All Forum Posts by: David Stone

We have a project we have worked on for 6 weeks and the bank has approved us for a refinance.  I think it depends on the bank you are using for the refinance.  Shop around and find a small, local bank willing to work with your situation.  We had many tell us that we could not refinance because our rental income would not be counted due to our tax deductions.  I showed up to a small, local credit union with all of my rental contracts in hand and discussed my situation.  They accepted rent income on a property we have only rented for 2 weeks.  In my experience with this local credit union, I have not been questioned on a 6 month time-frame from when rehab was completed.  They only cared about the value the appraiser placed on our property at the time I applied for the refinance.

Another thing you could try is to make a business card or something with your info and give it to people who are in the areas you are looking to invest.  I have been checking out properties and the neighbor comes over and tells me about more houses where the owner may want to sell.  They get a card.  I hand them out to the mail carriers, ice cream van, or whoever is driving areas and would like to make an extra $500.  

If you are starting off with a small list of vacant properties, hand write the letters and envelopes and mail them out yourself.  This will help you stand out from the standard postcard mailing the owners are used to seeing.  Really, the thing that will get your phone ringing is motivation and sometimes timing is the key so consistency is important.  I think a hand-written letter addressing the owner by name and telling them that you would love to buy their house will get results.  I have been doing this in my area and have been getting an average of 2-4 calls per 10 letters sent.  It is a small area so #s are smaller.  Here is an example of the letter I use.  It's simple and seems to get results.  Try different variations and see what works best for you.  Good luck!

@Jay Hinrichs, I guess the issue I am running into is that hard money/private money wants the deal under contract and then they want to discuss qualification and specifics with the #s.  A few lenders have offered qualification letters to give to the bank if our offer is accepted so that should help until I receive official word that they are willing to lend on the deal.  That is good to know though.  I know this process will get easier the more I use it.  Previously I have used private money from close family or unsecured loans from banks and didn't need to worry about this step in the process.  I appreciate your input.  It's constantly a learning experience!

Thanks @Sam J Mrofcza, I guess the question I was really trying to answer was how a bank was going to accept the fact that I was relying on private money as my funding source.  I talked with my RE broker and lots of private money/hard money lenders so I think I have a better idea now.  Thanks for the info with the 6.1 sales contract!  That got me steered in the right direction so I knew how to approach my broker and make sure we were on the right path...

@Gina Jeannot, I tried finding online brokerages but keep coming up with online RE schools.  Do you have names of online brokerages I can research/contact?  Thanks!!

Welcome @Brandon Willis.  Sounds like you are on the right path to making that first investment deal happen.  Keep educating yourself and get out and meet people in the business.  Hope to see you at the Oly meet.  There is also another meet in Lakewood 5/16 at 7pm at the Ram.  It's held every 3rd Monday.  Search it on BP or Meetup.com and check it out.  Lots of great people at both!  Good luck investing!

I am putting in an offer on a property listed on the MLS. The property is bank owned. If I am planning on using hard money or private money to fund the deal, how should the contract be written up?

Is this written up as a cash offer or an offer with a contingency that needs to be put in specifically for obtaining a money partner/hard money lender approval?

If anyone has experience with purchasing MLS deals and using hard money / private money to fund the project, I am open to your input! I am using a RE broker, but am trying to get a better understanding of the structuring before I go in...

Thanks!

Oh, sweet!  That lays it out much better.  Thanks @Corey Smith

Hey, I was looking into getting my license too but was looking more into the online route.  I haven't chosen a program yet but have been following this post to get some ideas.  Here is a link I found from the WA DOL website showing Washington state-approved broker courses.  Definitely want to make sure that an online course will be accepted by the state.

http://www.dol.wa.gov/business/realestate/docs/rec...