Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Update for February
Rowlett Property - Short sale, so not much new to present. Bank appraiser met my realtor out there this week to determine the market value. I'm sitting on this one for now.
New Properties.
Found a FSBO in Hamilton Park. It's an area bounded by LBJ on the North, Greenville Ave on the East, Forest Lane on the south, and 75 Central on the west. A low income, mostly black neighborhood. Five sibling have inherited it, and want to sell it. They're asking $65,000. It's not in bad shape, but needs some work. ARV is a little tough. Tax rolls have it at 97k and one of my evaluators has it at around $110. I think it would be good to get it at 45-50. Not sure what they'll take. They say there's a home equity loan of 45k against the property. Their uncle showed me the property, he says they're getting tired of messing with it. I might be able to take it off of their hands for what's owed on it. Spend about 5k on it and flip it. Rentals would be around $900 a month so I could maybe cash flow about $400 a month. I'll let them wait a little while then make them an offer.
Looking at a house tomorrow in a hot area of Dallas. . . Bishop Arts District. Only 1527sf, built in 1923. ARV= $240k! Asking price is 129k. Rehab est is around $50k. One of my evaluators says it may go as high as $250k! However, at $236k, I would profit about $30k on a flip. Take me a 4-5 weeks to rehab and DOM varies, but I figure a couple of months with the buying season creeping up. I'm looking at 2pm tomorrow and I'll have to work fast to secure this one, if I'm interested. I may not move fast enough to get this one, since I don't have the financing in place to decide quickly, and the wholesaler wants $5k as non-refundable earnest money. That alone may keep me away from the property. I only have $500 up on the Rowlett property and nothing up yet on the Hallum FSBO.
I'll let you know the results. I will be going out to the Rowlett property this weekend, if anyone wants to tag along with me.
Later.
New Properties.
Found a FSBO in Hamilton Park. It's an area bounded by LBJ on the North, Greenville Ave on the East, Forest Lane on the south, and 75 Central on the west. A low income, mostly black neighborhood. Five sibling have inherited it, and want to sell it. They're asking $65,000. It's not in bad shape, but needs some work. ARV is a little tough. Tax rolls have it at 97k and one of my evaluators has it at around $110. I think it would be good to get it at 45-50. Not sure what they'll take. They say there's a home equity loan of 45k against the property. Their uncle showed me the property, he says they're getting tired of messing with it. I might be able to take it off of their hands for what's owed on it. Spend about 5k on it and flip it. Rentals would be around $900 a month so I could maybe cash flow about $400 a month. I'll let them wait a little while then make them an offer.
Looking at a house tomorrow in a hot area of Dallas. . . Bishop Arts District. Only 1527sf, built in 1923. ARV= $240k! Asking price is 129k. Rehab est is around $50k. One of my evaluators says it may go as high as $250k! However, at $236k, I would profit about $30k on a flip. Take me a 4-5 weeks to rehab and DOM varies, but I figure a couple of months with the buying season creeping up. I'm looking at 2pm tomorrow and I'll have to work fast to secure this one, if I'm interested. I may not move fast enough to get this one, since I don't have the financing in place to decide quickly, and the wholesaler wants $5k as non-refundable earnest money. That alone may keep me away from the property. I only have $500 up on the Rowlett property and nothing up yet on the Hallum FSBO.
I'll let you know the results. I will be going out to the Rowlett property this weekend, if anyone wants to tag along with me.
Later.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Beginning of February
Well, ladies and gentlemen, February has begun! As of yesterday, I started my new job as a loan officer with Nations Reliable Lending, located at Coit and LBJ in the Park Central area. Our office is just East of the huge Watermark Church east of Hillcrest. So far, so good.
While I've been continuing to look for properties, my contract on the property in Rowlett, the short sale with BofA, continues to stew in its juices. BOA is now projecting a 4/13 close date, if they accept my contract. Remember, I offered $90k on a house that should have an ARV of around $175-$180...that target percent of 50% of ARV. I'm still waiting on the foundation bid, called MBR and asked why it's taken so long. Surely the Superbowl didn't cause a delay? Did your team win?
Remember this property has a pool. I wouldn't deal with a pool if I was going to hold the property as rental, but since I'm flipping, I think it will be fine. If I get a chance I'll head back out and take some pix and vids of the property and let you have a look at it in my next post. Let me know if it's something you would like to see. If not, then I won't go to all that trouble! :)
It has become tough finding SFR's, but I continue to look each and every night. I've decided I might step into some commercial properties and see how they might work out. Examples: car wash, laundramat/washateria (??), small apartment complexes. May be less competition in that area. These deals are harder to do without cash and credit. As I'm lucky enough to have both, I can proceed somewhat cautiously, and at least take a look. Let me know what you guys think about that, what you've maybe heard or not heard.
I know some of my readers have been going through some changes in their lives. Not to sound trite, but the door was closed, and I believe a window, or windows, has/have been opened. To me that's the only way to look at it. That, and it's a time to find out who your real friends and family are. Please keep me posted on each of your progress as life changes your mountains to climb and responsibilities to upkeep. I may not have the answer, but I will lend a compassionate and understanding ear.
Bye for now.
While I've been continuing to look for properties, my contract on the property in Rowlett, the short sale with BofA, continues to stew in its juices. BOA is now projecting a 4/13 close date, if they accept my contract. Remember, I offered $90k on a house that should have an ARV of around $175-$180...that target percent of 50% of ARV. I'm still waiting on the foundation bid, called MBR and asked why it's taken so long. Surely the Superbowl didn't cause a delay? Did your team win?
Remember this property has a pool. I wouldn't deal with a pool if I was going to hold the property as rental, but since I'm flipping, I think it will be fine. If I get a chance I'll head back out and take some pix and vids of the property and let you have a look at it in my next post. Let me know if it's something you would like to see. If not, then I won't go to all that trouble! :)
It has become tough finding SFR's, but I continue to look each and every night. I've decided I might step into some commercial properties and see how they might work out. Examples: car wash, laundramat/washateria (??), small apartment complexes. May be less competition in that area. These deals are harder to do without cash and credit. As I'm lucky enough to have both, I can proceed somewhat cautiously, and at least take a look. Let me know what you guys think about that, what you've maybe heard or not heard.
I know some of my readers have been going through some changes in their lives. Not to sound trite, but the door was closed, and I believe a window, or windows, has/have been opened. To me that's the only way to look at it. That, and it's a time to find out who your real friends and family are. Please keep me posted on each of your progress as life changes your mountains to climb and responsibilities to upkeep. I may not have the answer, but I will lend a compassionate and understanding ear.
Bye for now.
Monday, January 28, 2013
New week Monday
Last post I was telling you about the houses I looked at in Rowlett.
House 1 the Short Sale - The owner accepted my offer of $90,000, with financing. So now it goes to the bank to accept or deny or counter. An all cash offer of $100k came in right behind mine, but snooze, you lose, because the seller/owner already accepted my offer and now all other offers have to wait until mine is declined and the house is back on the market for their offers to be considered. Today, MBR is reviewing the foundation and giving me a bid on it's repair. This will probably take a little while, but I'm prepared to wait...no hurry here.
The other house, on the same street, is a FNMA FC, but isn't on their website nor MLS. May be a "shadow inventory" product. Brenda is trying to get through to FNMA and find someone who might be willing to entertain an offer on the property.
The other two...one I rejected, the other I was outbid.
My brother Gregg and I went to the Real Estate Expo in Hurst this Saturday and ran into a lot of people I know, mainly in the booths. If you missed it, you missed a good experience to get to meet and visit with the kinds of people who might have a sizable impact on your future. But there will be others. Keep all of this in perspective and in context as to where you are in life right now. Always know what are the important things in life that will stabilize your day-to-day existence. Then, you can venture out and do some extra-curricular activity, both time-wise and money-wise. And when you're ready, I'll be there to help you the best that I can.
On Saturday, I talked with a young man who is the rep for New Western Acquisitions for the Dallas area, and realized he's the son of a couple that is good friends with Cyndi and me. We've known each other for almost 13 years now. So I called them up and we went out Saturday night. We (the Dad) and I talked a lot about real estate. He's a VP with Chase (he's an IT computer-type engineer) and has been wanting to do something in real estate for awhile. Now that his son is involved, he may want to more seriously consider getting into the game. He has credit and money, but not a lot of time. We may do a deal together so that his son will get the "sale" of the property and we'll get a property that I'll handle start to finish and he can watch and learn, and earn. A win-win-win situation. We'll see what happens.
Still looking at properties. I'll keep you posted on progress or changes.
TTFN.
Mark
House 1 the Short Sale - The owner accepted my offer of $90,000, with financing. So now it goes to the bank to accept or deny or counter. An all cash offer of $100k came in right behind mine, but snooze, you lose, because the seller/owner already accepted my offer and now all other offers have to wait until mine is declined and the house is back on the market for their offers to be considered. Today, MBR is reviewing the foundation and giving me a bid on it's repair. This will probably take a little while, but I'm prepared to wait...no hurry here.
The other house, on the same street, is a FNMA FC, but isn't on their website nor MLS. May be a "shadow inventory" product. Brenda is trying to get through to FNMA and find someone who might be willing to entertain an offer on the property.
The other two...one I rejected, the other I was outbid.
My brother Gregg and I went to the Real Estate Expo in Hurst this Saturday and ran into a lot of people I know, mainly in the booths. If you missed it, you missed a good experience to get to meet and visit with the kinds of people who might have a sizable impact on your future. But there will be others. Keep all of this in perspective and in context as to where you are in life right now. Always know what are the important things in life that will stabilize your day-to-day existence. Then, you can venture out and do some extra-curricular activity, both time-wise and money-wise. And when you're ready, I'll be there to help you the best that I can.
On Saturday, I talked with a young man who is the rep for New Western Acquisitions for the Dallas area, and realized he's the son of a couple that is good friends with Cyndi and me. We've known each other for almost 13 years now. So I called them up and we went out Saturday night. We (the Dad) and I talked a lot about real estate. He's a VP with Chase (he's an IT computer-type engineer) and has been wanting to do something in real estate for awhile. Now that his son is involved, he may want to more seriously consider getting into the game. He has credit and money, but not a lot of time. We may do a deal together so that his son will get the "sale" of the property and we'll get a property that I'll handle start to finish and he can watch and learn, and earn. A win-win-win situation. We'll see what happens.
Still looking at properties. I'll keep you posted on progress or changes.
TTFN.
Mark
Monday, January 21, 2013
MLK/Inaugaration Day
Happy MLK/Inaugaration Day.
So Saturday I looked at 4 houses in Rowlett. Brenda Houghton with ReMax was my agent. I know Brenda from Carlisles and Gallagher, and she helped a mortgage client of mine find a house. She is a very knowledgeable and hard-working agent.
House 1 was a short-sale of Brenda's, so it's still owner-occupied. 2,800+sf, 5/3.5 two story with a pool. Needs foundation work already bid for about $7,000. The rest is cosmetic. Biggest issue is popcorn ceilings. The engineered wood floors, all walls tape/bed/texture and paint (tbtp). Kitchen cabinets can remain and new granite c'tops and appliances. Pool needs a new heater and patio area needs painting. ARV is around $178k. I'll submit an offer $85k but $90k-$95k may be my settling in spot. Net profit potential is around $34k
House 2 needed an appoint even though it's vacant. Same layout as House 1 pretty much. Two story, about 2,700 sf. It's been on the market almost a year. We found out why. The absentee owner was there to greet us! Mr. Ho. He decided to follow us around and speak to us in broken English in a very loud voice. It was aggravating as he tried to "sell" me on the house and how great it was. So I began to point out to him all the defects and issues with the house. That didn't sit well with him. He said that it was all fixable and that's why he had it so cheap. It was a market value home of around $170? that he had listed for $148. He had "repaired" the house, but it was all too obvious. He didn't repair, he patched. Too many things to list here. When in the kitchen, I made the comment to Brenda that the rust-brown floor tile had to go, he looked at me and said "you no like the tile?" I said "no, i don't. but it really doesn't matter what I like, it's what my potential buyer is going to like". He didn't understand that. And that's why his house is still on the market after over a year. On the side of the house, the whole rear half of the house's bricks were bowing out about halfway up and then moved back to even near the roof line. Major issue for me. He said that was not a big problem. Wrong. Two major foundation cracks in the front of the house under the two left and right upstairs windows were poorly patched. This is a curb appeal issue. I knew anyone pulling up to the house could immediately look and see the patches and not even get out of the car to see the inside. The only way around this is to paint the entire exterior of the house. We bailed on this one.
House 3 was back on the same street that house 1 was on, but it wasn't listed. I noticed it had postings on the door and window when approaching House 1. It was a HUD home that's been winterized since Oct 12. Brenda called a couple of numbers and eventually reached someone about the property. But it was Saturday and she gave Brenda another number to call on Tuesday when offices reopened. It looked in really good shape from the outside. And, a pool. This one is still in the air until Brenda can get me more information.
House 4 was about a mile north of the first 3. Again, a two-story, but this one was somewhat smaller, about 1,800sf. The garage had been converted into a game room, and that sf was not included. I'm debating about converting back into a garage, since it had a corner fireplace in it and some nice addons. But most people want a garage for storage and their cars. So I'll probably convert, or add on a nice carport across the back patio and the garage. The kitchen was done out nice with nice wood cabinets and black granite ctops. However, it was small, and it had an island. With the island, only one person could stand at the sink. So the island has to go. And there's a wall between the kitchen seating area and the living room. I'll open up that wall, either partially or totally, and make the kitchen/kitchen table/dining room table/Living room area all open. There appeared to be a small amount of movement so I'll have MBR Guaranteed Foundation Repair come give me an estimate on the foundation. I like this a lot. But, they're asking $89,900 for the property. With an ARV of $130k and rehab costs of around $29k, my Q&D says offer $57k. I'm offering $60k. That should give a NET profit of around $20k. We will submit and offer for $60k.
Please don't look at the Gross Profit numbers some wholesalers will give you. You need to take into consideration sales costs, if you're going to flip retail. You can always have Gross Equity on your books if you hold for rental. It looks nice. But you'd better estimate about 8%-10% of your ARV for selling costs and then figure out your net profit, and max it out at 20% or $20,000. In the case of House 4 I'm right at $20,000. So I'd better not have any major surprises!
I'll let you know later house these work out. House 1, being a SS, won't have any decision for probably a couple of months. House 4 should have us an answer within a week or so. House 3 Brenda will find out more information this week.
Have a great day off!
So Saturday I looked at 4 houses in Rowlett. Brenda Houghton with ReMax was my agent. I know Brenda from Carlisles and Gallagher, and she helped a mortgage client of mine find a house. She is a very knowledgeable and hard-working agent.
House 1 was a short-sale of Brenda's, so it's still owner-occupied. 2,800+sf, 5/3.5 two story with a pool. Needs foundation work already bid for about $7,000. The rest is cosmetic. Biggest issue is popcorn ceilings. The engineered wood floors, all walls tape/bed/texture and paint (tbtp). Kitchen cabinets can remain and new granite c'tops and appliances. Pool needs a new heater and patio area needs painting. ARV is around $178k. I'll submit an offer $85k but $90k-$95k may be my settling in spot. Net profit potential is around $34k
House 2 needed an appoint even though it's vacant. Same layout as House 1 pretty much. Two story, about 2,700 sf. It's been on the market almost a year. We found out why. The absentee owner was there to greet us! Mr. Ho. He decided to follow us around and speak to us in broken English in a very loud voice. It was aggravating as he tried to "sell" me on the house and how great it was. So I began to point out to him all the defects and issues with the house. That didn't sit well with him. He said that it was all fixable and that's why he had it so cheap. It was a market value home of around $170? that he had listed for $148. He had "repaired" the house, but it was all too obvious. He didn't repair, he patched. Too many things to list here. When in the kitchen, I made the comment to Brenda that the rust-brown floor tile had to go, he looked at me and said "you no like the tile?" I said "no, i don't. but it really doesn't matter what I like, it's what my potential buyer is going to like". He didn't understand that. And that's why his house is still on the market after over a year. On the side of the house, the whole rear half of the house's bricks were bowing out about halfway up and then moved back to even near the roof line. Major issue for me. He said that was not a big problem. Wrong. Two major foundation cracks in the front of the house under the two left and right upstairs windows were poorly patched. This is a curb appeal issue. I knew anyone pulling up to the house could immediately look and see the patches and not even get out of the car to see the inside. The only way around this is to paint the entire exterior of the house. We bailed on this one.
House 3 was back on the same street that house 1 was on, but it wasn't listed. I noticed it had postings on the door and window when approaching House 1. It was a HUD home that's been winterized since Oct 12. Brenda called a couple of numbers and eventually reached someone about the property. But it was Saturday and she gave Brenda another number to call on Tuesday when offices reopened. It looked in really good shape from the outside. And, a pool. This one is still in the air until Brenda can get me more information.
House 4 was about a mile north of the first 3. Again, a two-story, but this one was somewhat smaller, about 1,800sf. The garage had been converted into a game room, and that sf was not included. I'm debating about converting back into a garage, since it had a corner fireplace in it and some nice addons. But most people want a garage for storage and their cars. So I'll probably convert, or add on a nice carport across the back patio and the garage. The kitchen was done out nice with nice wood cabinets and black granite ctops. However, it was small, and it had an island. With the island, only one person could stand at the sink. So the island has to go. And there's a wall between the kitchen seating area and the living room. I'll open up that wall, either partially or totally, and make the kitchen/kitchen table/dining room table/Living room area all open. There appeared to be a small amount of movement so I'll have MBR Guaranteed Foundation Repair come give me an estimate on the foundation. I like this a lot. But, they're asking $89,900 for the property. With an ARV of $130k and rehab costs of around $29k, my Q&D says offer $57k. I'm offering $60k. That should give a NET profit of around $20k. We will submit and offer for $60k.
Please don't look at the Gross Profit numbers some wholesalers will give you. You need to take into consideration sales costs, if you're going to flip retail. You can always have Gross Equity on your books if you hold for rental. It looks nice. But you'd better estimate about 8%-10% of your ARV for selling costs and then figure out your net profit, and max it out at 20% or $20,000. In the case of House 4 I'm right at $20,000. So I'd better not have any major surprises!
I'll let you know later house these work out. House 1, being a SS, won't have any decision for probably a couple of months. House 4 should have us an answer within a week or so. House 3 Brenda will find out more information this week.
Have a great day off!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Results from Last Week's visits
UPDATE on last week's post:
Santa Fe Trail, Plano- Really nice house in Plano, across from an elementary school. The only real thing wrong with the house was the foundation, but it was a biggie. There wasn't a level spot in the house. Probably due to two huge trees close to the house. Beautiful, but pounding the foundation. Also, it was an auction property. My offer would have been around $63,000. The current highest bid was $68,000. So I'm probably out on the property. I ordered a foundation inspection from MBR, will be getting the results today.
Gwendola, McKinney - These sellers are in denial. The house is in need of foundation repair and total updating. Paneling, carpeting, popcorn ceilings, and a kitchen that needs total updating. And a patio that needs a cover added to reduce the amount of rainwater that collects towards the house causing foundation issues. Their asking price is $120,000. Based on the comps I pulled, the house ARV is around $90,000. There have been several foreclosures and short sales in the neighborhood. Not their fault, but these impact my ability to sell the house once it's rehabbed. So I have to take that into account. So I had to drop my offer to around $65,000. Well, if they rejected $84,000, they're surely going to reject $65,000. MBR already had a foundation inspection on the house, and it was around $8,000.
Merriman Park house - I thought the ARV was too high. Someone else didn't. The house was purchased within the evening. Maybe they expect to make less than I did. Maybe if I'd reduced what I expected to make on the deal...who knows. But I would rather let a good deal go than invest in a deal that might possibly go bad. I know there's no sure things, since I've been doing them long enough to know. But this was a $175,000 investment in a house that would ARV around $250k. Since it's a little "rich" for me, I stuck with my original premise. I've watched the house down the street from me that has 250 sf more than this house reduce they're asking price from 289 to 282. It does have a detached garage, and backs up to Abrams Road (a reasonable distance away to really not be an issue) but is rehabbed pretty nicely. Again, time will tell and I'll watch both of these properties as they evolve.
I'll be looking at a HUD home in Mesquite. South of I30, just east of 636. It's currently owner purchase only, but will go investor in the first week of February. So I'll look at it today and have my numbers ready to go to submit my bid if necessary.
The real estate seminar I went to on Saturday was interesting. Learned a few tidbits before they put the sales pitch on. One thing they stressed...don't do a deal unless it's 20% or $20k profit...period. Well, I've had that rule for the last 5 years. So I guess I've been on the right track. Ended up running into a business acquaintance from 20 years ago. He's been in real estate extensively, and was there to look at getting his wife involved in something like this. We agreed to visit again in the next week or so. I almost decided not to go, because we had company coming over that night. But I went, and made a connection with one person that could prove to be a good one. So you never know. But I do know that I wouldn't have met him if I was home cleaning house and getting ready for company. So go to as many of these type of events as you can. You'll learn something, and you'll meet people. That way you cover both ends of the "it's now what you know, it's who you know". I think it's both.
Until next time...
Santa Fe Trail, Plano- Really nice house in Plano, across from an elementary school. The only real thing wrong with the house was the foundation, but it was a biggie. There wasn't a level spot in the house. Probably due to two huge trees close to the house. Beautiful, but pounding the foundation. Also, it was an auction property. My offer would have been around $63,000. The current highest bid was $68,000. So I'm probably out on the property. I ordered a foundation inspection from MBR, will be getting the results today.
Gwendola, McKinney - These sellers are in denial. The house is in need of foundation repair and total updating. Paneling, carpeting, popcorn ceilings, and a kitchen that needs total updating. And a patio that needs a cover added to reduce the amount of rainwater that collects towards the house causing foundation issues. Their asking price is $120,000. Based on the comps I pulled, the house ARV is around $90,000. There have been several foreclosures and short sales in the neighborhood. Not their fault, but these impact my ability to sell the house once it's rehabbed. So I have to take that into account. So I had to drop my offer to around $65,000. Well, if they rejected $84,000, they're surely going to reject $65,000. MBR already had a foundation inspection on the house, and it was around $8,000.
Merriman Park house - I thought the ARV was too high. Someone else didn't. The house was purchased within the evening. Maybe they expect to make less than I did. Maybe if I'd reduced what I expected to make on the deal...who knows. But I would rather let a good deal go than invest in a deal that might possibly go bad. I know there's no sure things, since I've been doing them long enough to know. But this was a $175,000 investment in a house that would ARV around $250k. Since it's a little "rich" for me, I stuck with my original premise. I've watched the house down the street from me that has 250 sf more than this house reduce they're asking price from 289 to 282. It does have a detached garage, and backs up to Abrams Road (a reasonable distance away to really not be an issue) but is rehabbed pretty nicely. Again, time will tell and I'll watch both of these properties as they evolve.
I'll be looking at a HUD home in Mesquite. South of I30, just east of 636. It's currently owner purchase only, but will go investor in the first week of February. So I'll look at it today and have my numbers ready to go to submit my bid if necessary.
The real estate seminar I went to on Saturday was interesting. Learned a few tidbits before they put the sales pitch on. One thing they stressed...don't do a deal unless it's 20% or $20k profit...period. Well, I've had that rule for the last 5 years. So I guess I've been on the right track. Ended up running into a business acquaintance from 20 years ago. He's been in real estate extensively, and was there to look at getting his wife involved in something like this. We agreed to visit again in the next week or so. I almost decided not to go, because we had company coming over that night. But I went, and made a connection with one person that could prove to be a good one. So you never know. But I do know that I wouldn't have met him if I was home cleaning house and getting ready for company. So go to as many of these type of events as you can. You'll learn something, and you'll meet people. That way you cover both ends of the "it's now what you know, it's who you know". I think it's both.
Until next time...
Friday, January 11, 2013
A New Day
Well, as many of you that follow me that work for Carlisle and Gallagher know, we work there No More. For me, it's the beginning of a new day. When a door gets shut, a window is opened. I know several of my friends at CG are struggling to determine what to do next. I will be thinking and praying for them to make good decisions and work hard to find their next employment opportunity. For me, I'll probably go back into the mortgage lending arena. I still have my mortgage license and will see what opportunities present themselves.
As for my real estate. Now that I don't have a full-time regular job, my plan of buy-rehab-hold has been put on hold...somewhat. When refinancing lenders want to see a current JOB for dtir's, or two year's tax returns if your commission-only or base plus commission. So now my clock starts ticking for the next two year's, unless I get a full-time job with salary. I may have a solution for it, and I'll know more by the end of today and will let you know about it.
PROPERTIES: Still looking. I met with Net Worth Realty, a wholesaler, yesterday and let them know my buying areas and price ranges. By last night they'd sent me a listing, which was in my neighborhood (they didn't know my home address, so it was a coincidence). 1976sf with an ARV of $299 (around $150/sf), purchase price of $175, estimated rehab of $50. But I know my neighborhood well. The package listed the 8 properties they used as comps. When I pulled comps, I didn't get anywhere near what they were showing as a $/sf. My ARV was coming in around $240. When I compared the properties he used vs the ones I looked up, I saw several of my current SOLDS not on his list, and several SOLDS on his list not on mine. I don't know why he left off the SOLDS I had, except for they were a lower $/sf. When I looked a copies of the MLS listings on the sold properties, I noticed the sales dates of many of them were March-June of 2012. Lesson: These comps are 8-10 months old. An appraiser won't go back that far unless he has to because of no recent sales. In this case, there were plenty of recent sales. They just weren't at a higher price/sf. So this is where you need to be careful of people like this and do your research and homework. We were going to look at the property at 7:00am but he cancelled while he researched his property acquisition specialist's numbers. I'll be interested to see what he comes back with! I told him that for me to make a profit on the house I'd have to buy it at around $120,000 not $175,000. I'm sure they won't take that, and they'll just wait for some other idiot to believe their numbers and buy it at $175,000 and then take it in the shorts when it comes time to sell it. It just won't be me. It's hard to be primed and ready to buy and move forward and then have to stifle on each deal because it isn't right. But that's why you work the numbers. I've been through the stress on a couple of properties that were close to not selling within my needed time frame and were about to cost me much more than I had budgeted. Fortunately, I dodged that bullet. But the closeness of the bullet, and the fretting and sleepless nights I remember cause me to take pause and Make Sure It's Done Right at purchase. If the numbers don't work, then don't move on it, move on to the next property. You will be glad you did! I'm still in the hunt for this house, but not very confident about it.
Today I'm looking at two properties in Plano with Justin that were under contract but have fallen off. One, on Santa Fe Trail, looks promising. I've verbally offered an amount about 25% less than the asking price. The seller's agent has not rejected my lowball offer, just assured my agent that there's no option period, and if I balk on buying it I'll lose my earnest money. Not a bid deal. I'll look closer at it today. I've estimated about 20,000 for repairs on a 1565 sf house, so unless it's a real mess, that should be enough. We'll see today. We're also planning on visiting Gwendola in Plano. I'll let you know how these visits turn out.
OTHER: Continuing education with a Seminar tomorrow morning. Titled "The Flipping Formula" at the Doubletree Hilton at Campbell Road and Central in Richardson. Starts around 8:30. I'm sure it's a sales pitch, but I may make some good connections. I go to these things, and take a lot of business cards and do a lot of visiting. I also continue my education by paying $67 to buy Carrie Wilbur's "Rehab Renegade" series. All online, one time charge. A lot of stuff I already know, but reviewing pdf's and listening to audios and video's keeps my mind alert to every aspect. She charges $97 for the course, but if you "leave the page" she'll try to keep you by offering you a $30 discount. After several on the page / leave the page attempts, I realized this was her lowest offer, so, for $67 it isn't a bad deal. I'm working through it now. There's a lot of "systems" out there that are cheap, like this one. Take them for what they are. They'll tell you how you'll be making $10,000 a month. Mostly, they're education, so they'll be cheap and good. This one will take me awhile to get through, but I've already picked up a few "nuggets" so it's worth the $67. I'm also looking at Cris Chico's "make money with only a laptop and cellphone" system. I think his is only $47. I emailed Carrie and Cris about any "upsells" once inside. Both have a single upsell attempt inside, but Carrie's is for continual mentoring and coaching calls, for a monthly charge. I passed on them. If you want to check out her system Click here to find out how. I don't get any commission for this, just passing on information.
Until next time...
Mark
As for my real estate. Now that I don't have a full-time regular job, my plan of buy-rehab-hold has been put on hold...somewhat. When refinancing lenders want to see a current JOB for dtir's, or two year's tax returns if your commission-only or base plus commission. So now my clock starts ticking for the next two year's, unless I get a full-time job with salary. I may have a solution for it, and I'll know more by the end of today and will let you know about it.
PROPERTIES: Still looking. I met with Net Worth Realty, a wholesaler, yesterday and let them know my buying areas and price ranges. By last night they'd sent me a listing, which was in my neighborhood (they didn't know my home address, so it was a coincidence). 1976sf with an ARV of $299 (around $150/sf), purchase price of $175, estimated rehab of $50. But I know my neighborhood well. The package listed the 8 properties they used as comps. When I pulled comps, I didn't get anywhere near what they were showing as a $/sf. My ARV was coming in around $240. When I compared the properties he used vs the ones I looked up, I saw several of my current SOLDS not on his list, and several SOLDS on his list not on mine. I don't know why he left off the SOLDS I had, except for they were a lower $/sf. When I looked a copies of the MLS listings on the sold properties, I noticed the sales dates of many of them were March-June of 2012. Lesson: These comps are 8-10 months old. An appraiser won't go back that far unless he has to because of no recent sales. In this case, there were plenty of recent sales. They just weren't at a higher price/sf. So this is where you need to be careful of people like this and do your research and homework. We were going to look at the property at 7:00am but he cancelled while he researched his property acquisition specialist's numbers. I'll be interested to see what he comes back with! I told him that for me to make a profit on the house I'd have to buy it at around $120,000 not $175,000. I'm sure they won't take that, and they'll just wait for some other idiot to believe their numbers and buy it at $175,000 and then take it in the shorts when it comes time to sell it. It just won't be me. It's hard to be primed and ready to buy and move forward and then have to stifle on each deal because it isn't right. But that's why you work the numbers. I've been through the stress on a couple of properties that were close to not selling within my needed time frame and were about to cost me much more than I had budgeted. Fortunately, I dodged that bullet. But the closeness of the bullet, and the fretting and sleepless nights I remember cause me to take pause and Make Sure It's Done Right at purchase. If the numbers don't work, then don't move on it, move on to the next property. You will be glad you did! I'm still in the hunt for this house, but not very confident about it.
Today I'm looking at two properties in Plano with Justin that were under contract but have fallen off. One, on Santa Fe Trail, looks promising. I've verbally offered an amount about 25% less than the asking price. The seller's agent has not rejected my lowball offer, just assured my agent that there's no option period, and if I balk on buying it I'll lose my earnest money. Not a bid deal. I'll look closer at it today. I've estimated about 20,000 for repairs on a 1565 sf house, so unless it's a real mess, that should be enough. We'll see today. We're also planning on visiting Gwendola in Plano. I'll let you know how these visits turn out.
OTHER: Continuing education with a Seminar tomorrow morning. Titled "The Flipping Formula" at the Doubletree Hilton at Campbell Road and Central in Richardson. Starts around 8:30. I'm sure it's a sales pitch, but I may make some good connections. I go to these things, and take a lot of business cards and do a lot of visiting. I also continue my education by paying $67 to buy Carrie Wilbur's "Rehab Renegade" series. All online, one time charge. A lot of stuff I already know, but reviewing pdf's and listening to audios and video's keeps my mind alert to every aspect. She charges $97 for the course, but if you "leave the page" she'll try to keep you by offering you a $30 discount. After several on the page / leave the page attempts, I realized this was her lowest offer, so, for $67 it isn't a bad deal. I'm working through it now. There's a lot of "systems" out there that are cheap, like this one. Take them for what they are. They'll tell you how you'll be making $10,000 a month. Mostly, they're education, so they'll be cheap and good. This one will take me awhile to get through, but I've already picked up a few "nuggets" so it's worth the $67. I'm also looking at Cris Chico's "make money with only a laptop and cellphone" system. I think his is only $47. I emailed Carrie and Cris about any "upsells" once inside. Both have a single upsell attempt inside, but Carrie's is for continual mentoring and coaching calls, for a monthly charge. I passed on them. If you want to check out her system Click here to find out how. I don't get any commission for this, just passing on information.
Until next time...
Mark
Sunday, December 30, 2012
8 Properties
Saturday update-
I had a contract accepted by the owner on a short sale. 2235 Jackson Circle in Carrollton. I decided to go see it. It's a townhouse, that's attached to another unit. Basically, a duplex. I don't like duplexes unless I'm getting the whole property. It's typical...one unit is tore up, foundation sagging, garage door pulling away, house has already had foundation work done and the same area is having problems. And the poor people that are duplexed to the bad property are suffering because their "attached" neighbor can't/isn't taking care of his property. I don't want to be on that same side of the situation, so I'm out on attached properties. I'm not in total control.
Next house was 1514 Hindsdale Drive, Richardson. House looked nice, needs some foundation, but not a lot. However, numbers don't work well on it. I offered $78,050 and house will ARV around $115,000. After about $20-$25,000 of repairs I'm in at about 78%. So I'll either have to reduce my offer to around $68,000-$70,000 to make it work. This house was my favorite. And I'm still keeping by eyes on 652 Spring in Allen.
Back in Carrollton, we went to 2645 Via Sonoma. Again, a townhouse attached to another address...a duplex. I'm out. Also, a short sale, so too long to wait.
So Justin and I have Pioneer Lane, E Park Blvd, and Gwendola Drive left to hear from, from the original 17. I also met with Lisa at 2609 Province Lane, Dallas, in East Dallas, asking $48,000. The house was really cute on the outside. Once inside, we found out the foundation was a mess, as you went on a roller coaster ride as you walked around the house. And it was chopped up on the inside. And they enclosed the back porch to add a "master bath". Not even a bargain at $30,000. So I passed.
I'm back looking at other properties. I didn't meet my goal of getting a property by the end of the year. But it wasn't because I didn't try. And I won't stop. Persistence.
Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, so if any of you are making plans to be out celebrating, please be careful and drink responsibly so that we can all have a great year in 2013. My goal for this blog is to start including photo's and video's with the blog, once I mast that. If any of you are good at it, technically, then please let me know. I'm willing to make the effort to take the pix and upload them if I just know more. I will attempt to do it the best I currently know how, and we'll see how it goes.
Happy New Year!
Mark
I had a contract accepted by the owner on a short sale. 2235 Jackson Circle in Carrollton. I decided to go see it. It's a townhouse, that's attached to another unit. Basically, a duplex. I don't like duplexes unless I'm getting the whole property. It's typical...one unit is tore up, foundation sagging, garage door pulling away, house has already had foundation work done and the same area is having problems. And the poor people that are duplexed to the bad property are suffering because their "attached" neighbor can't/isn't taking care of his property. I don't want to be on that same side of the situation, so I'm out on attached properties. I'm not in total control.
Next house was 1514 Hindsdale Drive, Richardson. House looked nice, needs some foundation, but not a lot. However, numbers don't work well on it. I offered $78,050 and house will ARV around $115,000. After about $20-$25,000 of repairs I'm in at about 78%. So I'll either have to reduce my offer to around $68,000-$70,000 to make it work. This house was my favorite. And I'm still keeping by eyes on 652 Spring in Allen.
Back in Carrollton, we went to 2645 Via Sonoma. Again, a townhouse attached to another address...a duplex. I'm out. Also, a short sale, so too long to wait.
So Justin and I have Pioneer Lane, E Park Blvd, and Gwendola Drive left to hear from, from the original 17. I also met with Lisa at 2609 Province Lane, Dallas, in East Dallas, asking $48,000. The house was really cute on the outside. Once inside, we found out the foundation was a mess, as you went on a roller coaster ride as you walked around the house. And it was chopped up on the inside. And they enclosed the back porch to add a "master bath". Not even a bargain at $30,000. So I passed.
I'm back looking at other properties. I didn't meet my goal of getting a property by the end of the year. But it wasn't because I didn't try. And I won't stop. Persistence.
Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, so if any of you are making plans to be out celebrating, please be careful and drink responsibly so that we can all have a great year in 2013. My goal for this blog is to start including photo's and video's with the blog, once I mast that. If any of you are good at it, technically, then please let me know. I'm willing to make the effort to take the pix and upload them if I just know more. I will attempt to do it the best I currently know how, and we'll see how it goes.
Happy New Year!
Mark
Friday, December 28, 2012
Multiple Offer Update
Several of the 15 properties Justin and I are working on are under contract, one was an auction, and another required me to get pq'd with Nationstar. When the dust settled there were 8 props left. Last night I signed and dated all eight contracts. Justin will be submitting them today. Then we'll wait. Meanwhile, I found a property on Province drive in East Dallas. Asking price around 48k. ARV is around 75,000. The owner of the property is a life estate. I will hopefully be looking at the property Saturday depending on Lisa's schedule. The estate might be willing to negotiate, and the numbers look really good. Rent-$1,100; gross equity - $21,692; cash flow $457/mo; estimated rehab costs-$12,000; est. COOP-$1,123; mos to recover COOP-2.46. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
HUD properties
The two HuD properties that Jason submitted were rejected. We're now working on the other 15 that are bank REO's and should have a lot of them submitted by the end of today. Btw, my offers were rejected but it appears that one of them did not receive an acceptable offer and is still on the market. I'll re look at that one to see if it's worth revising my offer.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Update on 17 properties
Justin received my email to place contracts on 17 properties. One is already under contract. So now there are 16. To avoid me from having to write 16 earnest money checks and 16 option fee checks, I took pix of two blank checks with my signature only. Justin will make 16 photocopies of the blank checks and then he can fill in payee and amount for each contract. He uses docusign so I could electronically sign 16 contracts. But I would prefer Justin add my initials and signature to the contracts so I don't have to. But docusign works through my email address. I could give Justin access to my email address password so he could email me the contracts then go into my email account, sign them, then sign out. But i dont want him accessing my personal email account. Instead I set up a new gmail account to be used specifically for these transactions and gave Justin the password. Now he can send the docusign dox to that account, then he can go into the account and sign them for me, and then receive them back. I'll still have copies of the contracts in my personal docusign account. Justin has 2 HUD contracts to submit before midnight tonight. We'll get to the others this weekend. Christmas? Busy. Merry Christmas to all of you!
Friday, December 21, 2012
Shenandoah update, BofA, New Strategy
Shenandoah-the lender didnt like my offer, and the stated that there was an offer pending. Christie - is a BofA property. Note: BofA requires all bidders to he prequalified by BofA. Even though I'm an investor and paying cash, they want to pull my credit, see my paystubs, and complete a 1003. I asked the LO if she could waive the pQ based on my information. She said no. I told my realtor to submit my offer anyway with an explanation re the missing BofA PQ letter. We'll wait and see.
Justin sent me a list of 34 properties from the Richardson/plano/McKinney/farmers branch area. I cruised through and selected 17. But I decided to take a different approach. On a spreadsheet I put all 17 properties with asking price, then Zillow estimated market value. Then I added a column toff the tax value then another column for my market value per a market evaluator I use on InvestorBlock. Then I determined an offer price, property unseen. I sent the spreadsheet to Justin and told him to write up 17 offers (only one was a HUD property. The rest were individual owned or bank owned). Then I'll see what comes back. Probably counter offers. Then I'll visit those properties and determine the status of the counter offer. That way I don't visit 17 properties (gas and time) and I'll see who's serious. And I can use my option period to back out if I want to, or to amend my offer based on my inspection of the house. Yes, I may miss some good deals. But I will have a better chance of making a good deal on a good property. And I'm only trying to get one house right now anyway.
Any comments, let me know. Questions? Maschellhammer@yahoo.com. And please be sure to let a y of your friends or acquaintances that might be interested in real estate to subscribe by email to my blog and watch me as I go through the process of finding, buying, rehabbing and renting/selling a property. The more people we have involved, the better.
Mark
Justin sent me a list of 34 properties from the Richardson/plano/McKinney/farmers branch area. I cruised through and selected 17. But I decided to take a different approach. On a spreadsheet I put all 17 properties with asking price, then Zillow estimated market value. Then I added a column toff the tax value then another column for my market value per a market evaluator I use on InvestorBlock. Then I determined an offer price, property unseen. I sent the spreadsheet to Justin and told him to write up 17 offers (only one was a HUD property. The rest were individual owned or bank owned). Then I'll see what comes back. Probably counter offers. Then I'll visit those properties and determine the status of the counter offer. That way I don't visit 17 properties (gas and time) and I'll see who's serious. And I can use my option period to back out if I want to, or to amend my offer based on my inspection of the house. Yes, I may miss some good deals. But I will have a better chance of making a good deal on a good property. And I'm only trying to get one house right now anyway.
Any comments, let me know. Questions? Maschellhammer@yahoo.com. And please be sure to let a y of your friends or acquaintances that might be interested in real estate to subscribe by email to my blog and watch me as I go through the process of finding, buying, rehabbing and renting/selling a property. The more people we have involved, the better.
Mark
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
House Hunting
I looked at 4 houses this evening with Justin Miller with Keller Williams. First house on W Spring Creek in Plano was a dog, too many foundation issues. The second house on Shenandoah in Plano was a really nice house. Occupied, it's a short sale. I normally don't like those, too much paperwork. But I told Jason if he'd do the paperwork we could put in an offer. Market Value is around $125-$130. Asking price is $106. To get to 70% I need to be at $91,000. Not a bad offer compared to $106 asking price. I offered $60,000. I can always come up to a counter offer. And, being a short sale, it will probably take months. We'll see.
Third house was on Spring St in Allen. Bigger house, 2,273 sf, two-story, but a 4-bedroom. Minor foundation problems, inside was nice. New flooring and paint. A few patch areas in the drywall, and a leaking bathtub upstairs causing an issue on the ceiling downstairs. And speaking of ceiling, popcorn. Biggest issues are redoing the ceiling, all new windows (all have lost their seal) and exterior siding replacement. All is MDF board, not that good for long term. I might consider redoing the whole exterior in hardiboard. Expensive. But the numbers. ARV on this house could be $190-$200. Asking price right now is $99k...already at 50%. I'll offer $75k. If I get it for that I'll put around $35k into the house and should flip this one for a profit of around $50-$60k. If I rent it I would cash flow around $700/month. But this house I would probably flip and get my cash out now. It's owned by Bank of Oklahoma so, being a small bank (meaning, not BofA or Wells, etc) they may be willing to part with it quicker. We'll see what happens.
The last house was in far north allen, and was not worth the drive. Small wooden house, 1,500 sf, reworked duplex, window a/c's, gas jet heaters (i.e. no central heating or air), two kitchens, a mess inside. A total gut and redo, which I'm not into right now. Also, not in a great part of town. I passed on this one.
So house 2 and 3 get offers.
Tomorrow I look at two more houses with Vance, in Carrollton. I'm working the initial numbers now, but will finalize them by tomorrow night and possibly submit offers on them. Anyone who wants to accompany me to these two houses is welcome to join me.
With Christmas looming this weekend, I'll work this until maybe Thursday, then chill until next week on my return to Dallas on Wednesday. Please be sure and call or email me if you have any questions.
I will try and take some pix in the future of the houses I'm looking at so you can get a better idea of what I'm looking at.
Third house was on Spring St in Allen. Bigger house, 2,273 sf, two-story, but a 4-bedroom. Minor foundation problems, inside was nice. New flooring and paint. A few patch areas in the drywall, and a leaking bathtub upstairs causing an issue on the ceiling downstairs. And speaking of ceiling, popcorn. Biggest issues are redoing the ceiling, all new windows (all have lost their seal) and exterior siding replacement. All is MDF board, not that good for long term. I might consider redoing the whole exterior in hardiboard. Expensive. But the numbers. ARV on this house could be $190-$200. Asking price right now is $99k...already at 50%. I'll offer $75k. If I get it for that I'll put around $35k into the house and should flip this one for a profit of around $50-$60k. If I rent it I would cash flow around $700/month. But this house I would probably flip and get my cash out now. It's owned by Bank of Oklahoma so, being a small bank (meaning, not BofA or Wells, etc) they may be willing to part with it quicker. We'll see what happens.
The last house was in far north allen, and was not worth the drive. Small wooden house, 1,500 sf, reworked duplex, window a/c's, gas jet heaters (i.e. no central heating or air), two kitchens, a mess inside. A total gut and redo, which I'm not into right now. Also, not in a great part of town. I passed on this one.
So house 2 and 3 get offers.
Tomorrow I look at two more houses with Vance, in Carrollton. I'm working the initial numbers now, but will finalize them by tomorrow night and possibly submit offers on them. Anyone who wants to accompany me to these two houses is welcome to join me.
With Christmas looming this weekend, I'll work this until maybe Thursday, then chill until next week on my return to Dallas on Wednesday. Please be sure and call or email me if you have any questions.
I will try and take some pix in the future of the houses I'm looking at so you can get a better idea of what I'm looking at.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Princeton House
I went Friday night to view a house in Princeton. Nice house, good price, but way out there. North of Rockwall. The address is 1200 N. 6th Street. It's a HUD home. Asking price is $46,000. My realtor says HUD automatically considers any offer that's 92% of it's asking price (this house is open to investors at this time). I offered $42,320 (92%). The bid deadline was midnight Friday night. We had it in around 11pm. We'll wait until Monday to see if my offer/bid won. House needs foundation work. And 6th street is a fairly busy road. The house is not in a subdivision. And it has a church two doors down and a commercial property around the corner. But for a rental property I think it will get around $950 a month. The numbers weren't exciting on this property, but they were right at the basics. Around $400 a month cash flow and $0 out of pocket with a $15,000 rehab budget. Of course no utilities turned on so I couldn't tell about water/gas/electricity.
We also looked at the house in McKinney on Kentucky. I didn't like this house that much. Minor foundation, so no big deal. But the house had no garage...just a two car carport, with a hodge-podge shed in the back yard. And the ceiling was popcorn that had enamel sprayed over it. If it had been regular popcorn, I could accept that. But the enamel over it meant that I couldn't match it in areas where I had to redo the ceilings because of the foundation issues. So that meant having to redo the entire ceiling in the house. And the kitchen would need revamping. The house was "uninsurable" but we couldn't really see why. HUD stated plumbing issues. We couldn't see any visible plumbing issues, but, again, we didn't have utilities on. It's across the street from a nice subdivision, so we can't really pull comps from that neighborhood because it's newer and nicer. I'm not too confident about this house.
I also have another realtor pulling some houses in Plano for me that I'll be reviewing this weekend. If I get the chance I may go look at some of them this next week and see what they look like.
We also looked at the house in McKinney on Kentucky. I didn't like this house that much. Minor foundation, so no big deal. But the house had no garage...just a two car carport, with a hodge-podge shed in the back yard. And the ceiling was popcorn that had enamel sprayed over it. If it had been regular popcorn, I could accept that. But the enamel over it meant that I couldn't match it in areas where I had to redo the ceilings because of the foundation issues. So that meant having to redo the entire ceiling in the house. And the kitchen would need revamping. The house was "uninsurable" but we couldn't really see why. HUD stated plumbing issues. We couldn't see any visible plumbing issues, but, again, we didn't have utilities on. It's across the street from a nice subdivision, so we can't really pull comps from that neighborhood because it's newer and nicer. I'm not too confident about this house.
I also have another realtor pulling some houses in Plano for me that I'll be reviewing this weekend. If I get the chance I may go look at some of them this next week and see what they look like.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Houses tonight
I'll be looking at 2-3 houses this evening after work. First house is in McKinney that Blake sent to me. If I buy it I'll give him a finder's fee or the right to participate in the deal with me. It a HUD home so bid deadline is midnight Sunday night. Numbers look good except no sure about rehab until after I see the inside. I've been trying to get into the 4 condos near Richland College but that realtors's staff is letting me down. Been 4 days and two people and still no appointment. I'll follow up this weekend. I plan on submitting at least one contract this weekend. Possibly 2. Much work to do before Sunday night. I'll keep you posted on the progress.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Updates
Well I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Here's what's happening in my new search for an investment property. I still have a contract in on the Talisman property. I'm assuming the bank didn't like my offer since they haven't jumped on it. But no news is good news I guess. I've looked at several properties on Saturdays and Sundays. If the property is vacant, Lisa provides me with the code and I look at the house myself. If the house has a Supra realtor key on it, then she has to go to open the house. Most of the houses I've looked at are in terrible foundation shape. I'm not afraid of a foundation issue, it's just that I cannot take the time to fix the foundation within my 4 week time frame to rehab the house, and I haven't been able to really tell if the seller/bank would be willing to drastically discount it for the foundation issue. I looked at a nice house in Richardson one street east of Coit, south of Arapaho. It was really working for me, a few small settling cracks, but nothing major. Then wham,,,the swimming pool. I don't do swimming pools. The agent (from Denton area) that was showing me that house is looking into the cost of turning under the pool and making the back yard back into just that. Nothing back from him yet. I'm looking at a couple of apartments by Richland College. Some are cheap...$19,000 for 800sf, renting for about $600-$700 a month. Pay Cash, get it back in less than two years. Really doesn't fit my model/criteria, but looking at it just the same. One of them will accept owner financing. I've called the listing agent on this one. Let him get the full 6% commission and maybe he'll do a good job for me and the seller. Lifestyles Unlimited promotes this. Personally, I'll take 'em wherever I can get 'em. Last, I was looking at a property in SW Arlington. I'm not fond of going that far away. Exception...I used to live and build in SW Arlington, so I'm familiar with the area. Second, the house is about 2 blocks away from the street I lived on when I was building in SW Arlington. Now I'm really familiar. And, my brother Gregg, an attorney in Arlington, and who owns 3 rental units himself, now lives about 3 blocks away from the house. He would keep an eye on it for me. I had my (Arlington) agent called to get a showing appointment. The seller (it's individually owned, which normally means a short sale) all of a sudden decided he wasn't accepting any showings. His name is a foreign name, so I'm assuming he might possibly be afraid of what's happening with his home. I told me agent to get me some information on the house re loan amount, monthly payment, etc. because I might be able to work an assumption...take over his monthly payments, fix up the house, then rent it out, or sell it. But, I had to get in to see the condition of the house. Again, the seller responded with no showing. So I'll drop it and let the agent watch the property for me. While I continue to look around. No one said this was going to be easy.
I ordered 20 corplast signs, bright-yellow, that will have pre-printed "I buy houses. Cash!" and my phone number. Paid about $100 for them. I'll start putting them up on strategic corners. I'm also considering a magnetic sign to go on the back doors of my Explorer with the same message, in yellow and red. Maybe this will start the phone ringing with calls directly from sellers.
Greg Norman and Blake Thorndike accompanied me last week to the offices of Sherman Bridge Lending (Hard Money Lenders) and New Western Acquisition (Wholesalers). They are separate entities, but owned by several of the same people. In my next blog, I'll tell you about that visit. And I'll tell you about a "debate" I got into last Saturday night with a friend of mine who's an investor and realtor, and our differences about "cash vs financing". I'll tell you the story, give you the facts, and let you decide which method best fits your goals. It should be interesting.
Until then...
I ordered 20 corplast signs, bright-yellow, that will have pre-printed "I buy houses. Cash!" and my phone number. Paid about $100 for them. I'll start putting them up on strategic corners. I'm also considering a magnetic sign to go on the back doors of my Explorer with the same message, in yellow and red. Maybe this will start the phone ringing with calls directly from sellers.
Greg Norman and Blake Thorndike accompanied me last week to the offices of Sherman Bridge Lending (Hard Money Lenders) and New Western Acquisition (Wholesalers). They are separate entities, but owned by several of the same people. In my next blog, I'll tell you about that visit. And I'll tell you about a "debate" I got into last Saturday night with a friend of mine who's an investor and realtor, and our differences about "cash vs financing". I'll tell you the story, give you the facts, and let you decide which method best fits your goals. It should be interesting.
Until then...
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Post Thanksgiving
STARLING - Since my counteroffer of $105,000 was not accepted by the bank, I cancelled the utilities that I had turned on for the inspection (and for the future, I thought). I also cancelled my insurance binder with Richardson Insurance. Now I wait for the return of my earnest money deposit. I worked and reworked the numbers, but it would have meant rehab costs totally out of my pocket, and that isn't within my business plan, unless the cash flow can return by OOP in at least 12 months or less. That wasn't going to happen, so time to move on.
TALISMAN - My offer of $70,000 has not received a response, I assume because of the holidays. Next week should let me know more.
These days you must move quickly. I found a condo close to Richland College that was 1,300 sf selling for...$17,000. FNMA foreclosure. Rent was around $900/mo. I called the listing agent to see about availability. Already under a cash contract. Too late. This one I would have paid cash for it. ARV would have been around $55,000-$60,000. Lesson is to always be looking, and to start calling and making connections and relationships with listing agents. The listing agent on this property may have had a couple of investors in line when the property became available. This is how you get "lucky" with the properties. I myself need to do a better job of this. Lifestyles unlimited had some pretty good techniques for finding listing agents using Zillow and then following up on the agents with a lot of listings. It's a good system. I will also begin this week emailing all of the realtors I've known as a loan officer. Time to let them know that I'm back in the game.
Dan, we need to get together in the next few weeks and set up an "interview" time to review your property as a case study that the rest of us can learn from, once you've successfully closed on your property. I will visit with Dan and visit his property so that we can have an intelligent conversation about this. I'm not sure how we'll do this. Maybe via phone, or using go-to-meeting of Skype voice. I'll be letting you know.
I hope your Thanksgiving was plentiful and joyful. Christmas is just around the corner. There will be a lot of distractions, which is understandable. But keep your antenna's up and your conversation going. I was at my grand-niece's 2 year birthday party yesterday when a gentleman related to my niece's husband sat down next to me. After intro's and how we were both "related" to my grand-niece, we got on the subject of retiring in Costa Rica, and how, with passive income streams, you could live comfortably the rest of your life in a caribbean paradise like CR or Belize. With passive income from, say, real estate. Then he asked me "so what do you do?" I started slow with CPA, mortgage consultant, licensed LO, and real estate investor involved with helping individuals obtain a return at least 6 times greater than average "safe, guaranteed" rate of return, especially with retirement money, like an IRA (self-directed, in other words). We visited about 5 minutes, then I purposefully left the table and move to another table. About 15 minutes later he came over and sat next to me and said that he'd owned some rental properties before, was out of them now. But wasn't sure about how the SDIRA worked. I explained it, discussed how it would work for him if his SDIRA was either my lender or my JV partner. We spent the next 30-45 minutes talking. At the end, he asked for one of my business cards (hint: get a business card. Nothing fancy, just a method of someone being able to remember you with, so they can call you later). We'll see if I hear from him or not. Point is, you never know who you'll be talking to that will all of a sudden be interested in what you do. I got several of my private investor from the casual conversation, 10-second pitch. Others I've gotten from just having a "meeting" of interested people at my house with beer and snacks to discuss real estate. Discuss. Not arm-twist. If they're interested, they'll ask you. All of my people have asked me how they can join in doing what I do. I've never asked someone to loan me money or be my partner. I would suggest you do the same. Once they see you know what you're talking about, and you're somewhat passionate, without being like a used car salesman, you have a better chance of them coming around. And if they ask about your experience, tell them that you're "partnered-up" with someone who has extensive experience. That would be me. And set up a meeting and we'll go from there.
Until next time...
Mark
TALISMAN - My offer of $70,000 has not received a response, I assume because of the holidays. Next week should let me know more.
These days you must move quickly. I found a condo close to Richland College that was 1,300 sf selling for...$17,000. FNMA foreclosure. Rent was around $900/mo. I called the listing agent to see about availability. Already under a cash contract. Too late. This one I would have paid cash for it. ARV would have been around $55,000-$60,000. Lesson is to always be looking, and to start calling and making connections and relationships with listing agents. The listing agent on this property may have had a couple of investors in line when the property became available. This is how you get "lucky" with the properties. I myself need to do a better job of this. Lifestyles unlimited had some pretty good techniques for finding listing agents using Zillow and then following up on the agents with a lot of listings. It's a good system. I will also begin this week emailing all of the realtors I've known as a loan officer. Time to let them know that I'm back in the game.
Dan, we need to get together in the next few weeks and set up an "interview" time to review your property as a case study that the rest of us can learn from, once you've successfully closed on your property. I will visit with Dan and visit his property so that we can have an intelligent conversation about this. I'm not sure how we'll do this. Maybe via phone, or using go-to-meeting of Skype voice. I'll be letting you know.
I hope your Thanksgiving was plentiful and joyful. Christmas is just around the corner. There will be a lot of distractions, which is understandable. But keep your antenna's up and your conversation going. I was at my grand-niece's 2 year birthday party yesterday when a gentleman related to my niece's husband sat down next to me. After intro's and how we were both "related" to my grand-niece, we got on the subject of retiring in Costa Rica, and how, with passive income streams, you could live comfortably the rest of your life in a caribbean paradise like CR or Belize. With passive income from, say, real estate. Then he asked me "so what do you do?" I started slow with CPA, mortgage consultant, licensed LO, and real estate investor involved with helping individuals obtain a return at least 6 times greater than average "safe, guaranteed" rate of return, especially with retirement money, like an IRA (self-directed, in other words). We visited about 5 minutes, then I purposefully left the table and move to another table. About 15 minutes later he came over and sat next to me and said that he'd owned some rental properties before, was out of them now. But wasn't sure about how the SDIRA worked. I explained it, discussed how it would work for him if his SDIRA was either my lender or my JV partner. We spent the next 30-45 minutes talking. At the end, he asked for one of my business cards (hint: get a business card. Nothing fancy, just a method of someone being able to remember you with, so they can call you later). We'll see if I hear from him or not. Point is, you never know who you'll be talking to that will all of a sudden be interested in what you do. I got several of my private investor from the casual conversation, 10-second pitch. Others I've gotten from just having a "meeting" of interested people at my house with beer and snacks to discuss real estate. Discuss. Not arm-twist. If they're interested, they'll ask you. All of my people have asked me how they can join in doing what I do. I've never asked someone to loan me money or be my partner. I would suggest you do the same. Once they see you know what you're talking about, and you're somewhat passionate, without being like a used car salesman, you have a better chance of them coming around. And if they ask about your experience, tell them that you're "partnered-up" with someone who has extensive experience. That would be me. And set up a meeting and we'll go from there.
Until next time...
Mark
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Update on Starling, Talisman, other
Starling-the bank countered at $135,000. I declined. ARV was 192,000 per appraiser so at 70% my HML would have only covered the acquisition price and I would have had to fund improvements out of pocket. Even with $1,000/ mo cash flow it would have taken 3 years to get back may OOP. Doesn't fit my critic, so I'm out.
Contract was submitted on Talisman at $70,000, with approximate $10,000-$12,000 rehab at the high end. ARV at around $125,000. Holidays will delay hearing from FNMA.
My realtor, Lisa Richardson, would like to meet all of you and let you know how she does what she does, and how she can help all of us. Contact me and let me know what would work for you...evening, weekend, whatever.
Also, congratulations to Dan Turner for his upcoming closing on his first property this next week. I will try to get him on a conference call soon so we can discuss his property and you can ask him questions on how he did his property. Again, a Skype conf call or I'll do a go-to-meeting deal. Let me know your thoughts and I'll arrange it.
Mark
Contract was submitted on Talisman at $70,000, with approximate $10,000-$12,000 rehab at the high end. ARV at around $125,000. Holidays will delay hearing from FNMA.
My realtor, Lisa Richardson, would like to meet all of you and let you know how she does what she does, and how she can help all of us. Contact me and let me know what would work for you...evening, weekend, whatever.
Also, congratulations to Dan Turner for his upcoming closing on his first property this next week. I will try to get him on a conference call soon so we can discuss his property and you can ask him questions on how he did his property. Again, a Skype conf call or I'll do a go-to-meeting deal. Let me know your thoughts and I'll arrange it.
Mark
Monday, November 19, 2012
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
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