Advice on a 250K duplex that's selling for 180K - Hard Money Loan?

Question

I’ve been a member of biggerpockets for a while but I will admit that I don’t do a lot of posting and I don’t troll the forums much since I don’t have a lot of time working a full time job and rehabbing my current home but I have been listen to all the great podcasts.

BTW, sweat equity really pays off, I gained 48K in just 2 years.But mainly it helped that I bought it as a shortsale just before the market started to come back up again, but that’s a whole other story in itself.

So I’ve been trying to get into the investment side of things for the last few years and something always happens, outbid, too much work, foundation or structural issues, priced out of my range, not able to get enough financing through the bank and the list goes on and on.

So I would like to get some info on hard money lenders and if there is one that is even reading this maybe they would want a joint or partnership or do just a straight out loan for 6 or 8 months and then I can do a refi but mainly I’m just throwing this out here to get some feedback to see if it’s even worth it.

There is development of about 20 duplexes about 25 mins from my house, Roughly 10 years old.These are huge, each unit is a 3/2 and most of them have a single and a double garage but a few of them have a 2 stall for each side.Real hardwood floors, oak cabinets, vaulted ceiling and such.I’ve been following rental rates in that area and they seem to be solid since I’ve only seen one get listed at 1,400 per month.Tenant pays for all their own utils except for water.Last year one of the duplexes was listed for just a little over 250K and sold within a month.

A few months ago, one of them came up on the market for 180K and I asked my agent.She did some digging and found out that the basement was flooded and it all has to be taken out, carpet, studs and drywall. Mold maybe? She said it’s a cash only deal.

I love the area, great school district and on top of that it’s 10 mins closer to my company.I would be an owner/occupant.So my thought is to get a hard loan, rehab it then move in, get the other side rented out to show the extra income and then refinance it since I will have brought the value back up again to the 250K mark.

Feel free to leave any comments or questions or if you would like to know any more info you can ask here or PM me.

Thanks

Account Closed · Answer

John:

Please give us a call to discuss. We might be able to help. 928-854-7747.

Shannon DeRosby

Hattie Dizmond · Answer

@John N.

You generally have to have some rental history for the lender to consider that as a part of your income. You may be able to get a small local lender - my favorite kind! - to accept a signed lease as proof, provided everything else is solid. Even with that, you probably will have to go with a conventional loan, not FHA, as they have their own qualifying guidelines. So, you'll need to be prepared for the 20% down on the refi.

My bigger concern is the scope of work that might be required for the basement problem. Will you be able to fund the necessary rehab costs? Since HML loans are generally short-term, are you confident in your ability to both fund and complete the rehab in time to get a renter in and refi, before the HML loan matures?

My advice is to reach out to every small, local lender in your area and find someone who is willing to look at a young lease as income for the purpose of qualifying. I would also get an inspector or basement expert of some kind (We don't really have basements in most of Texas, so I don't know who specializes in that kind of work.) to look at the property and give you an estimate of the cost & duration of effort. Then you can decide whether this is something you can take down.

Advice on a 250K duplex that's selling for 180K - Hard Money Loan?

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