All Forum Posts by: James Mc Ree

You probably want to check with your local planning/zoning office.  The theme of the prior posts looks like the creation of a subdivision plan or a multi-tenant property.  The planning/zoning office may have input on engineering and planning work you need to do before you can deliver the property you are selling.  There may be costs involved that could quickly eat your margin before you even get to the task of installing utilities.

Jim.

@Patrice Boenzi makes good points.  In addition, you might be able to get your agent (or yourself if no agent) to make a pitch to the seller for how your wholesome family intends to live there.  That might make a "human interest" type of difference that will stand out among other dry investor offers.

The seller may feel better giving a nice family a nice home and helping the neighbors preserve property values that might be in contrast to fears of what might happen if an investor brings in an undesirable tenant and doesn't maintain the property.

Jim.

@Ryan Dossey

You posted 4 days ago:

You're going to need to be innovative.

...

3) Data mine the MLS utilizing excel/outlook and build a template allowing you to submit 10-20 offers at a time.

Do you have a way of connecting Excel/Outlook to MLS data to automatically query/update a sheet for your analysis? Is this available to those who do not have direct access to the MLS service (i.e. not a realtor)?

thanks, Jim.

Check this site for the beginner BP books to read.  They will give you some foundational information to get you started understanding the business.

Jim.

The easy path is to move on.  The right path might be small claims court.  You could consult with an attorney for a fee to get guidance and possibly represent yourself.  Your lawsuit could be for your $4,000 + legal costs + opportunity costs as you would have done something with that property or something else with the money tied up waiting on the property.

Your goal in this endeavor would be to obtain a pre-trial settlement that would at least get some of what you feel you lost back.  You will come out ahead if the bank offers you $1,000 to go away, as compared to just going away, as you will have some extra $$$ in your pocket.  This will involve some stress though and the case might have to be in Pittsburgh which might be inconvenient for you and not worth the effort.

Good luck!

Jim.

Not a stupid question, but risky one.  In addition to @David D'Errico's comment....

Don't forget you will end up 100% leveraged to your purchase price.  You may need to bring money to the settlement table if you want to sell.  Think about what a drop in property value might look like if you can't get your sale price in your timeframe.  You might be locked into the property longer than you are planning if you are underwater and have a real problem if you have a balloon loan.

Jim.

You won't be able to market it as a 3 bedroom if the basement is below grade.

Jim.

@John Wanberg

Just a probable clarification here - the OP won't be able to buy the property immediately as written without running into the same seller concerns about taxes.  The seller wants a 2017 closing date.

One more clarification - you need to pick a business day.  Banks are closed on Jan 1, 2017.

As John Wanberg mentioned, your contract should lock you into a settlement date.  Your state's case law might interpret your contract settlement date as an "estimated" date, not a hard requirement.  It might not be a material change if the reschedule is small (whatever small is).  It seems appropriate to ask for a concession in return and see what the seller says.

I wouldn't recommend seller financing unless the seller was willing to finance all of it. Otherwise, you end up with 2 loans and your seller loan will likely have a higher rate and shorter term than your VA loan. You could ask the seller to cover your half of the transfer taxes if that isn't a large amount.

Don't forget that the advantage the seller receives by selling in 2017 is also an advantage you lose.  You could claim a tax loss on your 2016 taxes for your costs that won't be available until 2017 taxes.

Lastly, watch out for anything that happens between now and then.  You might want an amendment to your contract that the seller will address any material degradation in the property between now and then since it is 3+ months away.  Your contract probably provides an out for you in this situation, but it might be advantageous to require the seller to address any issues versus you just walking away.  You could always negotiate the cost, but would have the seller on the hook.

Jim.

I have a $5,000 deductible.  My rationale is I want insurance for "big things", not the little things.  I save annually by taking on the first $5,000 of risk and hope for nothing bigger than $5,000.

My SFR townhouse properties are priced in the $70-$80k range and have replacement costs around $130k. I insure to 90% of replacement cost instead of full replacement cost which saves a little more.

Jim.

@Nicholas Moffett

Your original post and almost all subsequent posts were about smoke and lawsuits, especially lawsuits.  I thought that is what you were asking about.  Your last post adds in that the property is generally decrepit if your description is accurate.  That adds a new dimension.

Your lease should state something like, "Landlord will address maintenance items and failure to do so can be a reason for Tenant to terminate the lease."  Hopefully, it is more specific, but that is the general idea.  You can send your landlord a letter documenting the history of your complaints and his lack of response and ask for immediate action.  Give him the timeframe in the lease if specified or 30 days.  Notify him you are moving out and terminating the lease if he does not act on these issues.  This establishes you paper trail if you don't already have one and becomes evidence.

There are lots of mold cases.  You should be able to find plenty in case law.

Who are the tenants?  You mentioned you had to be there for your clients which makes it look like they might be the tenants and you might be a guest if your name is not on the lease.  Whomever the tenants are submits the above letter.

This will get you out of the dangerous situation.  Hopefully, you can move yourself and clients to a better home.

As to a lawsuit, I think my prior comments still apply for medical issues.  You might be able to sue for paid rent for being in an uninhabitable home.  Of course, your landlord could sue you too for breaking the lease if he can show he did properly maintain the property.  That's the fun of suing - everyone can do it for any reason.

If it were me, I'd just get out of the lease and move on.

Jim.