All Forum Posts by: Darwin Crawford

Unless you get the mortgage lender to approve a short sale, you are toast.  Mortgages have to be settled at sale.  

For example - if he owes $150K, and you agree to buy for $135K, and your buyer agreed to buy at $145K, giving you a 10K spread, the seller would have to come up with $5k to close this, or he cannot deliver title.  

Welcome to wholesaling.  Tread carefully.  Done well, its a good living.  Done poorly, you're just another low-level hustler that no one will want to deal with.  

Have the prospective tenant come and meet you, with her 4 dogs.  You will know in about 10 seconds what the right call is.  I have two good friends with 4 dogs, and they rent.  Their dogs are far better behaved than my other friends kids.  Others, I wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole.  

Your place, your call.  Factor in new carpets. 

PA has some good deals, but like others have said, check and make sure the city isn't dying before you buy.  Pittsburgh would be a decent choice, smaller towns can be tougher.  Stay the H out of drug areas, those tenants are the worst.  

@Greg Harriman - did you have any luck with Caliber?  I need to do a portfolio loan on some property in scottsdale.   @Michael Vallee - how about you?  

So in college, I worked nights as an EMT to help pay the bills.  I learned, from the emergency room staff, and cops, that there are, in any given city, 3 brothers that perpetrate all crimes.  

"This dude"

"some dude"

"a dude"

We never did catch any of the Dude Brothers, but they are a real force to be reckoned with.  Saw a lot of spilled blood and property damage.  

Boot the tenants and call your agent.  The end. 

Camera inspect ALL sewer lines before close unless you've budgeted to just replace them.

Oh, I should add to this that I am aiming for something 8 units or larger.  Market location still up in the air.  Would like my first one to be a 10-cap or better, B/C grade value-add.  

Hi Everyone,

So I just got my 4th SFR property, a nice condo here in Old Town, and good numbers. I've decided that my next purchase will be a multi-family, I've had a duplex, but nothing bigger. I've got a pretty heavy construction/maintenance/project management background, and now have a day job in a real estate office.

30-odd years on the planet have taught me the value of preparation, and therefore, I would like to begin to work on 1-2 pro-formas/T-12's, and P&L's per week, to familiarize myself with the language, and learn how to spot a deal.  

The management, renovations, etc, I'm fine with, but the financial statements, operating budgets, etc, I want to bring up to speed.  I'm firmly of the belief that to get good at anything, you have to practice.  Preferably a lot.  

So, anyone out there have ideas or sources for looking at deals?  I don't want to waste some broker's time being a looky-loo, as that's what I am at the moment.  I'd want to look at price, rents, expenses, P&L, and in an ideal world, T-12's or T-6's at a bare minimum.  

Closed deals would be fine too, as then I'd know where they started, and finished, and most importantly, what a commercial lender will work with.  I'm planning on 25% down to get this done.  

Anyhow, ideas?  Past deals done?  Anyone want lunch on me?  

Pulling this one out of the hopper....have another duplex that walked in the door, vacant, priced for pennies on the dollar.  

ZIP is 14206, its located very near the Filmore Ave and Williams Street intersection.  

Guessing its a full gut, wondering if this is even worth pursuing?  Any Buffalo-ians out there want to weigh in?  

The report from neighborhoodscout.com isn't exactly glowing....

Hi, and thank you for the responses!

First -  apologies on the typo.  That was supposed to be a 30 yr schedule, NOT 15 year.  

Also, forgot to mention I would be putting 25-30% down in cash, so loan amount would be appx $504.00/month for $84K @ 6%

Insurance and taxes run appx 430/month on this place.  

CapEX is generous, as I want to put mini-splits in each unit, rather than the window units currently there.  

Tenants currently pay all utilities.  

I agree that this is too small for most commercial loans, so I will double-check the portfolio option and look into some private money - those seem like the most viable options. 

Re: Hard money - is there such a thing as a HML for apartments? I.e. something amortized over 30 years and due in 3-5 years? With as much as these cashflow, and my day job, I'd like to just pay it off ASAP, then put a line of credit on the building for the next purchase.