All Forum Posts by: Will Johnston

Two weeks ago I found a FSBO on Craigslist that I'm quite interested in, and I could use some advice on the best way to follow up.

I emailed the owner, and then texted a day or two later after no response.  They responded to the text four days later (a week ago Monday), and we scheduled a showing for Saturday afternoon, as I was out of town for Thanksgiving.

They had asked me to confirm the appointment on Friday, so I texted and after no response, called a few hours later.  Saturday morning there was still no response, so I texted again, and they said something had come up and they needed to reschedule but they would get back in touch with me Monday (today).

Knowing them following up was pretty unlikely, I texted them this morning.  Haven't gotten a response yet and am guessing this is going to be one of those long pursuits. :)

Basically, I'd love to learn from experience on the best way to pursue a lead like this.  They publicly advertised the property, so I'm assuming they actually want to sell, but they're obviously not super-motivated.  I want to follow up enough to get the deal done but not so much that I'm obnoxious/harassing. Presuming I don't hear back today, what would be your follow up plan?  In case it's relevant, I'm in a fairly hot real estate market, so if they really wanted to sell, it wouldn't be any problem to do so.

Thanks!

Thanks, @Shaun Weekes !  That's very helpful.  That's really all I was trying to figure out, whether I was going to be double paying the interest.  FWIW, it's an investment property.  Again, really appreciate it!

@Ronnye L. , I think that totally depends on the lender. I keep hearing about the 2 year rule, but both lenders I've worked with have counted 75% of the rent as income. One of them even did it based on projected rent. I'm pretty sure that lender also just nets out the difference between rent and mortgage when calculating DTI ratios.

Last Wednesday I closed on a refinance. Both the old loan and the new one are standard 30 year fixed residential investment mortgages, no FHA or anything else odd.

I'm assuming because of the holiday the mortgage has not funded, so when my payment came due today, there it went out of my bank account.

Does anyone know what happens in this situation?  Am I just out the $1200 interest payment that I wouldn't have had to make on my original loan?  Is part of that credited back somehow?  I've never done a closing at the end of the month, so I have no idea how that works.

Thanks!

This morning I put in an asking price offer on an MLS-listed house with an escalation cost to nearly 10% above asking price. (There were multiple offers.) It's a well priced property, and my numbers still work at the high end of the deal.

I just got a call from my realtor telling me that the sellers want best and highest by 5 PM tomorrow with no escalation clause.  She thinks that the other offers were probably at or below my offer, so they're hoping to just get me to offer a higher amount.

I figure my options are:

A) Resubmit my original asking price offer.
B) Offer a couple thousand more than asking price.  I'm not willing to just flat out offer the full amount of what I would have escalated to.
C) Tell them they have my best and highest offer, and that I need a response by 5 PM today or I'm pulling the offer.

I feel like option C could pressure them to make a decision immediately rather than wait for other offers (potentially higher than mine) to come in.

I'm looking at a single family home that is currently leased to a community residential facility.  I can't quite tell if it's for folks who are mentally challenged or if it's more of a halfway house.  I think the former.

Anyway, I'm asking my Realtor to look into the lease terms, but I was wondering if anyone here has any experience with this sort of thing.  I'm trying to figure out if I'd be bound by the traditional residential landlord rules or if this would be considered a commercial lease.  Does it depend on the type of lease signed? Thanks!

I'd keep it and rent it. Like Bill said, taxes are the only thing that that your $500k is relevant for.

If you factor in 7% closing costs on the sale and 2-3% on the purchase of another property (assuming that's what you would do with the money), you'll end up being able to purchase a place costing about $165k.

If you think you can get better returns on your $165k elsewhere or if you are in a high tax bracket and could use a big write-off, then sell.  Otherwise, you're probably better to stay put until appreciation is such that your cap rate could be better elsewhere.

If you want to access some of that cash now for other deals, you could always take out a mortgage on the place.

@Tamika D. , if the seller owns other places, she probably knows what she is doing (unless she just inherited them all).  Folks may use realtors for a number of reasons.  Good luck!

Hey @Tamika D. , congrats on getting started so young!

I'm going to let some experienced wholesalers answer most of your questions, but I can speak a bit to #1.

You're the one making the offer.  You can make the offer using any contract you want.  The seller's agent is obligated to present your offer to the seller.  Theoretically, you could just write, "I offer $300 for 1234 Main Street, Brooklyn, NY. Signed: Tamika D." on a napkin.

Some wholesalers on here may be able to provide you with suggestions for where to find a good contract, but one key thing is to make sure you put "or Assignee" after your name since you'll be assigning the contract to someone else.  You may even want to include a clause that specifically states that you are allowed to assign the contract to someone else.

You don't want to be stuck buying the property yourself, and I know at least here in DC, there's a clause in the standard contract that specifically prohibits assigning it, so be careful about using the standard purchase contract provided by a realtor.

Best of luck!
Will