All Forum Posts by: Steve M.

really Don?

Bummer .... O well. I'll likely still watch it! haha

+1

$1,100 in rents on $35k is great! i would check documentation, and have an inspection done. Take a look at the leases, because if they expire, and market rent has dropped over the past year or two, new tenants may be wanting to sign on the dotted line for much less than than current tenants.

Either way, the deal look solid from the little information we have.

If gardening is THAT important to you, seeing that you want to occupy the residence in the future, I would likely have someone in landscaping take care of it for you.

Its one of the only ways you can guarantee the flowers/yard/etc... will get taken care of in your absence. Would also help if you had your neighbors #'s and could check up every few months to make sure everything was infact being taken care of!

I would never "depend" on tenants to do the yardwork .... Grass is hard enough to get them to do, let alone flowers!

My $.02 cents :)

I only watch the TLC shows due to the wife. Otherwise, I wouldn't watch them! One show that can do some amazing things = Extreme Home Makeover.

Loving watching them tear down the house and rebuild in 7 days. Some amazing work to say the least.

go to www.myfico.com (I am in no way related to this website)

raised my credit score over the span of 6-8 months by about 120 points or so! Did some PFD, GW Letters, etc.... didn't have to pay one of these weird companies to fix my credit for me! All it took was some paper, a printer, & some stamps :)

LOTS of info, and many smart people there willing to help out ... Kind of like the BP of Credit :)

I still go by there from time to time!

I see no stabilization happening over the next 12-18 months. Maybe 2012 but like Tim, where are Jobs going to come from? With the expiration of Bush's Tax cuts coming in 2011 *small business'* won't be hiring any time soon.

I don't think we'll see real stability for at least another 2-3 years, but even that is an unknown.

Ride the wave, do your DD, and invest smartly is really all we can do.

Chris, whether the property is listed on the MLS or not, the buyer will always be able to see sales data & history by pulling the tax assessment. Here in TN, it takes me 30 seconds to check the Tax Assessed value and previous sales data.

I'm not a flipper myself (although I have been looking in to it)

Make sure to check seasoning guidelines and do all of your DD and you should be golden.

I wouldn't hesitate to use the MLS personally.

It was structured properly, but I wasn't holding my breath when it came to actually closing the deal.

It was my first, likely not my last, L/O.

Options For The L/O Were:
$5,000 down, $700/month 1st Year, $725/month 2nd Year.
or
$3,000 down, $725/month 1st Year, $750/month 2nd Year.

Priced right at the Tax Assessed Value/Retail when the property was purchased at roughly 60% of the ARV.

I didn't want to really sell it, however, a large down payment & making close to $50k would have EASILY made me move on from the property.

The tenant put $5,000 down, stayed & payed rent for 3 months, than abruptly moved out. I got a total of 9-10 Months rent in a matter of the tenant only staying 3. Am I pissed they moved out? Absolutely, but I was able to really see what my property management team was like. I highly doubt they ever checked this tenants credit and/or track record, and didn't do much for me. Was happy to finally move on, and although a lesson was learned, I'm happy I learned it not upside down :)

Get as much as you can upfront because the likely hood of it going through, is down in the single digits percentage % wise. I think they say 90-95% of L/O's fall through. I just had a LO fall through, but the nice part was the $5,000 down payment the tenants put down :)