All Forum Posts by: John Matthews

@Chris Heeren - That makes sense. That's exactly my plan, but my question was geared more towards determining any upfront (or soon) capital expenditures prior to purchase. Interesting to see your breakdown for expected life of each capital expenditure though.

@Rob Foglia Got any more info on this? Is this available for investors or owner occupied properties only? I stumbled upon this idea a few days ago but couldn't seem to find too much good information on it.

@Joe Villeneuve I gotcha, so you're assuming that the roof needs to be replaced on every job, but using real costs to get a good estimation of what that cost is, and factoring that price into the offer price?

@Ned Carey @Wayne Brooks @Steve Babiak Thanks for the feedback. My hesitation still is this - the agent was recommended by an investor who does rehabs. Furthermore, if the issue is vacancy, they claimed that the property would be protected while vacant (up to 6 months).

So yes, I agree if the recipe calls for apples, I shouldn't use a watermelon, but what if watermelon just coincidentally in their dialect happens to look, taste, smell and bake just like an apple...it just happens to be twice as large for the same price?

FYI - @Steve Babiak - I probably drive by you every day. I work right off trooper rd in audubon, across from the Wawa...

@John Myers - I would love to take advantage of OO conventional financing, but I can't convince the better half to move for various reasons, and agreed, mortgage fraud just doesn't quite seem worth it to me

@Eric Black - You're absolutely right. Though, it's not that I'm afraid of risk, it's just that I'm afraid of risking friends and family money, because I feel as though they're only giving me the money because they love me, they know nothing about real estate investing, so they're exactly the people I don't want to hurt should a deal go south. Or maybe I need to look at this differently, how can I protect them supremely and sufficiently? Maybe that's a question for another thread...

@Joe Villeneuve Thanks for the response. But, my question is this. If there's nothing visibly wrong with the roof say, will you get a roofer out to every property before you put in an offer?

Anyone have any suggestions on how to estimate upcoming capex costs for bank owned properties, or properties where the seller doesn't know how old the roof is? (or other items where there's no sticker saying when an item was installed/purchased)

I just read this thread: http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/95/topics/118902-builders-risk-policy and I think we're in similar situations. My HML requires builders risk. Another lender that I've been working with recommended that I talk with one insurer about insurance for rehabs. That insurance company believes that builders risk is only available for new builds (not rehabs). He quoted me for a landlord policy which claims to protect against construction on an existing property as well as after I get a tenant in the property, but other insurance providers don't seem to believe that's true.

The insurance side of things is still very new to me, and unfortunately I haven't been able to get a complete list of legalese detailing what is and what is not covered to determine for certain if there's a difference between the two.

Can anyone shed some light on this, or point me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance

I searched the site for some tips on this, but couldn't seem to find what I was looking for.

In my mind getting the seller to carry a note on a property (to bridge the downpayment if possible or to cover the whole purchase) is best for me right now, as I don't feel comfortable leveraging friends / family money yet. I know the numbers, but I want to minimize their risk, and the best way to do that is by waiting till I've got experience to minimize mistakes.

So the question is: for bank owned properties, foreclosures, short sales, etc. What options do I have for getting the property with "0" down?

Things I've thought of: 

• unsecured loan/LOC - I'm approved for one and should get the funds soon
• Seller financing - which I don't think apply in these situations, right?
• Credit Card cash advances - not interested at this time
• Lease Options - I don't think banks will do this, right?
• Partnerships/Private money - Don't wish to risk friends/family money yet, and as far as I know, those that do know better will charge more than I think will make the deal worthwhile
• HELOC - I don't own any property yet!

Is there anything I'm missing?

@Rayan Faris I don't have too much to add just yet, but I will say this. Depending on the masonry used, availability of replacement stone can be quite a challenge. For this reason, when any cracks form (letting water in to freeze, expand and create more cracks...) if they aren't filled and handled quickly, it'll be a challenge repairing the property since the stone hasn't been readily available for up to 50 years.

I am a fan of the look though!