All Forum Posts by: Ed Brady

@Harvey Yergin IV  I am from Delaware, but I have yet to find a lot of single family / multi-family deals this way, most barely meet the 1% rule,  if that.  Not to say there are not some good deals  this way,  and that you wouldn't make money for long term buy and hold.  But I have not just had a lot of luck finding anything I would consider incredibly mind blowing.   YMMV

Good luck!

I know this was started some time ago, but I just saw it for the first time and want to offer a missing piece of info..

I have done the Credit Card Hack a few times listed in the first post of this thread, thread, it works...   However, if you do it, you want to make sure you do not make any additional charges on the card being transferred to, put the card away and do not touch it until after you have the balance paid off.  Here's why...

One gotcha the CC companies use on these 0% Balance transfers comes from how they apply payments you send in each month (it is in the fine print on most of CC agreements).  While the 0% applies the Balance transfer amount, any subsequent charges get charged at the normal rate until the initial balance transfer is paid back.

For example (I will use 24% as a rate)

If you initially transferred $20K,  and then took the same card and went to Home Depot and charged an additional $2K,  you will get charged 24% on the 2K while you are pay back the the initial $20K.  If it takes the full 18 months to pay back the $20K, you just got popped for another $720 in interest fees on the $2K you spent at Home Deot. 

Ed

Hi all,

I am in contract on a 3 unit MF,  during inspection it was revealed that the main water shutoff in the house was broken.   I asked the seller to fix,  the seller looked into the repairs, and it was later determined the street side water shutoff was broken also.   It will require the city to get involved to fix this.   Has anyone experienced this before?  If so, what kind of costs are involved in getting it fixed? 

This is a 1900's era house, and I am thinking that since excavating is involved, I would likely want to replace the water main from the city's shutoff to the shutoff in the house also...

Basically, I am trying to decide if I want to continue forward with this purchase or walk away from it...

Thanks!

Ed

It does not look like OH requires any specific early notice requirements for a lease with an end date.  (But, as always, check with a Lawyer.)  I was wondering some of these things myself and found the info on this page.  https://www.landlordology.com/ohio-landlord-tenant-laws/

Hi Adam,

Thanks for posting your numbers, I always like to see real world analysis from other to sanity check how I do my own! I am from Delaware OH and I am with you on the difficulty of finding good cash flowing deals around Marrysville (and Delaware). Low inventory, hot buyer's market, inflated prices, and properties typically have one or two offers on them days after hitting the MLS. However, there are some deals still out there, they are just tough to find. I am currently in contract on my first property after multiple failed offers and having had analysis paralysis for nearly six months.

Be persistent, the MF property I am in contract on now is my third attempt. I found this one after expanding my search area and changing my criteria for the type of property that I am looking for. It has been a slow road, I had thought about giving up, but decided to keep trying, here is some history - My first attempt, I was outbid on a great SF HUD foreclosure deal. A couple of months later, my second attempt was for a MF property with a lot of deferred maintenance, and it had set on the market way over a year with only 1 offer on it. I ran the numbers and place on offer on it, it (somewhat suspiciously) had another offer come in higher an hour or so after I made mine. I was willing to negotiate with the seller on this one, but they wanted "Best and Final" for each offer, with no negotiating,so I got a bad feeling in my gut and pretty much walked away from it. (The cash flow would have only been mediocre at best ). The one I am in contract on now is my third attempt, I am not counting my chickens until it closes, but am hopeful! :)

MF homes, while they cash flow better, they do sit on the market much longer as a lot of them around here barely meet the 1%.    Several in Delaware have been for sale for over a year and have dropped their prices multiple times just to get to 1%.   I am guessing the best buying strategy for good deals in this area are word of mouth, yellow mail marketing, or finding ones that have deferred maintenance where you suspect the landlord wants out of the game. (A totally unrelated thought - I bet a good exit strategy for these types of properties around here may be to convert them back to a single family home, and then sell.  My guess is they will go much quicker and for a much higher price.)

Good luck, tweak your marketing, strategy and search area, you WILL find a good deal.

Ed

Thanks all for the feedback.  After some more digging, I see and agree with what you are saying and am comfortable with it now.  I spoke with some recent sellers in the area, and they also indicated that what is expected can be somewhat regional.   We are into contract now, so time for the real fun/education to begin!

Part of being a newbie I guess!  :)

Hello BP members,

I am brand new to REI and after many months of lurking on the forums, reading books, listening to podcasts, analyzing, deal searching and failed offers, feel that I am close to landing my first deal with a motivated seller.

Today, the seller countered my first offer, accepting the initial price, (which was 12.5% below the listing price), but asked that I pay for the title search.    I have read in multiple places here and elsewhere that the seller should pay these and I think it makes sense to do so.  I talked with my Realtor and she indicated that in certain areas of Ohio, it was considered "customary" for the seller to ask the buyer to pay for the title search.

I am not opposed to paying these costs, but I have questions... 

Is this a potential red flag that the seller may have reason to suspect the title is not going to come back clean?   If I agree to pay the costs, and it comes back that there is no clear chain of title and the deal falls thru, would I loose the money that I paid to do the search?   

All thoughts appreciatied...

Ed

I have been in a couple of houses that have them, they work well, however there is some air noise, but a great option for an older house.   More expensive then typical HVAC, I have heard by about 25%, but don't have any hard numbers.  Supposedly, they can snake the tubes thru with very little tear up to the existing walls.   The main unit can be mounted in the attic if needed.

Here is a video

In Delaware County they indicate they will pursue comtempt of court charges if you win the bid and don't follow thru. Dont know about other counties though.  

Thanks Brian and Edward, good advice.

 I haven't convinced myself that my numbers are realistic yet,  I plan to find a few local landlords  who understand the markets and to get some sanity checks.    If I decide to pull the trigger on this I am leaning towards self management of the units,  but figured it would be imperative to analyze it with the costs of a Property Manager included in case it turns out to be much more than I can handle from a management perspective.