All Forum Posts by: Chris Seveney

We build tiny homes and sell them on CFD, I've talked to a few lenders that mentioned a private fund, may be ideal to fund these.

Im wondering if that's the route to go or is there a better option? A quick run down on how we operate. 

We utilize a private lender now. They fund these loans 100% which covers land accusation, and build cost. 
Term 6 months, interest only payments. Followed by a balloon payment at the end of remaining balance. Interest rate fixed at 12.9%

Loan is dispersed via draws. 

Our typical timeframe start to finish is 60 days. From the time we acquire land and build to the time it's sold. 

So my question is, is a private find the way to go to fund these types of deals?  Also any investors that this seems like an interesting idea to, I would be interested in chatting

Quote from @Joseph M.:

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Chris Seveney:

Quote from @Christopher Cu:

Wondering if there is a class action lawsuit that people can participate in?

I see people throw class action suits around all the time, the reality is in these types of situations the money is most likely already gone and if there is money left, let the government step in and get it under receivership as most class action suits do not end up in a lot of money to people, the numbers are big but thats because of the # of people involved, which gets people like $5-$10 per claim..... 

Also it would not occur until after fraud is confirmed, and again, better to let the feds get involved than attorneys believe it or not IMHO

and generally there needs to be an insurance company they can go after.. these are rare to the extreme in the RE space most RE deals that turtle up there is no money its gone. Sponsor's either miscalculated on what they bought or used funds for personal lifestyle or a combo of both. 

 What have you seen happen if in fact investor money was not used for investments or properties but rather excessive spending by the company (marketing, retreats, conferences) or worse personal lifestyle?

I have $150k in one particular deal/fund. That deal is now inactive. I am not sure if any real estate was bought or not. Likely not. 

that would probably be some kind of fraud or conversion.. But the fact that you dont know if they bought property or not ( I assume that is what they told you or the doc''s said you were going to do) thats quite concerning.. Does not sound like a good situation though and these are very tough to figure out.. Of course you could hire an attorney to try to get to the bottom of it. however is that just throwing good money after bad. That is a decision only you can make.

OKAY here we go. 

I bought a fourplex in a small town in the upper peninsula of Michigan in February with plans to keep the tenants in the bottom two units happy, and renovate the top two units (which were in total disarray) within one year's time. My business partner and I are doing the Reno ourselves so it is taking some time but it's coming along. 

I inherited leases that were five years long. I know now that this is a red flag. Won't be buying leases that long again, ever. In the lease there is a clause that with increases in taxes and insurance, rents can be increased. 

Taxes and insurance increased significantly when the building changed hands because it had been the same owner since the 60s and their taxes were capped. 

The bank estimated taxes to be wildly high, something that both surprised us and caught us off guard. I sent a letter with 60 days notice to raise rents based on those estimates (and included the bank's estimates in the letter). I am just starting out (we own another duplex we bought the November before and that's been super smooth even with rent raises) and did not know that you could go to the city assessor and get the actual numbers for taxes (which it turns out were much lower than the bank's assessments...which was good for us! I was happy about that!). 

As soon as I was made aware of my mistake I told the tenants we would NOT raise rents until we've confirmed the lower amount with the village. We had an in person meeting where my tenant from Hell threatened to "beat my ***" more times than I can count. I'm a people person and generally get along with everyone so this energy, especially after I apologized for the mistake and agreed not to raise rents until we know the correct numbers, was a little jarring. 

Since then this person continually calls me a liar and a coward on his envelopes he uses to mail his rent checks. When he sees me he continues to threaten me, saying I'm constantly lying and am incompetent, a douchebag, "I just want to take you in the back and put my foot in your ***""Beat your ***" "fold you in half" etc etc. 

It feels silly to even say it here. Why am I so affected by this? Should I just be able to let it roll off and keep cashing his checks? It's honestly causing me a ton of stress. He does seem unstable, and I have a wife and kids and don't want some crazy person to decide he's going to end me because he's built up a whole narrative about who I am. 

Anyways, he hired a lawyer before we could get actual numbers from the village and suggested his own rent raise amount. We immediately accepted and agreed to pay his lawyer fees for drafting the letter (we paid $1200). 

So this tenant's rent is slightly higher but it's still almost half of what his apartment can get market rate. Thats fine. I just wanted it to be over with. But the threats and accusations continue.

After being in the apartment adjacent to this tenant in order to take pictures and list it as an open rental, he accused me of messing with his back door. He must have heard me open the back door of the other apartment and walk into the back shared storage space, all in order to take pictures for the listing. Obviously, I never touched his back door but he just continues to accuse me of that and call me a liar when I tell him exactly what I was doing. 

sigh maybe you're all just my therapy right now, but how do I handle this? I've taken pictures of all of the envelopes he sends, and I have voicemail messages he's left that are threatening saved on my phone. 

Is it worth looking into a restraining order and eviction? Is that too crazy an action given that he still is paying rent each month? 

I'll never claim to be perfect. I made a mistake when I didn't go to the assessor to ask about taxes. I haven't claimed otherwise. I knew there would be some learning curves getting into real estate in my 40s. I'm continuing to get better and feel pretty good about where we are, aside from this mess. This situation has just taken a real toll on my mental. 

Any advice from the crowd? Sorry for the book, appreciate any advice you can lend. 

Hey BP community,

I’m currently in the middle of a serious situation with a seller-financed deal gone completely sideways. The buyers stopped paying, secretly turned the property into an Airbnb without my knowledge, and eventually defaulted — leaving me with a huge unpaid balance, property damage, and a legal mess trying to remove them.

Even worse, the family renting the home through Airbnb was completely unaware and now caught in the middle. I’ve signed a legal lease with them to protect their housing, but I’m still stuck pursuing the original buyers for breach of contract, trespassing, and damages.

At this point:

• I’ve paid a $5,000 legal retainer

• The buyers owe over $18,000 in missed payments

• Damages include a kicked-in door, scratched interior doors from pets, damaged siding, and HVAC tampering

• And now they’ve taken up “residency” in the basement when the original buyers tried to call the cops on the ones living in the property due to not receiving payments from AirBnB anymore (because they are paying me directly). So they are squatting in the basement even though they have never lived there.

I’m moving forward with legal action, but I’m sharing here to ask:

• Has anyone dealt with something similar under a Contract for Deed?

• Any advice on how to frame damages and enforce against unauthorized occupancy?

• How did your legal process play out if you couldn’t recover funds from the other party?

I’ve also set up a GoFundMe to help offset some of the legal costs — I’m happy to share the link via direct message if anyone is interested.

Appreciate any insight or support from those who’ve been through a similar nightmare.

Thanks,

Matthew

Hello - looking for advice on investing in the Shenandoah National Park area. Anyone have experience there? is it too late to get in? Is the market overly saturated? Does Front Royal allow STR's?

🏡 The Vegas real estate market has been slower. Median residential home prices slipped from about $489K in August to $475K in September, and homes are sitting a bit longer—around 29 days on average. Rents have also cooled off lately, which lines up with what I’ve been seeing out there.

Feels like the market’s resetting as we head into the holidays—more inventory, slower activity, and buyers finally getting some more closing concessions.

It feels like note investing is gaining more attention recently.
Maybe it’s because of the lower maintenance, steady income, or flexibility.

If you’ve been in the space for a while — what’s driving the shift, in your opinion?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on where this market is heading.