First deal all sorts of F'd up

First deal all sorts of F'd up

Specialist · Member since 2018 · 59 posts · 15 votes

Some of you may have seen my previous posts but anyway I've been looking at buying my first property in South Florida (Fort Lauderdale Village Area) for $225k with current rentals at $2250, and a possibility of bumping it up $2500.

Since the beginning I've gone through tons of bumps along this search. I started looking September of last year and after finally finding something I liked, my loan was denied, the broker told me to wait until March so the late payments I had made in 2015 were erased from my record.

After starting the search back up in April, I go to put an offer on a property and same thing.

Last month she said I was finally approved for a loan and to start looking again. I found this duplex in a neighborhood thats without a doubt going to appreciate (my fraternity brother is in the city's development department and has sent me redevelopment maps of the area). But when I went to do the appraisal it turns out the house only has one water meter and isn't officially a duplex like it was listed.

The mortgage broker now says we will need to open up a door between the two units and remove the kitchen from the efficiency in order to be able to continue with the loan/closing.

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I'm quickly starting to lose hope on this search and feel extremely bad for my realtor who has stuck with me since September. He believes regardless of the situation it's a great deal and I should stick it out. My parents say I should back out, take the loss for appraisal and inspection, and put my savings towards the remaining balance on my student loans. And the mortgage broker says from her pov I am entitled to be refunded my inspection and appraisal costs.

I really want the property but am worried about having to practically renovate the efficiency/in-laws den and having to find new tenants (previously the tenants stated they both wanted to renew their lease).

What should I do?...

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Investor · Topeka, KS · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
7y

@David Santana I do enjoy hearing about investing in other areas of the country.  I just don't have the stomach for those examples.  The cash flow margin feels so slim.  It seems as though you have to bank on appreciation of the asset for most of your return.  Is that true?

As an example I consider true long term cash flow to be Gross rents - 30% (vac, maint, capex) - PITI = longterm average cash flow. With your numbers above combined with my definition the cash flow seems thin.

Thoughts?

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  • Real Estate Professional · West Palm Beach, FL · Member since 2012 · 23k+ posts · 13k+ votes
    7y

    You likely have no grounds, based on the permitting/duplex issue to get your inspection/appraisal costs back....I think I recall a verbiage change in the FARBAR 4-5 years ago and these issues have to be discovered/dealt with during your inspection period. 

    Since you can’t get it financed as is, you should have that out for your EM though. 

    If it’s not zoned for 2 units, you should have caught that before making an offer. 

  • Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2018 · 28 posts · 38 votes
    7y

    Man thats a tough go. I've been taking the approach of knocking down my student loans while looking for a duplex to house hack. It was a solid 9 months - but now im closing at the end of the month. Keep at it and dont be afraid to knock doors, go to the country to find multifamily owners, or post on social media and ask if anyone has one to sell. Get creative. I think you will be much happier in the long run if you wait for a deal you feel confident in. 

    In the mean-time - pay those loans. They suck. 

  • Member since 2019 · 24 posts · 8 votes
    7y

    A good piece of advice if you are buying real estate in Florida, is to speak with an experienced Florida real estate lawyer to learn about your rights, including those related to disclosures, inspections, and title insurance. Most real estate lawyers offer a free initial consultation (over the phone or in person, whichever you prefer) to answer your questions.  In the end, if the had done a proper title study you would have found out about this problem. They are worth every single dollar...

  • Investor · Topeka, KS · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    Additionally, don't buy based on the 1% rule.  That's too expensive.

  • Member since 2019 · 24 posts · 8 votes
    7y

    @Jacob Sampson using the 1% or the 50% rule it's not a blanket solution for all the markets.  What might not work in Topeka, Kansas might work in Trenton, New Jersey and it gives you a playful idea of what to offer for a multi-family home in Fort Lauderlade.  I'm going to give you an example of how I structure an offer using the 1% rule. 

    The owners are collecting rent below market value because the units are outdated and out of place in that market, if upgraded we can move to column 3 which reflect the value of units if updated to (granite counters, prefabricated high-grade counters, stainless steel appliances, constituted wood flooring,  split ac units instead of window units, new windows (hurricane proof) and a driveway instead of dirt) which will match the neighborhood.  I just reverse the 1% from the owner offer of $650,000 and created a minimum of 425k and a maximum of the 550k base on the 1% in reverse.

    I'm not sure if you found this useful, let me know your thoughts


  • Investor · Topeka, KS · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    @David Santana I do enjoy hearing about investing in other areas of the country.  I just don't have the stomach for those examples.  The cash flow margin feels so slim.  It seems as though you have to bank on appreciation of the asset for most of your return.  Is that true?

    As an example I consider true long term cash flow to be Gross rents - 30% (vac, maint, capex) - PITI = longterm average cash flow. With your numbers above combined with my definition the cash flow seems thin.

    Thoughts?

  • Member since 2019 · 24 posts · 8 votes
    7y

    @Jacob Sampson  This is a hot neighborhood when I used to live there in 2009 I used to pay $800 a month now the same apartment pays $1, 700 in 2019 as you can see on the table below yes the cash flow will be low on the first year but because of income growth which is higher than inflation this a good long term investment.  Some of the adjecet neighborhoods have negative income growth base on Neiboorhood Scout which although the reasons why were not very clear location to adjecet bad neighborhood might be the reason. 

    @Jacob Sampson

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