All Forum Posts by: David Roberts

This is AWESOME!  You guys are going to love this.

I applied at Bank of America (mistake 1) for a HELOC. I liked the option of interest only and a 10 year draw, etc. It makes for a cheap ability to keep money moving around for my purposes.

Anyway, they call me today and tell me that they ran a title search on my primary (the one I applied for HELOC) and I am showing a bankruptcy in 2013 and my girlfriend (also on the deed to the home) is showing a bankruptcy in 2012. We bought this house in 2010.

So I tell bank of america, "Hey, I just refinanced my rental property LAST MONTH with an 810 credit rating, how can this be accurate?"  She said "it probably is a mistake but you need to get it cleared." Never even missing a payment in my life I said "how the  hell do I do that?"  She said "I would start with your county clerk's office." Oh great.  Those that live and do anything in Detroit know how crappy that answer is, because it's nearly impossible to reach someone and they don't call back.

So, I spent an hour calling everybody and getting nowhere.  I then call a loan officer and talk to him.  He said they should provide proof to me that this is on there and then their title company should be able to fix it for me.  So i called bank of america rep back and she said she will call the title company and ask if they have any more info on this but that's the best she can do.

So i said fine.

So, I called my credit union where I should have gone in the first place.  They have my primary mortgage to this house.  I called, talked with them, they said no problem, when / if it shows up they will fix it for me.  LOL

Just to be sure, my friend's sister owns a title company locally.  I talked with her, and she said she could fix that in 5 minutes.  She said because both my girlfriend's name and mine are very common last names someone just screwed it up but it should be SIMPLE to fix, and she would fix it quick if I was able to use her.  

So, I'm hoping that's all it's going to be.  I am hoping that it will get cleared without an issue.  

I kept arguing with the bank of america rep, I said you haev my credit report, it shows NOTHING, and an 810 score, how can you honestly think i Have a bankruptcy from a year ago?  And she kept saying "yah it could be a mistake".  UH NO IT IS A MISTAKE!! MY GOD!

Anyway, isn't this fun?

my credit union only goes to 80% and requires appraisal.  My home is 10 years old. 

what kind is client can you find to rent a house in a bad neighborhood? 

I am having a bad experience with a realtor right now (although she's still trying to be helpful but she is annoyed with me as well lol).  

If you want or are an investor friendly real estate agent, then know and understand what that means, and expect to get offers from investors that seem ridiculously low.

The math doesn't lie.  The math requires very low bids on homes that need tons of work.  My agent is not investor friendly (but said she was at the start), and so now there is friction between us.  I will give my example below.

Looking at a house with an ARV of 75-80k but let's use 75k for worst case situation. The asking price is 45k, lowered from 50, and has only been on market for about 3 weeks now.

It needs everything, EVERYTHING.  Roof, driveway, garage door, minor garage repair, furnace, windows, floors, kitchen, bathroom repairs, paint, electrical panel upgrade and all plugs are 2=prong, more circuits ran to the kitchen for electrical upgrade purposes, the plumbing is galvanized and needs to be updated to copper to pass inspection.  And oh by the way, it stinks to high heaven of cigarettes.  

So, this removes about 95% of people looking to buy a house.

Previous owners died, and the house wreaks badly of smoke, BADLY.

My contractor said 35k to update everything.  Ok.  Here's the math:

75% of 75k = 56k - 35k = 21k and that's my offer.

At first glance, yes that offer looks crazy, but the house is just as ridiculously rundown.

So, there's no way I as an investor am going to buy that house for 40, put 35k into it, and have a 75k home.  What did I get out of this deal?  I might as well have bought a move in ready one for 75k with a conventional loan and avoided all of the efforts and hassle.  I view that 15k or 20k of built in equity as my pre-payment for my efforts.  I should be entitled to this and I don't think it is unreasonable.  Others might disagree with my approach and that's fine, but my approach is sound as well.

My goal then will be to refinance and get all of my money out if possible.  

So, when you are an investor agent, just expect to see numbers like this.  Understand why investors put seemingly low ball offers in.  If a house is move in ready and they offer 30k less for no reason, that's another story.  But when the house needs to be basically rebuilt, then any offer in my opinion isn't unreasonable lol.

There's a reason the house is priced at 3k.

Ecorse, River Rouge, also have homes that can't be given away.

A contractor I just talked with over the weekend does a lot of work for big property management companies in Detroit and he was telling me stories about how they have to replace kitchens on a yearly basis in some areas.  Furnaces, copper, front doors kicked in when the tenant/landlord relationship sours...yikes.  I'm sure it can be lucrative, just not something I would be interested in.  Too much drama for me.

Detroit city in the tough neighborhoods where the homes can't be given away yet?  In new apartment/condo locations downtown?  Or Detroit metro area? 

You never know what someone means when they just say Detroit. 

I just looked at a 4 unit 1 bed 1 bath in Wyandotte prime area and they were getting 550 a month rent per door.  1k seems like a lot 

I don't trust insurance companies. 

if you lost a house with a paid off 100k mortgage from a lawsuit,  you just lost 100k.

Versus, 20% down,  you only lost 20 %,  or 20k.

I dont want to necessarily take 75k as a balance in my account since I don't want to be paying interest on it.  Isn't that how it works?  When you close they give you the 75k in your account so now you have a 75k debt? 

I'd rather just take 50, and later if I need the other 25 then go back to the bank and ask for additional. 

Is this not how it works?