All Forum Posts by: Gloria Mirza

I would walk away from the deal, but if you think it's worth it I would get an estimate from a company that works on mold.  I don't think you should trust any cheap repairs the seller does since with something like this it doesn't show if the problem is really fixed until well after you own the house and it's your problem.

ask him to point you to the law that requires that.  It doesn't sound right to me.

Agents will take their standard commission as a percentage of the final sales price.  It's just like any other sale except the bank pays the commission not the seller.  Some agents have an added fee that they charge the buyer but that is rare.

Yes, it's absolutely true.  I just went through the same thing.  The appraiser comes up with a number then adjusts the comps to justify that number, it's completely backwards but that's how they do it.  I tried fighting it with the appraiser and got him to increase the amount by 5k because he didn't account for my house having an AC unit.  You can try fighting it and there are plenty of articles about that, but in most cases they wont adjust the number unless there is a blatant mistake like square footage being wrong or something like that.  

Appraisals are anything but unbiased.  If they were truly unbiased the appraiser wouldn't need to know why the appraisal is being done.  They would just look at the house, run some comps and come up with a number.

spend the money as a down payment on a house and learn from that.  You'll get much better returns even if you make some mistakes along the way.

Sounds fishy on so many levels.  First of all why would they foreclose on a home that has equity?  They could simply sell it and keep the cash.  Second issue is if it is foreclosed, it might be auctioned off for more thank 110k.  Also, renting out to the previous owner can create headaches as they see the home as theirs, not yours.  What if prices drop in a year and they no longer want to buy it off you?  You can't fix your credit in only one year..... the list goes on and on, unless you want to buy the house and hold/flip it as an investment, I wouldn't bother.  There are also legal issues with buying a foreclosure with the intent to sell it to the previous owner.

@Marlyn Lacanlale welcome to the board.  Bigger pockets is a great resource!

I wouldn't pay the bill or fix the leaky vents (that's expensive).  You could fix the thermostat since that's a cheap fix or spend a couple hundred to keep the tenant happy but I wouldn't go too far beyond that.   Most rentals aren't 100% energy efficient and aren't expected to be.  

I don't know if this is true but I read that if your rentals are in an LLC and you personally manage them you are still legally liable and your assets outside of the LLC can be subject to a lawsuit. The point the article made was that you personally hired the electrician, or you personally managed the property. Anybody know if there is any truth to this?

I would suggest you start with a multi-family for two reasons.  

1.) Buy purchasing a multi family you gain more experience managing tenants, whether you don't have any doors or already have multiple doors, another 4 doors will help you gain experience managing multiple properties.

2.) If you buy now and prices go up then you can sell the property for a profit and put that as a down payment for your apartment complex.  This point all depends on where you expect prices to be in the next few years.