All Forum Posts by: Joshua Greenwald

Hey there, I could take you to look at some properties and walk you through the whole process if you're looking around NJ/NY. I do work here already. Send me a PM. 

Be sure to check your local zoning laws, regulations, and code requirements. Accessory apartments are not always legal, and if you don't find a way to pull permits successfully, you could end up with penalties and trouble later. 

Of course, you can make whatever specialization (or non) of clientele is profitable for you - just within the bounds of fair housing non-discrimination laws federally and statewide. 

Yeah.. I'm seeing that almost any way I work the deal, it is perhaps "too skinny" as you several have noted. Maybe the only thing I can do is offer the seller a solution of my property management service to receive the proceeds to add to my cashflow some and to remove his having to think about or manage the property himself.. And keep looking for a much more substantial and immediately rewarding deal meanwhile. 

Thank you for the second opinions and evaluations, all. I greatly appreciate how energetic the forum is. 

I believe we could make a part of our contract with him, though, that seller agrees not to attach any debts or access the equity, though, for the term of our lease and any extension - in effect, that it accrues to the future property buyer's benefit. 

About furnaces and expenditures, I look at the prospect as an experiment by which I could build in an exit clause to the deal, but if it works, I will have small but welcome passive revenue and accumulate the differential towards a reserve repair fund. If I increase the rent immediately or even if not, I should have furnace repair reserve of 3000 at the completion of 1 year latest - but the furnace is in good shape, by all accounts. 

I also believe I should be able to quickly refinance the property to own it with a 30 year mortgage and better interest rate by the end of year 2 at most. What if I can convince the bank (QuickenLoans) to allow my assuming the remainder of the mortgage? Has that been done before? 

Thank you for the good feedback and questions so far. I will address all the points for further discussion. 

The FMV of this house is probably along the order of 120-140K, possibly higher in the right market/buyer environment. The two most recent comps for 3bd/1ba of actually slightly SMALLER single family houses of 800sqft and 1000sqft on that SAME STREET from 2/15 and 8/14 were 120K and 140K respectively. The house is in comparable condition.

I'm aware a lease is not a sale, that I could/should record a long term lease (beyond 3 years), but perhaps I could structure the deal first as a 3 year deal then with the option both to renew or purchase at the completion of that term. Then I could avoid both pitfalls. Is a longer term lease going to always trigger a DOS and Acceleration? I thought the owner could lease it however he pleases, really.. Is there any other way to structure the deal to avoid these elements? I know there is a creative way to do this, and I know I can get the seller on board.

Curiously thinking. 

Hello all! I am so excited I think I have found a great first investment property. The seller is a serious "don't-wanter", and he's ready to leave it to me and move to the other coast of the country. I would like the collective input and wisdom of you, forum members, to test and prompt my further planning and pre-empting as I plan to write the contracts and do the transaction. Have I missed any questions and info from the seller? Is there an even better, safer, more lucrative way to structure the deal? 

Here are the details. There is a seller in my hometown, suburban CT, who is selling a single family with 3beds/1bath, about 1000sqft. He is asking $125K, he has a mortgage on it of 30 years at 5.125% and only approximately $2718 in current principal equity. The monthly payments are $943 including tax I believe. He refinanced a couple years ago which cashed him out of whatever original gain of equity he'd had since 2008. He owes $3761 to Home Depot for replaced windows. There are tenants currently residing and renting the property for $1200/mo, including all utilites save water/sewer, but this rent could certainly be increased some, which it hasn't in the several years he's been renting it out. The tenants obviously want to stay in the property since they make visitations difficult for prospective buyers.

I have very limited cash on hand, have been operating from a student and bootstrapped entrepreneur's budget, but I have come up with a possible creative proposal which I think the seller will be amenable. I am going to propose to him a Master Lease with Option to Purchase at my discretion within the remaining term of his mortgage. During the Master Lease term, I will have the right to collect all rents, the responsibility to maintain the property and pay all expenses and mortgage, as well as will have ownership and right to access and utilize the equity in the property as I see fit. As well, the seller will have assigned me all the bundle of rights to the property, essentially, while retaining titular ownership in legal name only. I will have the sole and exclusive right to purchase the property at any time of my choosing for the nominal amount of $1 from the seller and whatever arrangement I might make agreeable to satisfy the relevant creditor bank's remaining debt. In exchange, upon signing the lease I will pay the seller a consideration of his current equity $2718, which he can use along with his own funds to clear the remaining Home Depot debt. 

The seller seems agreeable. If he is, is this a good deal for me? Should I do it? Should I try to extract any further provisions? Thoughts? I shall make a decision asap this week.

Thank you for your consideration. 

This is a thread in which we could ask for and explain definitions to sometimes mysterious abbreviations and terms. 

For instance, what does DOD and ADOD mean in a real estate investment analysis spreadsheet? 

Curious.