All Forum Posts by: Zack Thiesen

@Peter Kozlowski He can file, but probably bluffing with that amount unless the both of you remain ruthlessly principled. I've heard an infinite number of stories like this and cleaned up after them. The work will last just enough for the check to clear. Most of these guys work for landlords who write check on pictures they're sent of finished work. Probably looks just fine from across the street. Personally I would chalk it up to a $75 lesson. Labor is an investment and there is risk and return just like any other. You risk this for the benefit of low cost work. But sometimes cheap work is good enough, I get that. If you want to use guys like that I would take those references and ask if I could stop by to see their work in person next time.

I never went to college and it was the best decision I've ever made. These days its looking more and more like a bad return on investment. It too often leads to disappointment or surprise with compensation after completion, being cash-poor and/or in debt service for decades. Don't get me wrong, I intrinsically believe in the value of higher education and it's really unfortunate that it is regarded mostly as an investment. But it is an investment, and being as such, it's important to look at the return you get and how the longer term numbers pencil out. 

My advice would be to save that cash as much as possible and house hack with the FHA loan and find a community college that you can possibly attend for as cheap as possible to pursue the initial coursework to make sure it's what you want to do.

A lot of my friends who went to college repeatedly changed their majors and overspent by going straight to a university. When I was starting out as a carpenter I took a night class at a local CC's vocational education program in Residential Wiring to make myself more valuable to my employer. I ended up getting a raise and went completely free after all the grants and fee waivers. 

@Daniel Haberkost True, I myself am trying to take advantage of the current trend and sell high on a property and then take that capital and find somewhere where deals can still be had. The market makes it a challenge to have your cake and eat it too, hahh. But that's how it goes.. 

That being said I have not done any local meetups although I should! I'm not really looking to invest where I am in the near future at least but meetups certainly seem like a great way to do it. I have friends and many clients who own rentals and we'll discuss that part out our lives sometimes but it would be nice to get involved in a strictly REI-focused meeting. Wherever I invest I will certainly be looking to make and maintain those kind of relationships in person.

@Daniel Haberkost I have noticed that in several markets, that it's impossible to find anything that makes sense as an investment on MLS. In my local market here in CA, anything placed on MLS at a decent price is just bidding war bait. The answer to the question depends a lot of what part of the market cycle you're in too I guess. I found a house here I rent now back in 2016 on the MLS and had been on the market for over a year and turned out great for me.

In other markets I'm looking at for investments, it seems like there are plenty of MLS deals too for the right buyer. But I am newer to investing so also trying to learn more about buying at auction and how to find good wholesalers since I'd like to see what that side of it is like.

Thank you @Michael Nyszczot for your reply. I thought it would be interesting to see people's replies for their best and most often used method of finding deals. I was wondering if most things that remain on the MLS for a long time are suspect/picked over or truly just waiting for the right buyer, time or price offer.

I'm guessing the answer is "whatever is a deal", but just curious if you find most of them off-market or if you ever buy off MLS. Just curious..

bump

My question is about @Alexander Felice 's insights re: rolling rehab costs into the HUD-1 for a delayed finance cash-out when using personal cash. If anyone has experience with doing this in real life I'd be curious to hear their thoughts about this circumstance:

When doing the invoicing and paying the contractor up front from funds in escrow.. can the contractor be yourself? Especially if I am an actual contractor here in CA. Or is that some sort of conflict with lending law? 

To complicate matters, I will actually be in Ohio to do this, and am not licensed there. I won't bore anyone with the details of Ohio's sometimes city-specific licensure rules and registrations.. but it's weird and a lot to get into. And the state doesn't have a reciprocity agreement with CA where my license would be recognized. If I didn't want to get into all that can I just take the funds out myself to use as foreman with some guys working for me? That seems unlikely.. Or should I just suck it up and hire it all out? I'd like to get in there and use some money to do some things I could easily knock out myself and do better. Might have to just eat or fudge those costs in maybe.

Thanks!

I have yet to invest in MFR's, currently still whittling away at my questions list regarding them before diving in. My strategy would be to BRRRR them with cash, no initial lending. My first question (although I know it will vary by city and neighborhood, but assume it's a neighborhood where fixer MFR's exist for say 30k and could potentially have a value in the same zip of $65-$100k+)

1) How much more difficult is it to estimate ARV for multis? Obviously with the price I am discussing 2-4plex, duplex being most common by far. If 3 or 4plex, and they are scarcer, what has your experience been? Is the value just apparent to the appraiser? With the MFR market just being less liquid than SFR, what is an appraiser's approach to them to determine a value at market?

2) When you find a wholsesaler you would like to deal with, or even an agent who likes to deal in that sort of thing, is it appropriate to ask for references? 

3) Say you live in a triplex you purchased, with the goal to cash-out refi, but the lender wants to see the numbers from rents. But you've been living in that unit while working on it and another property. Can I include what that unit will earn for the one I've lived in for the #'s review even though I haven't paid the rent on it per se? Is that a better question just to ask the individual lender? I've read some don't even care or have seasoning periods, they will lend as soon as it's completely leased. I just want to avoid accidentally committing some kind of fraud. 

Thank you!

, Zack

@Stephanie P. Thank you so much for the reply! So in your example here:

"You can get a 30 year fixed and the seasoning period can be as low as 0 days. In all cases, the properties have to be stabilized (no current construction and leased)...Rates and fees are higher...Max loan to value is generally 80% on a purchase and 75% on a refinance and the MINIMUM loan amount is 75K. Rate ranges span from the mid 5's to high 7's with a few points on 1-4 unit properties."

Are you describing a singular, commercial loan product? Or are these aspects of the several different options that you mention? Apologies if I didn't catch the drift on which type of lender with that.. but good to know that several options do exist. What would someone ask for when sitting down with a lender in my circumstance? Do I just describe my circumstances and we'd go from there? Thanks again!