All Forum Posts by: Lynn Z

Today, many agents will say "yes, I can show you the house at 3:00pm tomorrow when I'm in town" etc. because of gas prices. I try to not abuse agents because I'm sensitive to wasting their time as well.

The more experienced agents seem to offer more disclosures (hot tub leaks for example) and are comfortable with passing on information you need to make an informed decision to buy.

Pull comps on your local county database. See what surrounding homes are going for before you look.
Do your homework. Never take a percentage of the asking price. There are too many variables.

Now we all know is Agent A works with listing agent B they talk on the phone and seal a verbal...holding the house for the client of Agent A so that no one else can get the house in the morning.

Otherwise, if realtors are too weak kneed to present low balls, change realtors. They won't work with investors long if they're not negotiators. To most realtors, a good deal is one that they think can be bought at market value...investors can't afford to buy at market value usually.

I saw a realtor buyer insist on being there when her offer was made to the owner and the broker refused to allow her to be there. I'm sure they have rules but do they ever follow them?

Berber...snags....stains won't come out....doesn't hold up.

Install a good quality but discount price carpet. If there are wood floors, we "screen" the floors rather than sand them ..then poly them and they look brand new. Just recoat as needed when they look worn.

Painted floors..Just keep painting.

I worked 28 years with lead in industry and the regulations. I am careful to do all disclosures because lead is a serious inhalation and ingestion hazard (think children),

Asbestos is handled the same way. If you know you have asbestos tiles in the kitchen you have to let your tenant know so they're not releasing fibers with sandpaper etc. It's supposed to be in the lease.

Please be aware that if you let someone in your house to test for lead (and probably they're going to find it positive
on that last layer of paint sample) the monitoring record they cut could be yours to disclose for the rest of the time you own the house and show it to prospective buyers. Not to mention, renting it and having to show lead sample results to tenants now that you have poisitve results. Do not create problems for yourself. These mold and lead inspectors know nothing.

Old houses more than likely have lead.
Don't be a fool and let some idiot run around your house testing...and then not buy the house. I know an owner that let her friend create a mold file and she's still stuck with the house and disclosing a full folder of sampling to everyone that walks through the house even though she's paid for remediation.

My daughter was a realtor and got involved in several commercial deals. It was a learning experience for her including enviromental impact studies etc. and in the end the deals fell flat after a year of negotiations.

How do you know what to offer if you're new to real estate? Any commercial lender will tell you if they'll do the deal after getting your vitals and pulling your credit but isn't commerical tanking right now? Everything is for sale on our main street. Where will the tenants come from? Who is the listing agent?

I don't like middle men unless they're doing me some good. 1% of sales price
seems like alot just for introducing you to bankers. Be cautious...I just asked an experienced CPA about 1031 exchanges and although he teaches a class he just wasn't up on the changes.

We recently passed reassessment at point of sale and this is discouraging investors from buying. Because property taxes are so high anyhow it is a deal breaker for many.

Our tax assessor would die before he'd drop property taxes.

craigslist has just begun to identify "broker" from "owner" on real estate for sale. 99% are brokers. Obviously they don't have faith in MLS anymore. Clutters up the list for the rest of us looking for FSBO's.

I don't think Craigslist will charge although he probably should. Have you ever seen him interviewed? They've charged in N.Y. and a few big cities forever.

Wachovia is the last bank in town to help investors. They want too much. I've asked my credit union over the years about investor financing--they just don't do it and they're the largest credit union in the state.

You have to find and establish a relationshp with a regional bank (commercial division) and they go 15 years 5 year balloon with a decent rate.

BB&T and BOA used to do portfolios but don't know about today.

Ask some realtors that work with investors to give you a banker's name they know will will loan money.

Remember college kids today are not going to share a bathroom and live like sardines. They want granite and stainless like everyone else.

Buy in the best areas close to campus, lease in March or July (those are our best months), use Craig's LIst or the local campus website ($$$$), screen and evict individually if one share of the rent doesn't come in or is bad. Make sure you prove by maid service invoice and/or pictures what the condition of the place is before you rent to students.

Make sure your lease is ironclad. These apartment complexes designed for students have 60 page leases. There's a reason for that.

The house next to one of mine just foreclosed (Deutsche Bank). They let the people stay there two years without making a payment.

I doubt if the banks know if the occupant of the house is a tenant or the original homeowner who applied for the loan. The deal could have started out as a homeowner loan and converted so the language might not be in the papers.

Tenants may be telling the sheriff they paid and may not have. The landlord certainly shouldn't be pocketing the money and not making a payment but I'll bet under scrutiny there's alot less of that situation than the sheriff heard. It is stealing as far as I'm concerned if the landlord took the money.

In Georgia, there is no requirement to give adequate notice to the tenant if the landlord is foreclosed on. People were just given money to move on and not tear up the houses.