All Forum Posts by: Gilbert Dominguez

I would not worry about whether or not the bank is hiding anything just prepare yourself for the eventuality of having to replace a good part of the plumbing and getting everything reconnected. Same with the electrical system and components. You should be thinking about possible repair or replacement needed of the HVAC system as well. 

Think of a horizontal line = flat roof, think of an upside down V = pitched roof. 

Think of snow, now so good on a flat roof that will accumulate allot of snow and snow will slide off of a pitched roof. When it rains flat roofs will collect water puddles and again rain will slide off of a pitched room or angled roof. 

I think you can imagine the pros and cons of each on your own. For a builder I would say a flat roof is much easier and more economical to build. 

It sounds like to me that one party made the loan and another party provided a guarantee for the loan. 

Actually I for one and really happy that you posted on this subject because I would venture to say the majority of landlord would not have a contingency plan to deal with this possible situation occurring to them. Now this gives everyone who has not thought of this possible situation a reason to plan for it or something with similar consequences. 

Well it depends. Does the seller have other property they can transfer the home equity loan to as collateral and then see if you can negotiate a lower price if not then I would say move on. You can't force a deal if there is no deal and purchase a house that would out you upside down is definitely no deal at all. 

The thing that you have to understand about money is that if its not moving, not growing then its losing value, losing purchasing power, period. What ever you can do to get your money to grow, the sooner the better. You have have to have an exit strategy, how you will get out of the initial building, sell, lease option it, rent it, refinance it etc. 

I have been curious about this because I have read post by people claiming to get Bank Owned REOs under contract yet every time we have tried it banks have refused to take our contract and will only deal with real estate agents. 

@Rene Walker

Welcome Rene, 

What can you tell us about the real estate market around DC now days?

@Jarrod Rayner

Upen Patel just gave you a heads up. Contact him and see what his company can do for you.

Just pretend you are in Las Vegas for 5 years. I have worked on these or something similar. If the current zoning does not include the conversion use its likely to take years to get a final decision on it. If you care to park your money for a while without knowing if you will ever have a chance to grow it you can try it but better to find an empty city lot already zoned for what you want and go all new construction. 

I see and know of allot of buildings standing with what today would cost over $600K of materials alone being offered to around $100K and that does not include the labor it would cost to simply get the skeleton of these buildings up. 

I might try it if  the location involved was where I had established relationships with city officials and already involved with the development or redevelopment department(s). 

I might also try it if the building's existing use would work out for me financially by renovating it and then allow me to take time to try to get the conversion approved but, to risk a total crap shoot? I don't know. Maybe I am just getting too old for such visions and prefer to take the tried and proven route now.

Maybe you have one of those dynamic personalities that can sell ice to Eskimos.

In all fairness I will also say that these types of projects get approved all around the country all the time and there are those that actually specialize in this sort of conversion. I will even admit I am one of those that is actually looking for one such opportunity. 

One of your biggest costs will be the individual plumbing and electrical in every single unit so if you found a hotel that already had kitchenettes and separate utilities set up I would maybe proceed aggressively to get an approval and purchase such a property with the thought in mind that if I could not get the approval for the conversion I would make sure the building could still be made to make money for me and/or my associates.