All Forum Posts by: Corby Goade

As a wholesaler, in what way would you like to work with an agent? You'd need to be more specific because there are many possible conflicts in a relationship like this.

If you will be ready to rock in a month, what the heck- why not start making offers and include a closing date that aligns with your schedule? If nothing else, you'll really be digging in and alayzing those deals.

Most cities have a planning desk that is open to the public without an appointment. You walk in to city hall and sit down with a planner and they will review your property, codes and let you know exactly what you need to do. It's a great resource, people should use it more often. It's free, immediately available and you are talking to the people who will actually issue your permit and sometimes inspect the work, so you are getting your information straight from the horses mouth.

That said, safety of your tenants should be of your utmost concern. Whenever I have a thought like the one you are having and concerned about cost- I start to think, what if there were a fire and I rented to a family and they couldn't or didn't escape? I'd be thinking back about my concerns about spending money on egress and then I'd never be able to sleep again. I don't want to have those thoughts or regrets, so regardless of being "grandfathered" or not, I'd suck it up and get the egress up to code.

Some good advice here already. Interesting question though, this is a new one for me. I am not really sure of the advantage of using the HELOC when you have cash that you would use for the same purpose unless you think you might be working on a second project simultaneously or shortly after your initial deal.

If you aren't thinking you'd be doing another rehab in the six month seasoning period, then the HELOC really wouldn't be of any benefit to you, you'd have no need for that cash until you can do the cash out refi anyhow. If you find a great deal, you might look in to delayed financing- it's possible to pull all of your cash out immediately after you close on an investment, but you have to fund the deal with 100% cash to qualify.

Honestly, this is a great negotiation tactic on your buyers part. I use this method quite a bit. Not to frustrate the buyer, but in a sellers market, this can be the only way for a buyer to get some sort of leverage. I don't have any advice for you other than to say that it's likely the buyer doesn't want to lose the deal either- you are locked in to a game of chicken and have to decide how far you want it to go. Keep in mind, you may be able to get out of the deal and keep the earnest money- maybe, so that could give you a bit of solace.

One way to counter this in the future is when you get an offer, counter with different terms- shortened inspection periods, shorter expiration, property "as-is" etc. In my area, many investors are making cash offers without inspections, which is a good way to get a sellers attention. You can always counter with whatever terms you like in an effort to swing the momentum back in your favor.

Best of luck!

Occasionally, my realtor sends me hand picked deals, some of them off market. I think that's going above and beyond, but I certainly appreciate it. My expectations of a realtor are to be reasonably available, give me expert and professional advice on offers, properties and negotiations, BUT, submit any offer I come up with, even when we disagree. I appreciate when my realtor says " I think your offer is not the best because of A, B and C, but let's submit it and see what the seller thinks."

I've worked with many realtors who told me my offers were bad, embarrassing, insulting, whatever, and insisted on changing the terms that I wanted, but I only worked with those realtors one time.

I'd just send a plumber over there and pay them for a quote to amend those issues. They probably won't quote the subfloor, but they'll likely diagnose the problem for you. You can use that info to form a plan and work with the tenants to appropriately address the issues. 

Whether you think they withheld that info from you or not, you signed the lease to, so you have an obligation to reasonably respond to issues. Besides, a spongy subfloor will only get worse, it is in your best interest to fix it sooner than later. 

We don't do traditional showings, we do open houses. It creates a feeling of urgency and people tend to apply more quickly. We also do renewal letters with two lease options, both with rent increases, but the tenant gets to choose. I have not had a discussion about a rent increase in years. 

HELOC every single time for many, many reasons. Buy right, pay down your HELOC as best you can for a year or two, force some equity and refi asap, pay off your HELOC with the proceeds and do it all over again.

There is so much information missing here. If the property were a decent deal, it would not have been on the MLS for two years, another investor already would have snapped it up. There are either major repairs that need to be done, zoning or environmental issues or it's just not a a good deal.