All Forum Posts by: Janett Lewis

@David Waddleton I moved from San Diego to St. Louis specifically for this reason. I have 7 houses here and purchased them all over the past year. I paid 22,000-34,000 and they are all rented from $895-1200. Cashflowing 50% at least after taxes and insurance and maintainence are paid. For $50,000 you can get a turnkey property that’s Cashflow positive! Just have boots on the ground or someone you trust in the area. You could develop a relationship with someone on BIgger Pockets!

I need some recommendations for people who do this in North County St Louis. I have a house I need to get off my books ASAP. It’s worth 50-60 and I’d like to get 45,000 out of it. Anyone know a great wholesaler? What should I look out for?

@Whitney Breedlove check Yelp, Angie’s List and any investor meetups in your area for referrals.

@Frank Leone in California season is 3-6 month of sitting in the bank. If someone “gifts” you the money, they can right a letter to that end and verify their funds then the money doesn’t need to be seasoned in your account.

@Anne Williams are you good at reading contracts? Do you have a lawyer who could look it over? You could go directly to the listing agent unless you signed an exclusive broker agreement with the realtor. There are a couple ways to handle it. I always check how long the house has been on the market and what the average listing time in the area is. If it’s been on the market for a while chances are the seller listed too high and will be more open to taking a lesser offer. You could right a letter of intent to purchase and right the offer yourself. The sellers agent usually splits their commission with the agent bringing the buyer. At least in CA and MO. I’m not sure about other states. So the listing agent may have some extra commission if there is no buyers agent saving the seller money if they are willing to take less to sell directly to a buyer. If the listing agent goes “dual agent” representing both sides. That might also increase sellers bottom line which could be a savings to the buyer.

Can you go to the house and just meet the tenants? That would be the best way to get a feel and see how they are handling the house. It's worth a drive believe me and get a copy of the lease. Check out local statutes to be sure you do what you need to do as a landlord, in MO we have to send a copy of a deed in the new owners name to the tenant, you don't want your case thrown out on a technicality if the tenant becomes a problem. Aside from that keep us posted!

@Alicia Gates have the tenants fill out an estoppel cert if they are staying it asks the basic questions. I would move them out unless I met them and new they had no issues. The landlord might be selling to get away from an problem tenant. That was my first deal. Eviction and angry tenants destroyed my house costing me $12,000 in repairs I could never recover.

@Christopher Cadenhead the cancellation process should be outlined in your agreement with them. Most say 30 days notice. In the future always be sure you don’t enter into an agreement if you can’t get out in 30 days. Many times there are state statutes that regulate that anyway so look it up for your state. Good luck!

@Derrick Burtle fire that agent. It’s ok for them to tell you your opinion but there job is to present the offer to the seller. The seller would either say no way or write you a counter offer. Another good idea is to find a local contractor to do a walk through then with a bid in hand, based on the deferred maintenance, you can submit the offer mentioning the issues. People usually list at the top of what they think they can get. Some of the repairs could be negotiated after the offer is excepted. Usually the seller will just offer you a credit toward closing costs. The numbers have to make sense to you. An agent that says that could just be too big for there britches. Find a hungry agent that doesn’t mind submitting 50 offers to get one excepted. With today’s technology it takes 15 minutes to write and offer and submit it. Disclaimer, this is based on my experience as an RE broker in CA for 6 years as an agent for 4.

@Steven Rubino beautiful job!