All Forum Posts by: Alma Mills

*Not renew*

Stay away from True Home... we told them we wanted to put tenants on month to month and new renew leases after 1 year.  The true home team told 5 of our tenants we were not going to renew their lease and they needed to move out!  

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Los Angeles.

Purchase price: $1,640,000
Cash invested: $300,000

We bought this SFR distressed and with the old owner in bankruptcy. We bought it with a hard money loan that included purchase and $350,000 in remodel funds. Part of our challenge was they only wanted to give us 1 year for the bridge. We had serious challenges with our contractor and eventually were forced to fire him and GC the rest of the project by ourselves. We were blessed to be able to refinance out of the bridge loan about 14 months later with appraisal at 2.835 million.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We lived in our 4 unit property for many years and wanted to finally have a yard for our kids and some space. We like the area and feel it will increase significantly in value in the future.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

MLS listing. Seller was in bankruptcy and needed an all cash out no contingency offer. Had to close on 3 weeks. Our agent was friends with the listing agent so that really helped on this one.

How did you finance this deal?

Used a hard money fix and flip type lender who would only lend to seasoned remodeling investors. Paid 10% down on purchase and remodel costs.

How did you add value to the deal?

The old house had no heat, 5 bedrooms and 1 bath on the 2nd floor, closed concept kitchen, servants stairs, awkward 3rd floor and many other issues that we fixed.

What was the outcome?

Refinance in Jan of 2023. Paid off bridge loan Built pool and sport court in Spring 2023 and moved into the property.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Don’t go to cheap on your contractor or you will suffer.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Eileen Lanza our realtor did a great job for us

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Los Angeles.

Purchase price: $1,640,000
Cash invested: $300,000

We bought this SFR distressed and with the old owner in bankruptcy. We bought it will a hard money loan that included purchase and $350,000 in remodel funds. Part of our challenge was they only wanted to give us 1 year for the bridge. We had serious challenges with our contractor and eventually were forced to fire him and GC the rest of the project by ourselves. We were blessed to be able to refinance out of the bridge loan about 14 months later (with two month long extensions). Our new lender asked for 2 appraisals and they came in at 2.835 and 2.85 million, much higher than expected. We are still working on the landscaping and pool.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We lived in our 4 unit property for many years and wanted to finally have a yard for our kids and some space. We like the area and feel it will increase significantly in value in the future.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

MLS listing. Seller was in bankruptcy and needed a all cash out no contingency offer. Had to close on 3 weeks . Our agent was friends with the listing agent so that really helped on this one.

How did you finance this deal?

Used a hard money fix and flip type lender who would only lend to seasoned investors. Paid 10% down on purchase and remodel costs.

How did you add value to the deal?

Well the old house had no heat, 5 bedrooms and 1 bath on the 2nd floor, closed concept kitchen, servants stairs, awkward 3rd floor and many other issues that we fixed.

What was the outcome?

Refinance in Jan of 2023. Paid off bridge loan Built pool and sport court in Spring and moved into the property.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Don’t go to cheap on your contractor or you will suffer.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Eileen Lanza our realtor did a great job for us

Words matter. I fully support such a change and believe it can help the public see us in a different light. If we are ever to solve our housing crisis in so many cities housing providers must be seen in their proper role as the only ones who can help us turn this around.

@Alvin Uy they offered me 78k for my mailbox store but I only took 10k because I didn't have an immediate need for that amount and wasn't sure about the strings attached.

A big question is what would you do with the money. Do you have a deal you have been wanting to do? If so and the numbers are good might be a great idea.

@Anthony Gayden Pearls of wisdom.

Cap rates in Cincinnati go over 9% all the time. Where I live, in southern California, we can get 6% at best. Of course, all of these are properties that are not value add. If you are buying fixers you could get better cap rates. In Indiana, Michigan and other locations you could get even higher. If your not interested in leaving Georgia you could probably get rates that were close to those numbers around Macon and other smaller towns.

He is not able to change the price after you have a valid contract. As mentioned, you can sue for specific performance. This means the court will force the seller to give you the property as long as you are ready willing and able to perform your part of ther contract. Look up "specific performance" online to learn more. Hopefully, you will not have to go that far but can just use that information as leverage to make him do what he promised. Good luck and God bless.