All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Fear based scam. Besides, if Walmart is going to buy up properties, I'm going to be the hold out waiting for them to pay me top dollar :)

Seriously though, there is a niche for everyone and the small investor and the big investor probably have different niches, strategies and goals.

I think this thread is answered. Just do what @Josh Lawrence says. Great idea!

My understanding of FHA loans is that they have a lower downpayment requirement than other loans. It does require you to be an owner occupant though.

Two options that you can research (there are many posts and blogs on these topics you can look at) are (1) buying a multifamily property and living in one unit while renting out the other and (2) "house hacking" where you buy a larger house and rent out rooms.

In either case the idea is to ensure that your tenants pay for all/most of your mortgage and it reduces the cost of home ownership for you while being able to build equity or savings for future investments.

@Donald Patterson 

I like your attitude. Use this as a negotiating practice. Make that low offer, be firm and walk away if the answer is no. The ability to walk away based on your own analysis of a property is empowering and something (hopefully) you'll do many times in your investing careers as you separate the average from the awesome deals.

@Jeff Trayer 

Try reposting in "real estate deal analysis" or buying and selling real estate forums. This won't get much response in the commercial real estate forum.

There are renters for every property. There is no magic bullet when buying 3/2/2. Or 1/2/3 or 3/2/1. Check other rental properties, get a sense for what is available on the market, how the property you are looking at would compare.

If you do buy the property, you will be stuck with the lease that was signed. I call ******** on all he said. You can't renegotiate with the tenants, they've signed a lease in good faith and their current landlord is not acting in good faith. If you try and renegotiate or kick them out after closing, you'll get hammered in housing court.

I'd walk away. If you really don't want to, I would renegotiate the price... significantly. If it makes the numbers better, you could reconsider but otherwise walk away.

Since these are students, chances are after another year, they're going to end the lease anyway and you can then decide whether to keep on renting to students. I would also get a lawyer to rewrite that lease, the lease seems to allow for variability of rent. 

@Tom S. 

As a fellow foreigner, you need to also look down the road to the future when one day you need to sell your investments. Any standard contract of sale for real estate requires you to disclose if you are a legal resident (citizen or green card holder). This is not an impediment to purchasing the property but it is an impediment one day when you sell your property. As an investment property, you will be liable for FIRPTA (Foreign Investment In Real Property Tax Act). Essentially, with FIRPTA, you are liable to pay 10% of the sale price of a property to the IRS in taxes.

There are circumstances in which you can apply for exemption from FIRPTA and not have to pay 10% of the sale price of the property, for example if it was a private residence, but you will need to factor this in if you are purchasing for investment purposes only. Definitely consult a good CPA here in the USA to fully understand your tax liability before you decide to purchase. Note: To the best of my knowledge, you can't avoid FIRPTA by purchasing a property in an LLC.

@Dave Mazza 

The others have given you their take on the numbers. One way to make the numbers look better is if you can negotiate down on the sale price. If you're going to get into real estate investment with any seriousness, you need to learn to negotiate and to get really comfortable with making low offers.

I own two condos and I make very sure to do my due diligence on the HOA before buying into a condo association. As to see copies of the minutes of at least the last two annual general meetings. Find out what major maintenance projects the association has coming up. Large maintenance projects mean special assessments and unexpected money out of your pockets. At least going in I make sure that there won't be some major assessment in the first two years at least. I always put a condition into my offers that all special assessments levied as of the date of my offer are paid in full by the seller prior to closing. Also make it a condition that any special assessments, if known about by the seller, and even if they have not been levied yet, must be disclosed to you with an option for you to back out of the deal. Special assessments will happen in a condo situation but do the best you can to not walk into a deal where the roof, heating system and the exterior paint are all set to be repaired in the first year you buy.

Another rule of investing in condos: Get involved in the home owners association. Go to the monthly meetings, go to the annual meetings. vote in all the elections that are held. Be active. You want to be the first person to know about upcoming maintenance issues and you want to be involved in the decision making about how those issues get addressed.

@Rikard Cederberg 

I have some understanding for your situation, but unfortunately not many answers. I am actually living in the USA but am not a citizen. My work keeps me moving all over the world (and I do enjoy my job) but I'd also really love to be able to do more real estate investing. Trying to invest in countries where you are not a citizen brings challenges of difficulties in getting financing, having to engage with the tax laws of that country and the fact that, explicitly or not explicitly, most countries have some or other "penalty" for foreigners trying to invest in real estate. In the US its called FIRPTA but in other countries similar rules apply.

I have chosen to invest in properties in my country of origin. The up side is I know tax laws and they are written to favor me as a citizen. The down side is my properties are 1000s of miles away and I don't get to have much fun with my investing. Also, I don't intend to move back to my country of origin to live ever again.

In the case that you are not Swedish (you don't say in your post), make sure you know all the legal implications of purchasing property there, as well as to sell property there if you ever move away.

Good luck.

@Andy Rivera 

Awesome! Glad it worked for you. I managed to sign up for my first month for a low initial amount but the regular price kicked in by month 2. I put a reminder on my calendar to cancel the service before the end  of my first month.