All Forum Posts by: Jennifer B.

Hi All,

I am a realtor and in our contracts the short sale is a contingency for the seller. When that contingency is in place, it means the contract is contingent upon the seller being granted the short sale.. and the terms that comes with it.

The realtor is actually not supposed to collect earnest money until the short sale is approved. It is correct that even if you had deposited the earnest money, it would go into an escrow or trust account and refunded to you at any time before the short sale was approved, or after if you inserted a contingency as the buyer due to financing or inspections ect.

In addition, any time an offer is signed by the seller and the buyer (considered a mutually accepted offer) the listing agent is required to change the property to pending. They can put pending back up requested should the bank want multiple offers. Any agent that has a mutually agreed upon offer and keeps the property listed as active is probably in violation of the local multiple listing service rules... so if they told you they needed the deposit to change it from active to pending then I would run.. and run quickly because this agent does not know what they are doing!

What a great make you think question!

My biggest issue with getting started was fear. I kept putting obstacles up for myself and finding reasons not to invest. Then I learned to put them all aside if I wanted to get ahead and figure what do I have to lose? Once I did one deal, the rest got easier and you learn so much from every deal and you know when to look for things and how to avoid mistakes. I think you even have to give yourself permission to make mistakes and allow yourself to lose money sometimes. A good support system is key as well. All too often I hear of people trying to invest once and then make mistakes and vow to never do it again. Part of taking risk is making mistakes and then learning from them.

I want to achieve financial freedom from investing. I do not want to have consumer debt and I also get alot of gratification from investing, especially when it creates a win-win for others and myself.

Jon, I like your comment that you want to help others, so it can help you learn. Most people miss that step. They think they know it all and are not open minded enough to listen to others and allow their points of view to change.

Bill, you are right. Sometimes the duplex doesn't fully carry the freight but usually I look for properties where I can get an eds deviation and don't have to do all the frontage improvements ect. If I can get through the drainage review and the final plat, all I have to do is put in the curbs and then get construction approval signed off and I can record the plat and start building quickly. So the turn around time is pretty short as far as money going out and then coming back in.

I have actually found a lot of luck with half finished plats right now. I can consult with the bank to record it, and then build right away. Since I am also an agent I can list the homes as pre-sales and then let the bank do the work so I can buy. I am also working on a JV with the bank and my investors where the bank fronts the lots, the investors build houses and when it sells they both get paid. I love this strategy as everyone wins and the banks start calling me with projects they need help on!

Hi all. Hate to jump into the conversation but I wanted to give my two cents.

Kevin, I actually did the same as you at first. I owned several houses and rented them out, and then rented a little apartment for myself and was the manager and paid $300 per month (fair market rent was $900). Everyone thought I was crazy, but it allowed me to save enough money to buy my next investments.

Now I buy duplexes, live in one side and rent out the other. I recently bought a duplex and my mortgage is $1400. I rent the other side for $900 so my mortgage is only $500 per month! I get to benefit from paying LESS than rent and actually owning my own place. I do this every few years and then eventually I can own my nice home and all of my rentals will pay for my mortgage.

In my market (seattle area) multi families are getting foreclosed on more frequently (landlords charging rent and then not paying their mortgage... sound familiar) so I have been getting great deals. Since I have such a good reputation of owning and maintaining rentals, I have talked a local bank into giving me construction loans to build brand new ones. With the cost of construction so cheap now, I can build them with zero down and they cash flow $700 - $900 each!

So my theory is, I will not buy an investment unless the mortgage is less than or covers what the rent will be. Doing this and being picky will always be in my favor and I could care less about what the appreciation or depreciation is.

Harry-

Section 8 has their own paperwork that they have you fill out. I bought a duplex a few years ago and just sent a letter to section 8 with a W-9 stating that I was the new owner and that the rent would need to be sent to me.

Once the lease term if up or if the tenant's quota changes they will have you fill out their paperwork which is very easy, and then they do an inspection. I have never had a problem because the duplexes I buy are usually brand new. But they can have issues with light bulbs burnt out and other small things. You have a few days to remidy and you won't get your check until they have inspected.

I personally love section 8 due to the guarantee of rent. I also figure if our taxes pay for this program, I might as well benefit from it.

I have done several projects this way, however I changed to building duplexes (cheap to build, higher rents than one SFR). I always do my feasibility before hand to make sure I can short plat and submit for the duplex permit right away. Then, I go in and install all of the utilities and road while I am building the duplex. Once the duplex is finished, all of my utilities are in and when I apply for the short plat the local jurisdiction has to qualify the utilities as pre-existing and it gets me through much quicker!

Also, I have found that if you replace a new structure (SFR or duplex) with the old one, you get credit for mitigation fees and it expedites the process.

You can still buy a house on a larger lot like you mentioned, but there is much more cash involved when I buy the ugliest, tear down house on a large subdividable lot and do my duplex strategy.

Sometimes I keep the duplex as a long term rental, and other times I condo them and sell them off individually with the new houses that I build after the short plat.