All Forum Posts by: Hunter Wolfe

Hey BP!

I could use some guidance right now.

I've been working two jobs for the past year; a restaurant job for three years and a commission-based job with a real estate investment team for the past year.

I'm renting right now, but for the past year, I've saved about $25,000 to put me in a strong position to buy my first personal investment property.

Last week, I applied for a mortgage through US Bank, and I just found out I was denied because of my income. While I make apx $32-34k per year from my restaurant job, two-thirds of that come from tips. One third is my base pay. My credit score is 743, and my savings looked good according to the lender, but because of being furloughed for three months (due to Corona), they're not counting any of the tip money I've made over the past two years. (Which I think is dumb, because my unemployment covered base pay and tips completely for three months... But that's besides the point.)

TL;DR: I didn't qualify for a mortgage from US Bank, but I'm determined to still buy a duplex before my current lease expires in April. What are my options? Contract for deed? Getting a co-signer? I'm just not sure what other paths I can take, because all of my research prepared me to buy my first property myself through a lender.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks for sharing this. Yes - he is the PR, but his probate court date isn't until the start of June.

Great suggestion. In this case, it's definitely a good probate deal. There's only one personal representative, and nobody is contesting the estate. His court date is in June, but he's cool with going under contract before that. It's low-risk, because the price he's asking for leaves us with a big margin for repairs.

Hey BP Fam!

I'm trying to get a property under contract right now. I toured the house with the seller today - it's a probate property, and it would make a great, low-risk investment.

After I toured the house with the seller though, he told me that although I'm the first person to reach him, he's interested in hearing other offers too. This is a situation I've been in a number of times, actually.

Besides giving them a great deal, what negotiation tactics do you all use to lock in a deal?

One idea I have is: when I deliver my offer tomorrow, see what the seller says. If they need time to think about it, I'll say, "Mr. Seller, what price would I need to offer to get you to sign the papers today?"

What do y'all think??

We have a brokerage in addition to our investment company. Couldn't we have one of our agents at the brokerage do the BPOs, then send the lead to the investment side of the company? That makes sense, right?

From what I understand, a person who has to request a BPO is often someone who has missed mortgage payments, but those payments haven't been reported to a credit agency yet. So basically, they are people who are likely to foreclose in the next few months, making them a good lead source. 

Great question!

In my experience with foreclosures, one of the most difficult aspects is working with sellers.

Sellers whose homes are foreclosing are challenging to work with. They're going through messy divorces, they're in denial about their situation, and they're very defensive about selling their homes. Foreclosure sellers are easily offended when you reach out, because they don't want to accept that they can't keep up on payments, and they don't want to lose their homes in the first place.

Some advice for working with these tricky sellers: really LISTEN and LEVEL. 

LISTEN to what they have to say. Understand their situation and have some empathy. Present your offers in a way that addresses the different concerns they express during your initial conversation with them. I'm working with one lady right now whose main concern isn't the price we're offering, but rather, she wants to make sure that she has time to find a new place. When I present my offer to her, I'm going to include in my offer that she can tell US when she'd like to move out as a little concession for her.

And LEVEL. It can feel uncomfortable to ask people questions about the situations that led them into foreclosure. But skirting around these questions makes you seem un-confident in your abilities. I think sellers really respect it when I say to them, "I want to be sensitive to your situation, but in order for me to figure out how I can help you best, it'd be helpful for me to hear a little bit more about what caused you to get behind in payments." Level with sellers - be real with them.

Hey BP!

Last night, I learned about BPOs - Broker Price Opinions - and how they can be a creative lead source. I've never heard about these before, so I'm wondering if anybody here uses BPOs as part of their lead generation system and if chasing BPO leads has brought in any deals for you. Always looking for creative new lead sources! :)

Hello!

My friend and I are looking to do our first deals together. For those of you who've done deals with your friends, what do we need to do, legally, to get going? Do we need to set up an LLC? Or can we both work together without having to create an LLC?

Any advice on the legalities of setting up a business partnership would be helpful!

Thanks for all of your suggestions!