All Forum Posts by: Ruben Aguirre

So then what you're saying is don't do this deal if they don't sell at 34K. In other words, if you know that they bought it at 42K, they paid too much, don't make the same mistake, don't be the bigger fool.

I didn't realize I could post a potential deal to let all of the great members of BiggerPockets tear it apart! I love this website... thanks Josh Dorkin! And my apologies to the three guys I emailed directly to have them look at this deal. I would have posted the email here had I known about posting deals.

I'm putting address and everything if you guys want to check the property out on Zillow and the local appraisal district (www.elpasocad.org//mainsearch.php?mode=address) Here's the deal.

I am potentially buying the hose from a wholesaler/investor who owns a franchise in this area. By coincidence, we found out that he is buying the property from someone we know for 42K. They don't know that I know this, but now I know how much they want to make off of me.

3 Comparative Market Analysis have been performed. One by the seller and two by me. The "subdivision for this home is only that street, which has about 20 or so homes on it, and only one sale since Nov 2006. This caused the 45K CMA. The other two CMA's were done going outside of that street within a mile radius (guestimate).

I will not be using any of my own money. I have a LOC secured, an approved loan for up to 90k at this point. (I told the broker I wanted to stay under 100K FMV)

4428 Skyline Zip: 79904
Asking price: mid 50's (no definite number given)
CMA's: 76K ($66/sqft avg), 70K, 43K.
Assumed FMV: 62K-69K. I honestly don't think I can get more than 62K.
Repairs: 7K-10K
ARV: 43K-48K
Offer: 33K-41K. I could live with 46K just to experience my first deal and live through the process. I figure worse case scenario, I would not make any money, I wouldn't lose any money at 46K, but my first deal would be under my belt.

I've got pictures of the property inside and out if anyone would like to see them. I don't know how to post them within the text here, so I'll email them if you would like info on them. Thanks for your time on this guys.

Hey Wakeland,

I am also in El Paso. My wife and I are shopping our first deal in town! We've been looking for about 3 months now. Its been a lot of fun running into obstacles and looking for ways to overcome them. We are getting closer and closer to more tantalizing deals! Maybe we can stay in contact. I just joined an investment club in El Paso. I can get you the information if you'd like.

I am at new real estate investing, although I've worked in the industry for several years now. I do have an experience with an inspector I would like to share to prove many comments in this post.

Approximately 6-12 months ago, my wife and I were looking to purchase a home as our personal residence. We fell in love (I know, I know) with a not great looking home in a great neighborhood with a beautiful park within a 3 minute walk. And the area has some of the highest resale values in El Paso, TX. The home was priced at 180,000, just barely for us to still live comfortably with the mortgage. The price was also a little below the average for the area.

We submitted an offer for the house, and under my agent's pressure (she is a friend of ours), hired an inspector and coughed up $170. I hated doing that! I thought, I'm not going to fork over any more money after this. The guy was super thorough, spent 4 hours in the house, let me walk with him as he inspected the house (I hear EPTX inspectors are very prissy and don't like to be followed through the inspection) and explained every little thing as he saw things. I found out the guy owned a couple of rentals, is a handy man and rehabber. ( ...As I write this, the light bulb just turned on in my head! I need to call this guy up and add him to my team, even as a mentor-type!... ) He gives an unofficial estimate because he isn't allowed by law to give an official one. $12,000-15,000!!! And he suggested I spend more money, "I'm not a termite inspector, but if I were you, I would have a termite inspector check that out."

$75 dollars later, I get an unofficial bid from a termite inspector for damage of potentially $5,000. And all this time, I didn't want to "waste money" on an inspector! We amended our contract 23K below the asking price and never heard from the seller's agent again.

I guess I should title this, how $250 saved me $20,000.

Now, I'm not a thoroughbred RE investor (I'm a newbie), but if the community is saying a good inspection should take 2-3 hours, plus another 1 hour for miscellaneous, and it may not cost more than $100 an hour to do an inspection, shouldn't you pro's let an inspector do the work while you're tying up other deals or securing the current one, instead of running the inspection yourself? Unless of course the time you invest in your business doesn't generate over $100 an hour. But that is a whole different story! :)

RD PD is a must read. Kiyosaki is a good teacher, so I don't care if he is making millions off his books. He teaches and motivates. He takes you to the "why" instead of the "how to" like so many other books, but without the "why", it's hard to stay motivated.

My only minor criticism is on his choice to deliver the message of one's personal residence as a liability rather than an asset. I understand the premise behind it and totally agree with what he is trying to communicate, but I think it would be clearer if he differentiated between a good asset and a bad asset, rather than saying your home is a liability, just as he does in describing good liability and bad liability. GAAP, accounting-wise, his definition is TOTAL off base, but the underlying principle is totally on track!