All Forum Posts by: Artem Lopatchenko

I just came back from the very first house auction I have ever attended.  I went initially to see how the process works and observe, I was the only person to show up.  I got to talking with the auctioneer and she informed me that the deposit is 10% of appraisal price (19,500 per state judicial website), however a later appraisal lowered the price to $175,000.  She then told me that the opening bid was $200K, made by the bank.

Is it common for banks to offer an initial bid so much higher than appraised value during foreclosure auctions?  

For anyone interested, I went to this property.

https://sso.eservices.jud.ct.gov/foreclosures/Publ...

A Danbury meet up would be great! Let me know when you were thinking of having one.

For those who are still wondering what numbers are part of OpEx, AskBP#88 podcast answers it in a matter of 4 minutes and they do a great job.  I'd suggest giving it a listen. 

Matt, Welcome to BP. Since you are looking to be a buy and hold investor look into CHFA loans and maybe look into house hacking as well. You may be able to get into a multi family with very very very (they have closing cost assistance) money down and get your feet wet when it comes to land lording. Best of luck to you!

Ryan, Welcome to BP. If you decide to get a property that you use as your primary, be sure to do your research into CHFA loans (CT FHA equivalent). Depending on your income and where you buy, you can get into a multi family for very low money down and they even have down payment assistance programs (as well as closing cost assistance!) Best of luck with everything!

Welcome to BP. If you haven't listened to all of the podcasts yet, I'd suggest starting there as they container volumes of valuable information on how to find great deals (amongst other things).

@James Smith I am currently going through the same process myself.  I think the first step should be to make your personal financial statements (balance sheet and income statement), this will not only be useful should the loan officer ask for it, but will also give you an idea of where your money is going and where you can cut back on your spending.  As far as getting a pre-approval, I would reach out to every local bank/credit union that you have around you and get an understanding of what they're looking to fund.  Based on their criteria you may realize that depending on the property type/investment type, you may want to use different banks.

Welcome to BP Justin and good luck! From my understanding of the FL market, there are many opportunities to get in at a very reasonable price and the rents are there to support the cash flow. Also, being that Florida is a common vaca destination, you also have the opportunity (depending on your state/local ordinance) to turn them into short term rentals (like AirBnB) to obtain an even higher returns!

Yes, a real estate license is not needed to invest in properties. That being said, having your license and having access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) will only be of benefit to you in your investing career.

Good luck! 

I appreciate all of your advice and insight. I suppose business plan was not the right term to use in this instance, what I am really writing up is an "investment criteria" breakdown and how values will be derived. The entire package I am putting together is going to include: Personal BS, Income Statement, 2013 Taxes & W-2s, 2014 Taxes & W-2s, most recent 2015 Pay Stubs (to show annual income), followed by the investing criteria. My thinking is, if the bankers that I meet with see that the numbers are calculated based on some research and that there are fixed criteria for selecting the properties I would be more likely to be pre-approved. I am trying to get a pre-approval from a bank that would allow me to know what sort of financing I can count on when a good deal comes about.

Another questions, what has your experience been with applying for a revolving business line of credit and then using the real estate purchased as collateral on that line?