All Forum Posts by: Christina R.

@Cierra Seay 

 - any updates on the seller?

Welcome Leo - my hubby is from San Antonio, his mother and younger sister still live there and the older sister is in Fischer . . . after moving there from Seguin (teaches at U of T San Marcos).

Love the Schlliterbaun!!  (I'm sure I butchered the spelling on that!)

You will learn a lot through the BP Nation.

@Vee K. 

 -  I was thinking of the latter but to be honest, I don't know enough about lease options to know which would be the better option.  

I hear about giving the price a seller wants as long as one can get the terms they want . .. what if you think the price is ridiculous? (that's my wholesaler mindset). So if he wants 380K and it really is worth on 325K ARV and he won't budge - I can create a term that still makes this a profitable deal? (Just re-reading that shows how green I am here, lol).

So say 10 year term, amortized over 20 or more years, all principal no interest?  Something like that, for example?

@Erin Swann 

 - welcome to BP!  If you didn't think you'd learn a lot on this site before, I'm sure you realize you will now, lol!!!  As Ned suggested earlier - and probably Tyrus and others too - come to the free Meetup next Wednesday the 10th in Columbia where you can meet most of the commentatorrs here in person - heck maybe even @Account Closed  will show up.

If you want to get to know the city and align yourself with people who can help you meet your goals, you need to start attending Meetups like this and others (The Real Deal Meetup - Arbutus). and REIAs (freebie newcomer nights) - Baltimore REIA and MAREIA.

http://www.meetup.com/bwimeetup

If you have it under contract, put the address out there so you can get some quality assessment from people here.  Is it in the city or county?  Did you have a contractor give you a bid on the rehab?   Are you in touch with a  MD real estate agent who can give you accurate comps? 

I was just involved in a deal where a house was in foreclosure and it was bought just days before the judgment . . . and proceeds paid off those back taxes and fees AS WELL AS back taxes and fees on the seller's current place of residence!!  (this guy really wasn't paying Uncle Sam!). Both were set for judgement on the same DAY!  The seller took the offer because he was motivated and it worked to solve his problems.  You never know what problems/needs your seller may have.  Part of wholeselling is finding out what that is - so you can come up with a win/win solution.  Like Ned said, make an offer that makes sense for you and in dialoguing with the seller, you'll find out how to meet her needs as well to create that win/win.

@Chris Purvis 

 you have a great attitude and with that you will learn much from this experience and others, and you will be successful.  There is nothing wrong with wholesaling - just do it in a manner you would want it done to you, legally and ethically.    Many people are going to say it's great and many are going to say it's unethical and shady.  Many great points have been made above. There ARE shady wholesellers out there, as well as shady loan officers, agents, brokers, etc.  Just stay true to your moral compass.    If it means no deal, so be it.  I always want to be able to go to bed with no worries than to have shady money in the bank.

I'm going to see a house that I first looked at this past May. It is a single-family in a desirable school district, an older house with a somewhat dated floorplan , where the owner originally lived in it . . .subdivided the lot and sold off the back portion where a 700K plus house now stands. This house is on a "main" road (2 lane) - probably set back about 50 feet or so, not in a subdivision. There are these expensive fairly new (10 years or less, with the new build mentioned above) colonials in a subdivision across the street and down the road about a 1/4 mile. This house is a 3, 1.5. The nearest sold SFH that sold in the last year is a 5 bed/6 bath moderately updated house. Clearly not an apples to apple comparison.

Turns out the owner has made some improvements since May, like a new roof (which I verified by driving past it today), re-tarring the driveway, improving the garage - this is everything I could see from the driveby - will see the interior on Friday.  He says he's put 30K into it. 

As to motivation - he's what I'd call a warm lead - not hot yet, but the new build behind on his spun-off land is complete, while he wasn't the builder or GC I know he kept tabs and visited that project alot . . . he lives about an hour away . . . he's open to owner financing . . and he called me back, not vice versa. So he's warm. No, he has not stated a figure but he knows I'm not paying 325K for it, which is what he wanted in May and with his improvements now I can see as a viable retail ARV.

My question is - I've really been wholesale focused up to this point.  He may accept a wholesale offer.  But with making these improvements, I'm really thinking maybe a lease option -which I know zippo on executing it. It's not a rental area and I don't think rents to purchase price will be acceptable to an investor in my area unless I can get killer terms on the owner financing angle. I keep coming back to the lease option but I don't know how to do it, and do it the right (legal) way, and I'm interested in making money on it. 

If I could structure it up where I could get in mostly on OPM I may be interested in it for myself for a rental because then the rents would be in line with investor pricing and it would easily rent because of the school district, I believe. 

Last thought - I'm sitting for my RE license this Friday. It will be a week or 2 before all paperwork is processed and my license is hung (assuming I pass). Should I present all possible options (wholesale, L/O, list) and state that within 2 weeks I could list it for the seller?

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Christina

Come to a free Meetup that lots of BPers and local investors attend - it meets the 2nd Weds of the month in Columbia. Click here to find out more.  Hope to see you!

next BWI Meetup is next Wednesday, Sept 10th.