All Forum Posts by: Kel S

We have also thought of Port Charlotte. Do any of you know about that area? Out of the frost zone would be a plus for sure.

I see some listings in Port Charlotte that don't look bad at all but again I don't know the area these are in.

http://www.rexmainstream.com/mls/22-C6997749

http://www.rexmainstream.com/mls/22-C6998526

I might join my husband on a business trip down to Tampa and for a number of years now we've thought about getting a second personal home in Florida and was wondering about Tampa and what part of town I should look around in? I looked at some listings started as low as $16k for SFH, but I imagine those are in the not so great part of town.

Can anyone from that are steer me in the right direction as far as nicer neighborhoods there? It's so difficult when you don't live in the area. Where we live now I can tell you exactly the parts to stay away from...but it's like going in blind when you don't know a new city.

While I'd love to have a SFH, we have thought that maybe a condo would be better. That way perhaps the risk of it being broken into and stripped would be less? Also just our inability to do yard maintenence while we are not there would be a factor. We'd probably live there part time and stay there when it's winter here. At least part of it....until we retire. Maybe we could rent it out seasonally at times (?). In any case the purpose would be mainly so we have a place to escape the cold :mrgreen:

Any particular areas you'd recommend? Maybe certain zip codes or street names?

One thing I forgot to mention is that we just put a cash offer in on a REO. So we'll need to wait to see what the outcome is of that before entertaining putting an offer in with this guy as I don't want to tie up 100% of our cash.

We put in another offer on a foreclosed SFH. Now just waiting to see if the bank bites or not.

Listed at $46k and been on the market less than 30 days
We offered $30k cash w/no contingencies
Last sold in 2003 for $120k
100% Taxable value at: $110k

The home is 1400 square feet and in a excellent neighborhood and school district. It's a 2 bed/1 bath. Has living room, large dining room, nice sized kitchen, den and family/rec room. Then 2 large bedrooms upstairs. The den could be converted to a 3rd bedroom.

It needs some work including all new carpet and pad throughout, one bedroom has no heat source so we would need to figure that out and have it vented in. It will need new interior paint and some dry wall work in the family room. And some other misc. repairs....the ducts need cleaned out as it looks like the previous owner was disgrutle and put depris down into the heat vent openings. It does appear structurally sound.

At the time we put in our offer the selling agent said that they had no offers yet. It would be great to walk right into this deal but not sure if the bank will accept an offer that is $16k less. We figured our offer is in line with the amount of work/cost we'll have to put into it.

I'll let you know if we get an accept, reject or negotiate from the bank.

You all might remember that house we wanted to purchase from the Seller that is also an REI. He owns several apartment buildings and SFH. So out of the blue he calls me today asking if I want to see the house and I told him that his maintenence fellow already let us walk through the home. He said that they are wanting to either sell the home or re-rent it soon. I told him that we are interested but not sure if we'll be able to come to an agreement on the price he wants (no point in wasting each others time right?). This is the guy that wanted $65-$70k for a 2b/1bath/full basement.

So he responsed by saying "Well, come in and make us an offer".

Hmmm....our last conversation I told him we were only interested in offering in the real low 40's....if that, depending on the extent of the roof repair that is needed on the 3 season back porch room.

My husband is saying that he probably wouldn't want to offer him more than $35k as is for the home but I can't image this guy taking it because in our first conversation he was adament about "Oh no, we couldn't take that low for it, it's worth $75 according to the taxes".

So my question is why is this guy calling me back? Is he getting desperate? He HAS to recall our first conversation where I told him that we were only looking to spend $40k or so for it and he rejected that right off the bat. So why the phone call weeks later? Is he at the point where he is now considering taking closer to $40k?

I too believe there are opportunities to be had when the economy is in such a state. My problem is fear of the unknown....not so much "fear" per say as I have a lot of faith, but just concern of making the wrong move or choice when it comes to grabbing up an opportunity (investment property to buy/hold to rent).

My concern is while it's said that people will always need a place to live in my particular area (NW Ohio) I'm seeing quite a few signs that many investors are selling off or struggling to find tenants. This wouldn't be a big issue if the signs were only that it's the time of year causing so many vacancies, but the unknown of whether it's due to people moving out of the area to find work elsewhere, etc., I guess I won't really have a clearer picture of this until Spring. But does make me think twice about how much to invest right now.

So who are the hard lenders...banks or just indivual investors and how do you locate those willing to loan hard money? I'm not in need right now, just want to learn in case one day I would want to utilize that route.

Trying to learn a bit of the terminology and meanings. Can anyone explain this? In my mind I imagine a loan shark :mrgreen:

If I had several properties this would be the reason I'd prefer to have a PM. I wouldn't want this to be a full time job as I have other businesses I run and time is money as they say. I'd rather sacrifice 8%-10% and not have to worry about my time or headaches that might come with dealing with tenants on a regular basis.

Security would be another reason if a situation came up where my husband wasn't able to take care of it and it fell to me. A PM would be nice to have in that case.