All Forum Posts by: Sam Erickson

Welcome to the site @Kristopher Drake

My first flip I ever did was in Janesville WI, on Columbus Circle.  Loved the neighborhood.

Good Luck!

Hi @Gerald Gomez welcome to the site.

@Scott Schultz what are your overall thoughts on Radon?  Up until a couple years ago It seemed rare when I was brokering a deal and the client would have a radon test done.  Now every transaction does it and it is a very hot button issue.

Where do you test in the basement?  Something I noticed was that often times the company would come test and they would place the meter next to the sump.  The reading would come back high, the mitigation would be done.  The interesting part was when they came back to re-test after repairs the meter would be placed on the opposite side of the basement from the sump.  Seems suspicious to me.

Also what is the highest reading you'll accept before mitigating?  I've found that these companies don't do a good job explain that the recommended level of "4.xx" (whatever it is) apples to areas of the home that are lived in 18+ hrs a day.  Not sure how many people actually realize that the radon levels reduce by half for every level of the home.  So in an unfinished basement you could have a level of "8" but it would "4" on the first level and "2" on the second level

I guess my big complaint is with the testing and mitigation companies.  I don't think they present the information all that accurately and they use scare tactics.

Thanks for the insight @Scott Schultz

Couple things I'll point out.  Its not Hard Money, Its private money.  7% annual interest, no points.  Should work out to around $800-$2400 depending on holding time.

I'm a broker.  Best case senior I find the buyer and only pay title $1100.  Worst case another agent brings the buyer and I pay them 2.4% bringing my total to $5,900.

If rehab goes to plan I anticipate my numbers to be as follows.

ARV $200,000

       -$15,000    Rehab

       -$1,600      Financing

       -$5,900     Closing Cost

     -$124,169   Purchase Price

Leaves me with $53,331 potential profit.  Theres always risk but things would have to go real south to eat up all that.

Thanks again for the insight!

Thanks @Brad Gibson

Thanks @Glenn Banks

Hopefully I'll be posting another success story after the flip is complete!

@Jay Hinrichs right!! what was I thinking.  Need to start spelling things wrong two like "milwauky" to avoid the keyword alerts!

Hi @Joshua R. welcome to the market.  I think with a $250,000 number you'r going to have lots of options.  There are some nice areas south of downtown (Bayview, St. Francis, etc).

Good luck!

@Federico Gutierrez I was not able to enter the property prior to the auction. I was able to peak through a couple windows. I was also fortunate enough to time driving by one day when the bank's maintenance guy was there and I was able to pick his brain (side note: don't be afraid to talk to people). My rehab number was based on the history I knew with the property, what I saw through the couple windows, and my conversation with the Maintenance guy. In the end its my best educated guess. I think I have enough room with my ARV that I can afford to be off a good amount and still come out ok.

Thanks @Frank Eimiller

Thanks for the kind words @Jay Hinrichs .  After the auction I spoke with the sheriff a bit and I guess in Racine county they only sell 3-4 properties to 3rd party bidders a month. This surprised me, Racine isn't as large as Milwaukee but its still a decent size market.  I'm hopeful this one goes according to plan and I can take advantage of some more sheriffs sales.

@Alexander Ball I called the county and did a lien search.  I suppose you could have a title company do the search for you if you wanted.

@Christine T. I wasn't totally surprised that I was the only one bidding on this property but I was surprised that there was no one there for the other properties.  The property I purchased is in Union Grove, about 4,500 population.  Deals don't happen there often.  I've been actively investing for 8 years, keeping tabs on that market the whole time and this is the first deal I've bought there.  I am hoping that I gain some momentum there though and I can start doing more.

UPDATE:

So I received some additional paperwork from the lawyer who is responsible for this sale.  It got way more detailed about the numbers.

@Don Colagrossi I did in fact pay fees, just didn't know it.

As I said in my original post the outstanding balance was $116,927.83 however the open bid was $124,168.78.  Below is the reason for this.

$150.00  This was a "Sale Fee"

$167.15  This was the cost of Publication of the sale

$100.00  Brokers Price Opinion

$3,199.87  Additional mortgage interest from the time of the filing (July 2015) till the sale     (Feb 2016)

$3,623.93  2015 RE Taxes.  Was actually happy to see this, I thought I was going to have to come out of pocket for this.

Add all those up along with the original mortgage balance of $116,927.83 and you get a total of $124,168.78 which is what I paid.