All Forum Posts by: Yan Linwood

@Jason Richey Right on, that's exactly what I am thinking. It is a turnkey ready property, that's why I'm interested in it if I can get it for a good price. I try to avoid possible repairs for now, since I am going to live in it. However, yes, I do get your point about buying a rose in a vegetable garden. 

Unfortunately, no it cannot be divided into a duplex. That will certainly be nice if I could. I'm okay with communal living as long as it is with people I trust. I've shared apartments in the past with up to 4 people and we were fine. I think as long as we establish ground rules from the beginning everything should be manageable. However, I do understand your point and of course when I have my own family in the future, I do plan to have my own place. I'm also not against the idea of house hacking with a duplex/triplex/fourplex/etc. in the future.

Yes, absolutely, I will make sure I do my due diligence. I am lucky to have some people who have been in the business for decades that are helping me through the process and sharing their opinions. Same here in biggerpockets, I really appreciate everybody's feedback and constructive opinion on this case. Thank you so much for your input! 

@Jessie Tetreault I am possibly emotionally attached to the "possible" good deal right now since the house is overpriced compared to market value. I am actually in no rush in moving to a new house, so even if they blatantly reject my offer, I'm willing to walk away, since I still have plenty of time to look around and weigh my chances. Of course I'm not just going to pull number out of the air to make an offer. I will discuss this further with people I trust and also have my agent to look into it a little bit further before deciding on making an offer. I have actually thought of buying a cosmetic fixer like that, but I have little to no experience at flipping houses. I'm just not willing to take that risk for now. I do eventually want to get my foot in the door with flipping someday though. Thank you for your advice!

Jason Richey Yes, I totally agree with you. That makes total sense. Just from my basic assessment from seeing the house, it definitely does not seem like expenses on the seller is even up to 50k. I am quite aware of the costs of flipping in general since I do have some friends who are actively in the flipping business. Even the tiles that are used in the house are tiles that are currently cheapest in the market. So yes, in my opinion, the seller's valuation on the property is over the top and I think making a low-ball offer with all the information I have and by making an educated guess should be fine either way. I have nothing to lose if I don't get the offer, since I can still be on the market looking for another house. However if the seller is willing to entertain my offer, I believe we can keep dancing to achieve an agreement.

Christopher Phillips yeah essentially that's what I'm really doing. However, if I do get it on a deal with the low-ball offer (which in my personal opinion the seller should still be able to make profit nonetheless), based on my numbers, I can possibly even cash flow during my stay there with my friends paying rent to me as the landlord.

Bob Derwin that is exactly my first thought. The flipper might have put too much money on the rehab not considering the neighborhood around. Not sure what the seller's strategy is to make money there, but yeah I am planning to put in a low ball offer with nothing to lose. Jason Richey yeah I understand that analogy if you are planning to live long term in the house and make improvements along the way. However, my goal is to live there short-term and eventually move into a bigger house when situation requires me to do so while keeping this single-family house as a rental property. I'm not too worried about vacancy since it is right next to a university.

Hello everyone,

Let's cut to the chase. I was looking at a 3/2 single-family house ~1600SFT at a fairly mixed-average neighborhood. The house I am interested in is listed to sell at $182,000 while other houses nearby (comps) are at around $140-$150k range. I was surprised when I saw specifically that the neighbor's house was actually sold at about $95,000. 

The catch is, this $182k home looks like it has been flipped really well. All new appliances, new bathroom, new roof, new A/C unit, etc. I checked out the house this morning and I even saw an added value because the other neighbor had just installed a really big firm fence that looks good and sturdy right next to the backyard. Essentially, one information I know is, the house was sold last year in 2016 for about $100k. My guess is the house was flipped and is now being sold at a crazy high price (relative to the neighborhood). So, I am thinking to send in a low-ball offer of about $145k due to the comps, the house has been on the market for about 80 days, the neighbor's house that's just recently sold for $95k, and considering $45k rehab fee that sounds huge even with all new roof, appliances, etc.

Now, for disclaimer, I am planning to house-hack the house with a couple of friends. So basically I am planning to live in the house and have 2 friends helping with rent. My exit strategy is after living there for possibly up to 5 years, I would like to hold it as a rental property and create cash flow from the property.

Any advice or thoughts?

Thank you so much everyone for the warm welcome! I'm so glad I'm part of such a welcoming community here in biggerpockets.

@Sam Ally That's a good point! I will definitely try to do more research about the TB REIA and also try to connect with Greg Simpson and Jeremy Kloter. Thank you so much for the reference!

@Account Closed Yeah even right now I am starting to notice how much older my parents are getting. I always look forward to meet them every chance I have. Anyway, I actually have considered a duplex or multi-unit, but it doesn't seem to be a viable option for me right now due to some personal circumstances. I understand that they are not that much more expensive than a single family home, but financing isn't the problem. I appreciate the input and that's definitely the next goal as I get more comfortable with the business. 

Again, thank you everyone for taking the time to reply my post and of course, thanks for all the recommendations as well!

Hello everyone!

My name is Yan Linwood. Like a gazillion other people, I too, read Mr. Kiyosaki's "rich dad poor dad" book and got excited about the real estate business. My dad had been shoving that book to me since I was a teenager but never took a chance to read it until about last year (I'm 25 now). I eventually signed up about last year to biggerpockets.com to lurk around and learn from the community because of my interest in the real estate business. It wasn't until recently that I started to actually listen to the podcast starring Josh and Brandon. I'm definitely learning a lot from just listening to the conversations and books that are recommended.

I graduated with MS in Civil Engineering from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana in 2013 and I did work as a bridge engineer in Indianapolis for about 2.5 years before I moved to Tampa because of a better job offer and obviously better weather. I've been living from apartment to apartment for the last 7 years of my life due to college. Now, I'm realizing it's just money going down the drain and I feel that I've currently saved enough cash to finally get my foot wet in the water to own my first ever single-family home as a primary residence. My strategy is to get a couple of friends to rent a couple of bedrooms and possibly get positive cash-flow to help with the mortgage+expenses. I have little to no background on the real estate business, but I have been trying to educate myself more and more from books and podcasts. However, I do feel very strongly that buying this first home will help me learn about the business much more than books and podcasts ever will.

I'm still searching for a property that will fit my budget and criteria and hoping to close on a deal sometime in July 2017. I'm just about to call my real estate agent tonight to talk a little more about it. I'm excited! I've learned a lot from this website and will continue to do so. That's why I thought I should at least contribute to the website as well starting from introducing myself here. I'm definitely hoping to eventually get things going and take off. Really excited to meet some other people who live in the Tampa Bay/Clearwater/St. Petersburg or even Orlando area to learn from and hang out with!

Cheers!