All Forum Posts by: Alex Deacon

@Niyi Adewole Another alternative is to do a lease option. For example option money $10,000. Then each month you negotiate a rent payment for a designated amount of months or years until you have to pay of the owner via a refinance or some other method of payment in full. Just keep in mind you lose a lot of leverage when you ask the seller to hold a mortgage or do a lease option. Secondly it has to make sense on paper. The numbers have to make sense to you as in every RE investment. Also have you investigate Have you significant equity in your current rental property or your home where you could either refinance and cash out or get a HELOC or second mortgage in order to come up with enough for your down payment on the new investment.

@Burke Ericson I buy 5-10 homes a month in Pittsburgh. I also have a management company and we mange over 600 units. I can definitely help you find properties for under $80,000 that will rent for $1000 a month. Let me know asap. You dont have much time and thats a challenge on your hands.

I have helped hundreds of investors out of state and out of the country. I have many references I can send to you also. I have a few investors that may consider selling a package of properties. We constantly have our clients trading up or liquidating and going onto some other venture.

@Sandy Sawyer Check with a professional mortgage broker and your RE attorney. In my opinion other than your own personal residence you should be buying all of your holdings in an LLC or LP.

That makes the loan a commercial loan and you can have as many loans as you want. You want to insulate your assets from each other. Yes you will get a little higher interest rate and the terms are not as appealing but neither is getting sued and losing everything you worked hard to get.

Best Regards

@Account Closed before you do any sheriffs sales please get well educated in that arena. It can be very risky. I have purchased quite a few and yes you can get good deals but its not easy. take some local courses on the process and get a good attorney who you can go to for good advice and title searches etc..

@Martin Nowak @Judah Houser  Personally I like building relationships with local banks. In most cases they are easier to deal with. Also its not a bad idea to contact a local mortgage broker. I use a broker a lot when I am refinancing or a new purchase because they will shop around for the best deal and they will find the  bank that will work with your particular situation  with the least amount of red tape. Yes it may cost you just a little more to hire a broker but capital is king. You will find the more money you have at your disposal the more deals that you can do. Interest rate becomes secondary sometimes.

Best of luck to you both.

Alex

@Greg Thibeaux it will be easier to find single family homes but either is good. As long as the numbers make sense. I typically buy 1-4 units but If a larger multi comes along or small commercial deal I would at least give it a look. 25 years of  investing and teaching investors in Pittsburgh has taught me to Stick to the basics and take your time. Quality is better than quantity. Let me know if you need any future help. 

Best regards 

@Alexander Hamilton i am happy to help. I manage over 600 properties in Pgh and have helped hundreds of real estate investors. I know the market well and buy on average 5 properties a month here. You really should get in touch with a credit repair specialist. I can recommend one. Your ability to expand is going to depend on your ability to get capital. Without good credit and financials it's much harder. Not impossible. I also have a lot of contacts in the lending industry. Let me know how I can help. 

@Faysal Alam Step one always have your pre approval or proof of funds ready at all times. If you are paying cash have the most recent statement from your account. If you haven't done this yet then the seller will most likely not even look at your offer. Talk with a professional in the mortgage industry to get a solid pre approval or guidance on what you need to do to get qualified. As far as is it a good investment

1. What would be Your Principal interest taxes and insurance payment each month.

2.  Use a management fee even if you are going to self manage at least put something in here 5-10%

3. Use a repair contingency my guess $100 a month would be sufficient since its a condo

4. Use a vacancy factor 4-8%

At the end of the month what is your cash flow? Is that acceptable to you?

If you cant get a conventional loan you have a couple options. Seller financing where the seller will hold a mortgage and or a lease Option.

OR

Private money (Hard Money Loan) where you pay a high interest rate until you can refinance into a conventional mortgage.

@Tyler Wagner In order to negotiate the best price and to expedite the process and beat out other buyers who don't have their pre approval or Proof of funds in hand its best to have all your ducks in a row. Also sometimes on corporate listings and foreclosures the seller wants to see your LLC or corporation docs before presenting an offer.

Best of luck on the MHP.

@John Leake @Gardi A.

Your welcome. One thing I would agree with John to limit your risk to zero by getting  the property under control via sales contract then wholesale, The downside of this is In my experience most banks or corporate owned properties will not allow any sort of assignment so i dont know how you would structure the deal.