All Forum Posts by: Dan Maciejewski

Sounds like you just need a handyman.  Check on Next-door to see who your neighbors recommend.  You can rank by ratings, too.

I got my last go-to handyman on there.  He's moved on, though!

That's what it seems to me. There are a few on here that say Tampa does not allow STR, but when I call, they said, "just try to keep it to 7 days."!!

Your Realtor should have given you an estimate of the taxes after purchase.  They will always adjust taxes based on the new purchase price.  Both Hillsborough and Pinellas have a tax estimator on the property appraiser's website.  

It's a big issue here, especially with Homesteaded properties.  I see properties with taxes of $750 last year that will be $8,500 next year after purchase.

You can appeal but there's nothing to appeal as long as you just purchased it -- they know the FMV because you paid it!

@Jeff Copeland is 100% correct.  Banks sell on-market.   And, almost nobody that's in pre-foreclosure is underwater in this market.  They may have other reasons to sell to an investor, but short-selling is not going to be one of them.  At least in most "hot" markets where you're looking at 15-20% YoY appreciation.

As far as finding them through the banks before they go live, you want the foreclosure manager.  There are so few that it's probably a regional position.  My guess is they will not have time or energy trying to sell houses off-market.  That's why they hire a realtor to sell them for them when they are ready to be sold.

Your best bet if you want to try your hand at foreclosures would be to get lists of pre-foreclosures and market to them.  Those are people that are behind on their mortgages and have had a lis pendens filed.  In my experience, most of them are in denial and/or cranky people, so do not mention their status!

A great lender doesn't "have" to be investor friendly -- they just have to be a great lender!   A lender on Zillow is paying to be there -- same as the Realtors on Zillow.  That may or may not be a bad thing, but they're the same as the people "recommended" by Dave Ramsey -- they're just paying to be there.

As far as being overwhelmed, my answer is to dive in (as slowly ore quickly as you need) and research until you're not so overwhelmed.   When I 1st got to Bigger Pockets, I thought there was so much information!.  I read it all and listened to all the podcasts and ran numbers on all the houses until, finally, I felt like I could sort of have a conversation with someone and seem like I knew something.

And keep asking questions here!

Lol, if you ask my tenants, it's not responding to a Sunday night repair request until Monday morning!  

In our market, it's still al great time to get a short term rental!  They are doing almost as well in Hillsborough as Pinellas.  The market's tight but the properties are there, albeit 1 or 2 at a time!

Lol -- the $123 difference is more than I thought but your purchase price is higher than I thought it would be from the title.

With the payments sooo similar (4% difference), and the interest rate not too different, I'd save the 10k down payment (less the MI 3k pre-paid difference) and pay the extra monthly. You'll probably re-fi out when you get to 80% LTV, so you won't pay the full interest difference.

Your Realtor is right.  Almost nobody wants to buy a tenanted house, and probably nobody wants a section 8 tenanted house in California.  

Your best bet is to actually find her a place.  That will let you know if she is actually looking.  Personally, I have no idea why people that can't afford to pay for their own housing need to keep 3 dogs, but it seems to be the case.  You are looking for a needle in a haystack: a section 8 place with a vacancy that will not only take pets, but will take 3 dogs.  It might be just you that checks those boxes!

My gut says that nobody will pay market price for this situation, but you never can tell -- maybe be honest and try to market it while trying to get her out?

With an appraisal contingency and a 45 day close you have a worse offer than a 10% down second home buyer that can close in 30 days.

The best way is to call listing agents in your area -- ask them about deals that JUST closed and ask about what made that offer win.  I do that regularly here in Pinellas (Largo / Seminole especially).  For your price point, you will have about half financing if your area is like mine.  That's below median and well below average, so there are a lot of financed deals there.

What I see and hear: 

Cover an appraisal gap up to a certain amount to give the sellers peace of mine.  That may mean that you have to drop your price point to leave room in your budget.  That's what the people that are beating you with financed offers are doing.  Doing this makes you a bigger fish than your competition so you look stronger to sellers.

Show POF with your offer. Most sellers (and listing agents are coaching sellers) want to see that you have the cash on hand to actually buy the house. I am literally waiting for POF from a buyer right now (in your price point) because the seller wants to see POF to cover the down payment in order to accept an offer.

In your appraisal contingency, put a shorter date than the 10 days prior to close.  Even capping the appraisal at 2 weeks gives a better time frame.  If the appraiser absolutely can't make it out in time, you can renegotiate a few more days, or the seller can walk, but at least you got to that point.  MOST sellers will wait if the appraisal is scheduled by then or has been done but you're waiting for it to come back.  In Pinellas County, they aren't really taking more than that right now.

Shorten the inspection period.  You should have an inspector(s) that can get out in a week -- put that in the contract.

Put a stronger EMD -- and put another EMD after the inspection period -- this helps immensely. If it scares you, then you may not be as serious about the house as you thought, and the sellers know this. In the same vein, know your contract and timeframes so you know how and when and if you get that back if the contract falls apart.

AND. . .  .Build rapport with the listing agent / seller!!!  I cannot over emphasize this.  A lot of clowns are walking around and of you are a professional, it shows.  Many of my contracts won for buyers were solely because the listing agent went to bat for me and my team.  AND I've won over sellers when I get a chance, as well!

Good Luck!