All Forum Posts by: Joshua Parr

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed realtor so I can't give first hand experience.

However, I know plenty of realtors including several family members (in and out of state). Many of them are with KW or switched to KW at some point. I would recommend them though just based on what many of them have told me. It doesn't just come down to money. From what everyone tells me, KW has great systems and training/classes and an overall great team culture. It all comes down to how much you put into it but they create a good environment to keep you motivated and learning. It also depends on the specific office you are working through, I'm sure some are better than others. 

Best of luck!

Different for every deal. I would say that a good amount of people want a balloon payment at some point but everything is negotiable. A seller may also hold the note for a full 30 year mortgage, it all just depends on their situation and the other terms of the note. I just sat down with a guy with a 4-unit and he wanted a balloon after 5 years because he is 70 and doesn't count on making it until 100. 

A balloon payment can make sense as long as you can build enough equity to refinance before the balloon payment is due. In my case, based on the price and terms, it didn't make sense to move forward with the deal. The guy was firm on price and terms and I just said if he's willing to work on better terms then I would be open to a deal. At the end of the day, it all has to make sense financially for you to move forward with it. Don't be afraid to pass on a deal, there's plenty more out there!

Also, the terms can be whatever in either case. It just depends on what you negotiate with the seller 

They are similar in what you are doing but in owner financing, you own the property and pay the seller a monthly mortgage payment. If you stop paying, the owner can/will foreclose on you. You can rent out the property or sell it for a profit (given you can sell it for more than what you owe the seller). 

In a sandwich lease option, you do not own the property. You rent from the landlord and then sublease to a tenant while collecting a spread on the rents, price, and option fee. 

With owner financing you have more control over the property. In both cases, you can do a lease or lease option with a prospective tenant-buyer. Either way, I would be clear with the seller what your intentions are. 

I would say if the property is paid off or the seller is willing to pay it off, you can do either but I would try for owner financing but the seller may want a large downpayment (which it seems like you are trying to avoid that). If there's a mortgage, you can still do the sandwich lease as long as you can still collect a spread on the rents.

Hope that helps, best of luck!

I don't have all the info but a few tips would to be:

1. Get a good property management company. The realtor you are using might be fine if he/she specializes in property management but if not, hire someone that does it full time. 

2. Make sure your rental rate is on par with market rates. If you're too high, it can drive away a lot of traffic. 

3. Make sure the rental is appealing to potential tenants. I don't know what the rental looks like but if there are some things that still need fixed up at all, it can be a turn off. Also, you can offer an incentive to get people interested. You still have to screen the tenants well but offering something like a $100 gift card for a "move in special" can spark some interest.

4. Lastly, get some feedback from anyone who has looked at the rental at all to see why they didn't rent.

Just a few ideas. Like I said, it's hard to answer without actually knowing the property/area you are in. Best of luck!

Would need to know more details such as is this going to be a buy and hold for you? There is always a sandwich lease / lease option if there's a spread between mortgage and rental rates. Ex. mortgage payment is $800/month and rental rate is $1300/month. You pay her $800/month and collect $1300 a month in rent. 

Beneficial to her because her mortgage would continue to be paid down and establish some equity and you would collect the spread. Just an idea. I don't deal with these at all but there are people that have success with it. I would just have a good attorney for doing these contracts and make sure all details are covered well such as who handles maintenance and any other issues. 

Otherwise, it might not be worth the hassle and she might be better off listing and losing a little money. Low equity properties can be a pain. If that's the case, on to the next deal!

The key is having a team member you can trust to give you quality information. I would recommend staying in areas you know and close to home. If you do go out of state, you should definitely travel to the cities you are thinking about investing in to really get to know them and meet good team members. 

I guess the answer to your question would be to make sure this realtor is someone you trust and understands what you do. Based on the video/agent feedback, you can put together a repair budget and make sure you have extra money in there for unexpected costs because there are almost always unexpected costs. You could also have the agent show the property to a reputable contractor to get an idea. Lastly, you can make an offer based on your repairs, have an inspection contingency, and physically fly out to look at the property with an inspector to make sure everything checks out. You have to ask yourself if a couple hundred dollars on a flight is worth potentially saving yourself thousands of dollars in the future. If there's a lot more wrong than what's on the surface, you can always renegotiate price or back out.