES AND other city FEES! Water is $150 / month! Annual rental licenses are $200, the city requires annual inspections etc. The list goes on and Baltimore knows how to stick it to you. 

6) Section 8 tenants are not all roses - in one house this year i had a break-in that turned out to be the crackhead boyfriend breaking down the front door and punching holes in walls. In another home my tenant refuses to pay the $200 / mo water bill,  thereby cancelling out my tiny cash flow profits and i have to pay it. I'm told she cannot walk away without paying it eventually (or risk losing her "voucher" .. but i'll have to take her to civil court for it.   

7) FEAR THE EVICTION PROCESS - in my only non-section 8 house i have a professional scammer living. I blame my PM for putting him there but upon arrival he somehow conned the PM for a free month, then proceeded to NEVER PAY A PENNY IN RENT. To get someone out of your house requires you take them to court 5 TIMES before you have the right to NOT ACCEPT their measely 1 month's rent from 4 months ago, despite the fact they already owe you 3 more months.  It is now September, I have been fighting since Jan to get this loser out unsuccessfully.  He owes $6,000 at this point plus the water bill.  I will never see it. 

8) ALL YOUR CASH FLOW WILL BE EATEN UP - whether its the City taking it from you, your PM, or your renters and the courts, all you will get is pain. 

bottom line - run from inner city area Baltimore.  I just wish i could have told my future self this 1 year ago. Cheers

Has anyone dealt with extended rate locks and also this company Highlands Residential Mortage out of Essex Florida? I've got an extended rate lock on a SFH with Graham Parham and Aaron Stelly at Highlands Residential Mortgage out of Essex Florida that is from a year ago and due to reasons beyond my control the loans will not close before the rate lock runs out - and may never close at all. This was a lender referred to me by the builder and last year I locked thinking the properties would long be built by now. They had at the time demanded upon signing this rate lock that i RUSH them $1680 per loan to hold this amount (x2). Now a year later as the properties are not close to closing through NO FAULT OF MY OWN, they are insisting that the only way i can receive a refund of my $1680 deposit (x2) to them to buy something else from them. Is this standard in the industry? my initial contract from them states with clarity in the disclaimer that i should be refunded:

"IF the loan does not close before the expiration date of the lock-in agreement through no substantial fault of the borrower, the borrower may withdraw the application whereupon the lender shall promptly refund to the borrower any lock in fee paid by the borrower." 

BUT there is also a statement in some other addendum that i signed saying that "the deposit is non-refundable and will be forfeited to the lender if borrower does not close with highlands residential mortgage LTD for any reason other than denial. "

So i guess i'm SOL if this project does not go through. The rep has told me i can use the loan to buy other properties but how flexible they will be is not clear to me.  I'm curious if others have experienced similar shady business operations or if i am being unreasonable here?

thanks 

Wendy 

@Inna Hurin

We are starting a channel to discuss on what’s app if you want to be included with your phone number please send me a note and I’ll make sure you are. This is getting out of hand and many of us could stand to lose a lot of money here. I am at goldenmuseinc @ gmail.com.

I am also looking to do a cost seg on multiple SFRs i have purchased in the last few years. I was sent by my tax folks to Anderson Advisors to a company called the Cost Segregation Authority. The sales rep did a "prelim" analysis to show how much i would save and it seemed substantial and now i'm trying to get my CPA to verify but the numbers are not fully adding up and i'm still trying to get to the bottom of it. But bottom line.... the Cost Seg Authority charges $3150 per home and for small homes i'm thinking there has to be a cheaper way!  Looking for alternatives also so i'm following this thread. 

Yes I'm going - its very local for me so my expenses will be minimal. I also agree the price was a bit high for the length and size but since i'm heading deep into this market i thought i'd splurge. i would have liked to see it more in the $400 range but cest la vie. Would love to connect. 
wendy  

i think he already snuck in "June" in his note didn't he? i just wrote an email asking for another update its mid-feb now. nothing in the portal. 

I've been hearing the hype about Cost Segregation for a while and I wasn't sure i was a candidate. Still not. My w2 income wont be over $100k for 2022, I will hopefully be considered a RE professional and i had 5 properties, some already in the red due to rennovations.  But a provider did a prelim estimate for me and it says that for my 5 properties i'd have increased depreciation of $177k and estimated tax savings in year 1 of $68k.  Its just an "estimate" but i'm sure i'm supposed be wooed by it.  Do these "free estimates" usually come out close to the truth and if so, do those numbers make sense for someone in my situation? I heard you could carry the the depreciation forward if you don't use it all but i'm not clear the dollar for dollar value.  Are they saying i truly pay $68k less over time if i simply give them $18k today? what if my income is lower in future years? What do I need to consider that i'm not? Any advise is welcome! Thanks 

So my patience is wearing THIN on the Bennah Oaks Ocala project.  It sounds like there are several of us here with homes with Wagner Nolasco and Build 2 Rent direct.  They have had our 20% down money in escrow for over 1 year and the project has NOT YET GONE VERTICAL.  The December update stated they are now shooting for April 2023 delivery and I have ZERO confidence in this.  I just did a quick peek online and saw the Palm Bay Nathi Townhomes project of his may not even be done yet and yet these were slated for July 2022 and were 80% complete when i visited in June 2022.  Something is seriously wrong here the supply chain issues I thought were cleared up here. Anyone have any insight or thoughts? I belive it is indeed too late to back out of these contracts.  

I invested in 4 properties from CR of Maryland in June of 2022 in various parts of Baltimore as part of a 1031 exchange taking $$ out of California. I knew it was a risky bet as Baltimore has much crime and systemic issues they can't seem to overcome. But i was in a pinch with a 1031 and had been advised CR of Maryland has it all figured out. They offered some decent closing incentives such as 1% back at closing table and 6% property mgmt for a year, 1 year warranty, and i THOUGHT rent assurance for 1 year (found out later they'd changed to 3 months only).  Also property taxes were incredibly cheap at $500 / year (expected to go up in about 3 yrs). The prices were certainly higher than i would have thought for marginal neighborhoodsn ($200-$230k)  but i thought eventually it would work out. Rents are pretty high in Baltimore ($1500- $1700 for this sort of home). CR had put significant $$ into renovations so these row houses were really like all new - roof, appliances, gutted throughout etc. it was understood that many of the rentals would be Section 8 which is a good secure investment. Upon closing with CR of Maryland, two of the 4 houses were rented fairly quickly at $1600 or so for a $200k house. The other two however have remained VACANT for 3 and 7 months now!  The issues seem to be Baltimore Gas and Electric takes forever to do an inspection - 3 months sometimes.  CR will cover rent assurance for 3 months but beyond that its on me. i'm now 7 months vacant on one property and i'm told the city has denied the application for Section 8 b/c there are "too many vacant properties" in the area. So i'm frustrated to say the least. CR has a team of property mgmt folks but the names and stories change. I'm increasingly UNHAPPY with their approach and lack of ability to get things done. So i would be hesitant to jump in with them if anyone is considering it.