All Forum Posts by: Jiri B.

If you are a realtor and your client asks you to do something, as long as its lawful, you do it.

In most states, the contract does allow for some reasonable delay but that doesn't mean you cannot ask the other side.

If you worry it could impact the closing, then explain your concerns to the client (the seller) but if they still wants you to ask the other side, then you do it. It's not your decision to filter our requests you don't agree with.

There are many reasons closing gets delayed and it happens a lot, however if the reason was purely because the buyer did not do what they were supposed to do in timely manner, then i think its absolutely reasonable to ask the buyer. Worse think, the buyer can say its no. 

@Jessie Brown Whether that story is true or not, unless you are also an attorney at law, you shouldn't be giving legal advices to your clients. I think the best way to help your client and your self is to refer them to a real estate attorney.

If you believe your Realtor does not deserve the full commission then you are working with the wrong realtor.

I'm looking to purchase a 3 bed starter lake front property on lake Kerr in NC in the 250k-350k range.  Wondering if anyone own a property there who could give me some insight into the lake areas etc, what to avoid, what to look for etc. 

This is for a personal use, not an investment.

For single family homes, 3 bedrooms is the standard in Raleigh. If you have the same with 4 bedrooms you can usually get $100-$200 more on your rent. As this would be the 5th bedroom, im not sure there is many renters looking for this many beds and that usually means it takes longer to rent it out.

What you can do is to run comps on the MLS for 4bd vs 5th rental prices and days on market and see how much more you can get from the rent by doing that way and if that justify the 10k price tags. Your realtor should be able to get those number for you. I usually go by the comps.

Assuming you can charge $100/mo more if you add that room and it costs you 10k, thats about 9 years to get return on that.

Vacancy just really depends on how you price your home. Typically, the highest demand is for 3beds homes.

@Adam I personally prefer single family homes over townhomes but i do have townhomes in my portfolio as well.

From renting out perspective, i don't really thing it makes much difference. Some renters want home, some don't want to have that much to worry about (like mowing the lawn etc) and don't need large backyard so they rent townhome. I think there is a market for both property types.

From investment perspective, however, there are some things to consider:

- townhomes have larger HOA fees ($100-$200/mo) while homes might have none.

- single family homes have higher % appreciation over townhomes

- single family homes have generally more maintenance then townhomes

Those are just some key points that at least i look at when considering my next investment property.

With your price range however, it might be harder to get single family home in a good location.

Hope that helps!

@Adam

It also depends on what type of property you are looking at and at what price range. And once you actually get the property, it will also depends on how well you list it.

Average is a good overall indicator for the whole market but i would not use that when doing my numbers.

I have single family homes in the $1400/mo and i don't see them vacant at all and when old tenants moves out, we already have new tenants ready.

On the other hand, properties over 2k/mo takes 1-2 months to rent out.

To be on the safe side, i would do what banks typically do, and that is 20% vacancy rate.. If you get lower, good for you, if not, at least you already accounted for it..

@Anthony Ross About half of the homes on the MLS receive multiple offers these days. If you already spent 2 years and still was not able to find anything you like, maybe you just need to change your criteria or expectations.

To purchase 2-4 units in a decent location in the triangle, you would be looking at anywhere between 300k-800k. I'm not a finance guy and i don't know your financial situation, but you would probably need close to a 200k yearly income to purchase that on FHA loan and i have not seen too many young families to be able to do that.

I'm guessing you are already pre-approved though if you are already working with other realtors.

My advice to you would be to be more realistic with what you want and what you can afford and what you should offer to a property you like in order to have a chance to get it.

If you had purchased a 400k property 2 years ago, you would already have about 40-60k in appreciation so keep that in mind next time you put an offer on a property. 

Any realtor should be able to get you pretty accurate comps to see what your offer should be for something you like.

Good luck.

Looking forward to meeting everyone!

Sounds good @Jason Curfman

1) That is pretty much what i did / doing. I don't take any profits out, everything is reinvested right back.

2) I think that is everyones goal as well. We will see how that all goes!

If you want to increase your cash flow and have the time and right mindset, you can also manage the properties yourself. I found that to be very helpful when starting out and maximizing your cashflow. That will easily save you $100-200 /mo per property. I think the key is to screen your tenants well, treat them well, maintain your properties well and don't be a slumlord :)

I'm currently in the market for 130-200k sfh in Raleigh / Cary / Wake Forest. I usually look at couple of properties every week so if you want to tag along, or for that matter any else, just let me know! That might get you excited enough to dive in as well. This is my favorite part of the whole process.