All Forum Posts by: Stan Butler

@Marc Creason - Lets say its a portfolio of 6 SFR properties with a total value of about $600k and LTV of about 75%. I would like to see if there are products out there with amortization of 15-20 years, long fixed rate period and no balloon (or as far out as possible). They are all currently financed with individual Portfolio Loans

If you are doing cash based accounting, I really don't think you need anything more complicated than Excel.  I have been using it for 8 years and with the Pivot Tables and Filtering capabilities, its pretty easy to track by account.  Its just a matter of allocating transactions among Assets, Liabilities, Income and Expenses.  The only thing a little tricky is the depreciation...

Well @Gerald Harris , you must have a follower somewhere in Southfield, Michigan.  I just got a postcard with almost identical verbiage on it....

Hey @Jay C. , thanks for the heads up on the Smart Key system.  I honestly have looked around for any alternatives in a few years.  I don't know that I would call the Landlord Locks system cumbersome because I can change each lock in about 10-15 seconds.  It would be nice not to have all those spare cylinders laying around.  I assume you have to get key specialty key sets from Kwikset?

Its so much easier to handle this situation if you install quick change lock sets like Landlord Locks.  When the prior tenant moves out, you go over and change the locks to a "contractor" set of locks only used for vacant properties.  Then, after signing a lease with the new tenant, you change from the "contractor" locks to a new set of locks for your rentals.  I always change to the new lock set in front of my new tenants and show them that the old keys don't work, then have them initial on the lease that the locks have been changed.

I have had it quoted a couple of times by my contractor for a few flips, but we ended up not buying the property.

Here are the items that were the same or similar price:

• Punching holes in the bottom of pool
• Breaking up concrete and throwing in pool
• Tamping down the fill dirt to pack it tight

Here are the items that varied in price for each project:

• Amount of fill dirt required
• Labor to get the fill dirt to the pool

In one case, they were going to have to wheelbarrow it from the front to the back.  In the other case, the dumptrucks had easy access to pool location and could get it almost in the pool.  The total project was about $4,000 in one case and about $5,000 in the other.

I keep track of all the properties in my target buying market that enter the Extended phase and what they sell for compared to the list price and (previously available) appraised value.  My data shows results similar to what @Darron Stewart has been indicating in his posts. Since he and I are in the same HUD Region 2A that would make sense. It seems to me that its just an automated process that accepts bids based on a formula of net bid amount as a % of list price based on DOM.

Welcome neighbor @Karen Rodriguez !!

Holler at me anytime you want to talk REI. I can't be too far away....

@Jon Holdman pretty much describes how to win in my market as well. If you are well capitalized, then you may consider moving up in price point. I have found in my area that the hedge funds only buy homes up to a certain level. Everyone and their mom is bidding on homes <= $150k ARV in my areas and I routinely see homes selling for 95% ARV when you factor in repairs.

We have the same experiences as you @Kien Hua .

We rehab our homes to the top of the neighborhood while still offering a great value for the area.  We haven't had a home sit more than a few weeks in many years.  There is just not a lot of supply in our area and I consider staging an unnecessary expense at the moment.