All Forum Posts by: Yixue Zhao

Looking to buy a townhouse/SF under 700K near metro around Alexandria, VA. Ready to buy immediately.

Preferred Areas: Potomac yard, Huntington, Franconia 

If anyone has leads, much appreciated! :)

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

I just figured haha LOOOL (I thought Youtube can teach you anything since I just painted my whole kitchen and I'm hooked lol but yeah, this scope of doing a bathroom definitely needs a professional haha...)

Thank you so much for the useful information! The best option does seem to be the referral. I asked my realtor who's been investing for over 30 years and turned out the "home improvement companies" in our area are all like scams... They subcontract the work and charge way over... even the one referred by Home Depot also has a large profit margin (although cheaper than the others)

BTW, how important is it to get a licensed contractor? Is it because of the quality of work or it's more of a legal issue?

I just bought my first rental property (currently living in it myself) and wanted to convert the original bathtub to a shower (to make it look more appealing and it's a college rental so my tenants are probably college students).

The bathtub has stress cracks and we're worried about the potential water damage. It's fiberglass and is an original with the house (built in 1973). I plan to keep this rental for a long time and manage remotely, so I decided to replace it (instead of repair) to have peace of mind.

However, as a newbie, finding someone I can trust and not overpriced seems pretty challenging... :( The home improvement companies I found online have very strong sales tactics and it's clear that they're overpriced (10k+ for the new shower). They also pressure you a lot to sign the contract, which makes me a bit uncomfortable. Is this the only option we have as a beginner? (I opt out DIY b/c I won't have time to do it)

Another option I can think of is to hire a local contractor. But I just started out and I have no connections. Not sure what's the best way to find someone I can trust (and hopefully build a relationship with) to tackle a bathroom remodeling job?

Any advice is much appreciated! My location is Amherst, MA. Thank you so much everyone!

Thank you for the clarification Brendan and Sergey! Just want to contribute a data point in this situation: I ended up closing it today at 212K (this is negotiated after home inspection but before we got the appraisal) The appraisal came in as 202K in the end, so we covered 10K gap (this is below 12K so we're obligated to buy in this case, but we're happy with this purchase anyway :)).

Quote from @Kevin B.:

Hello Yixue, I'm just seeing this post - have you ended up finding a place?  Just curious.  I will send a colleague request as well, since I am currently live in the Northampton area, and own 2 rental properties in town.  I'm not on this platform very often, but am happy to connect and discuss the local market.  

Hey @Kevin B.! Yes I did find a place and already signed the P&S. So I'm catching up with my full-time job for now and have been traveling a lot lately. Thanks for connecting! Will ping you to schedule a meetup! :) I had other local investors from BP family connecting with me too, so maybe we can all meet up together over the summer. Excited to learn from you all!!

Thank you for your advice @Tim Herman! I'm planning to review the financials of HOA next week, as well as the inspection (the offer just got accepted yesterday). I was told we should only contact the HOA after the offer is accepted, so... I'll definitely check on that!

They do allow rentals (not sure about rental/owner-occupied ratio though, but I was told due to the large number of rentals, 20% down payment is required). But it's in a high-demand area near UMass Amherst, and we have a strong rental market. My realtor is also an experienced investor in Amherst doing rentals, and vacancy is never an issue in that area if I just follow the cycles of the school year.

The rate lock expires as long as I close by 07/20 so I've got time! :) 

Quote from @Brendan Harrison:

Question - can the seller back out of our contract? Purchasing a home for 500K, with 30K appraisal gap in the contract. Appraisal came in at 465K, so 35K below the contract price. We are willing to cover 30K. That leaves 5K gap still that we are not obligated to cover per the contract. Shouldn’t the seller be required to honor the contract, cover their portion (5K) of the remaining appraisal gap, and still sell to us? Doesn’t make sense that they can walk away, yet the contract they signed said we would only cover 30K on the appraisal gap. Does this question make sense? Has anyone run into this before as a buyer? Thanks!

 Any updates on this? I have the same question 🙋‍♀️ just got an offer accepted and in the contract I put 12K max to cover the appraisal gap. It’s probably not enough. I was under the impression that the seller will lower the sales price…

Asking 195K

Offering 217K with 12K appraisal gap max

Estimate appraisal 195-200K (a similar condo got sold last month at 200K, appraisal came in 195K)

Hello everyone! Can't believe I just got my very first offer accepted!! I was so worried that we can't use our low locked-in rate (it will expire in a couple of weeks) and the market is absolutely insane right now! But they accepted our offer and now I'm both super excited and a bit nervous...

This week, I saw a condo I was interested in was back on the market but I'm out of town (the first deal's finance fell through). The pictures show some water damage in the common area (see my post with pictures: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...) and I was a bit concerned. After consulting with our BP family, I still decided to put in an offer anyway! I'm a bit nervous because I'm out of town and can't tour it. But I didn't want to miss it because the condo is in a great location (near UMass Amherst) that's super easy to rent out! We'll occupy it for a year as an owner-occupied property and it would cut our housing expenses in half while we live in it! 

Here are some numbers.

Aksing: 195K (2b1b condo, 1040 sf, HOA 265/month)

We offered 217K with a clause saying we'll cover up to 12K above the appraisal (a similar condo recently was sold at 200K) -- We figured 12K is how much we can save on rent for the first year when we live in it at least...

Interest rate: 3.625%

Estimate rent: 1800/month

A bit nervous that we might be overpaying but everything in our area is sold so fast and people are paying way over asking! I just thought the interest rate is not gonna go down anytime soon, so I really wanted to use my low rate to become a homeowner and stop the super expensive renting situation. The rental market is really strong in that location, so it will cash flow after we move out. If we buy and hold, it seems to be a good entry property to get my feet wet. Also, with a low interest rate, more purchase price doesn't make that big of a difference in our monthly payment. It's just overpaying 12K over appraisal seems a bit crazy...?

This is my first time and I really don't know what I'm doing LOL Is this gonna be a good deal? Anything I should watch out for? We didn't waive inspection so there's still reason to back out. Any thoughts are more than welcome! I really appreciate the help from our wonderful community!

P.S. I'll see it in person and do a home inspection next week. Hopefully, everything would work out!! Wish me luck!

Hello everyone! First-time home buyer here, and I really need some help in this crazy market... 😂 I was so motivated to buy my first deal, but it's frustrating to be outbid by cash buyers... I'm so confused... The properties whose numbers don't work (in my analysis) still got sold very quickly. And there are so few listings! I think I'll need to make some compromises (like expanding the area I'm looking at), and I could really use some advice to help me close my first deal from someone in my area!

I live in Northampton (renting), MA. If there's anyone in this area, I'd love to meet up and get some advice from you! Meals on me :) The weather is getting so nice these days, sitting outdoor at Esselon Cafe (https://www.esselon.com/) would be wonderful. Open to other suggestions as well :) My time is generally super flexible (including weekdays), but I'll have to be out of town May 4-14 unfortunately. Any other time should work!

I'll also explain my situation below to get some advice in general. Thank you so much, everyone! I really appreciate the help from our wonderful community!

1. I locked in an interest rate at 3.625% but it will expire. I REALLY want to be able to use this rate, but I have to have purchase & sale by June 5 (so I actually have a deadline! lol)

2. The locked-in rate can only be applied to single-family. the loan amount is 500K (50K down). owner-occupied.

3. I want to buy 3-4 bedrooms and occupy 2 bedrooms, renting out the rest (2+ bath is ideal so we don't need to share the bath). I live with my husband (no kids) and MF is definitely better, but we have to buy SF in order to use the low rate

4. My husband and I go to the climbing gym in Hadley, MA very often, so we don't want to live too far from it. We're looking at Amherst/Hadley/Northampton, but these areas have very few options and get sold really quickly. I'm thinking of looking at other areas like South Hadley, Holyoke, Belchertown, and Eastampton. My lender can cover Hampton and Hampshire counties. But the crime rate is higher and the rent is lower in those other areas in general, and I'm not familiar with the sub-neighborhoods. Any advice on the fine-grained neighborhoods would be really appreciated!

5. I already have a realtor that I like and I just want to expand my network and get more advice! I'm not looking to switch realtors.

6. In a crazy market like this, do people sacrifice cash flow? I don't understand why so many overpriced properties are still getting sold quickly and people are paying over asking. In my analysis they have negative cash flow. I'm doing my analysis assuming all rooms will be rented out without me living in it. Maybe in a market like this, breakeven is already a good deal? We're still getting equity after all, and the money is cheap to borrow. So I think I'll also compromise cash flow a bit because my W2 income is strong and I won't starve... I plan to buy and hold, and house hack another one after living in the first one for a year. -- Where do you draw the line to compromise cash flow?

Would love to connect with more people in my area! It's always great to know new people and learn from each other :) I plan to do REI in a long term, and will likely move to Boston area next. I go to Boston very often, so I'd love to meet up there as well! For now, need to cram the deadline of my first deal! Wish me luck!

I just came across this thread last week (in 2022!) and thank you so much for the book recommendation @Aaron Smith!! I just finished the book. I can't emphasize enough how much I enjoyed the book! And of course, a shoutout to @Amanda Han! you're THE BEST!! such a well-written, informative, and fun book to read! It even got me up early in the morning because I was so excited to read the book haha lol I'm so glad I came across this book early (I'm just about to start my RE journey. Just locked in a mortgage rate and started placing my very first offers :)) I also love how it also offers general tips on accounting, business entities, and retirement accounts since I have other business as well. Love it!