All Forum Posts by: Jeremy England

It sounds like you are doing fine.  Nice work.  

Congratulations on your success. So how did you and your wife start out? Direct mail? REO? I'd like to hear a synopsis if you don't mind.

Nice thread, lots of useful information. 

@Arthur J. Encinas 

That's a quick helpful formula.  How do you go about estimating closing costs for buying and selling on the same deal?  I have bought and sold about 6 homes over the past 10 years and it seems I've always been surprised by closing costs. 

If I'm providing all the money, I'm not splitting 50/50. 

Bryan, you know your situation better than anyone, but don't you think you should be generating enough income to replace your salary before you leave your job? 

That's my benchmark anyway.  I haven't even started but I have some experience from about 10 years ago.  Once I get some things done on my own place and purchase my wife another vehicle, I'll be ready to invest.  I have some cash, so that should help me secure some property.  My plan is to flip one, measure results, then adjust.  Long term I want to buy and hold property, but it seems most people take an uncomfortable amount of debt on to secure these properties.  I dont' want to assume that kind of risk.  However I will do more research on the topic and assess when I get there. 

In 2008 I did a flip with a REO property, bought for 25k, put 35k into it, rented for 800/mo, sold a year after for 85k. It was one of the most profitable projects I did as a builder percentage wise. I should have stuck with it, but I took a job out of state and haven't done any rei since.

If I can manage to do that a few times, I can purchase a buy and hold outright.  Then I'd be more comfortable taking on additional debt given that the one property would be paid for. 

Bryan, sounds like you thought it through.  Not sure what the retirement system is like in Pennsylvania, do you have to do 20, 25 or 30 to get a pension?  Something to think about. 

You say you've flipped 3 homes.  Do you mind sharing how you acquired those homes and what you did to pay for them?  I'm trying to learn from everyone else's experiences and find them all very interesting. 

Thank you for your response.  I suppose it's difficult for me to imagine I could be in a position where I would just let a property go like that.  

I see.  Just doesn't seem logical but I suppose it's happening every day.  

So I'm doing alot of reading on rei.  Books articles and what not.  I see the strategy of driving for dollars and direct mails and the like.  So for a deal to be good the owner must have equity right?  Unless you short sell and I'm reading that is difficult and not exactly a good deal.  So the question is why would someone with equity sell to me below what the property is worth?  

I get that they are in disrepair. But say it's a 100k ARV and they have 50k in equity. Why would someone sell to me for say 55k? Why not just market the place with a realtor for 70 or 80k and call it a day?

I understand some properties would be unable to be sold via a conventional lender due to the state of disrepair and I get that some sellers just want to get what they can and dump the place.  But is that common?  

Where are you getting most of your deals? Distressed sellers or REO's or auction? Just soaking it all in, so thanks

Regarding purchasing distressed properties, Why would a person who has equity in their property sell below market value? 

Because I 'm assuming equity is REQUIRED for the deal to be any good unless you are trying to short sell right? 

So I'm a homeowner, lets say I have a house who's ARV is like 100k and I owe 50k. I'm broke so no money to pay my mtg. A guy comes along and says "hey, sell me your house to avoid foreclosure and ill give you 55k". Why would someone do that? Why not just sell the house for closer to FMV. I get that perhaps the house is in disrepair and I can't afford to fix it to sell and no conventional bank is going to finance it because it's so bad.

Is that it?  What other reasons do people have for selling below value if they have equity.