All Forum Posts by: Martin S.

@David, oh yes definitely. I only made 1 offer that was at or above asking price. Only because I knew the seller put such a low price just to entice offers. I know the prices and make offers accordingly. I try to stay under $100sf in Sarasota, I'd say half of recent sales are under $100sf but thats all sales, some are likely just family-family transfers or something...

Also, regarding the property I purchased. The nice lady defaulted on her mortgage for exactly the same amount I purchased the home for. She was actually renting it out for a lot less, most likely because it was in bad shape and I guess she didn't care what condition the house was in, and had no intentions of doing repairs/improvements. The kitchen and baths were definitely not inhabitable by my standards. She kept collecting rent while not paying the mortgage. I dont think she was too happy when she found out how much I rented it out for. I also thought that it was a shame she messed up her credit and lost out on some nice cash flow for no good reason, her son lives right there too, he could have fixed up the house... Oh well, at least when they look at the house everyday now its not such a sight for sore eyes anymore...

I actually tried to reach a new home builder in Sarasota yesterday. They didn't pick up the phone, voicemail told me to text them, so I did and I even sent an email. Nothing yet, strange... 

Valerie, yes home prices were pretty low for a while and seem to be creeping up, but I dont think it has anything to do with new homes being built. There isn't much more space left in sarasota for new homes, unless they demolish and rebuild, which the neighbor of that house i purchased does for a living, heh. Looking at whats on the MLS now it just seems that there are less properties available, at least in the better areas.

I tried looking at what wholesalers had to offer but their prices were no different from whats on the MLS. I think I will have to just start sending out letters myself, lol.

Actually considering that this is Florida we are talking about, I should probably look into probate/estate properties, just wish I knew where to look for that... I see recent sales pop up all the time for low prices, I'm sure many home owners have no idea what they can get for their home if they list on MLS, but many probably also dont want to deal with showings, negotiations, 6%+ commissions, etc...

So, I finally closed on my first property end of Oct, 2014.

Sarasota, FL

SFH 1500-1600sf living area plus oversized 1 car garage attached. $146k, 20%down. At closing I think the total we were out of pocket was like $35k. I rehabbed the house myself, new kitchen and baths with flooring, some doors and other stuff as well. Came out to $15k materials, plus maybe like $5k food, travel, etc... Currently similar houses are $200k-250k+ i'm guessing that many investors lost interest from initial MLS listing which was much higher and before the bank did work on the house to make it more appealing. it was a foreclosure... House is likely in a B area, there is a million dollar house next door and all other houses on the block are valued higher on zillow even though mine is bigger than some, and in my opinion more ideal. Great schools etc, I would actually live there, I actually did while doing the rehab...

Rented out starting March 1st at $1600, tenant pays electric, water is well/septic, no gas... Tenant maintains pretty much everything...

Taxes $1500

Insurance $1200

Mortgage $566/month

After mortgage, taxes and insurance, I get about $800 in my pocket...

Self manage, not much to do other than collect rent check from my mailbox and cash it...

Using 50% rule, i'm technically only getting $234...

What do u guys think?

Now my problem is that I can't find a single deal even remotely close to this. Trashed houses that are smaller are going for over $200k... And I really need/want at least 1 more property in Sarasota before I start buying in other areas/states... I'm only interested in 34231, 34233 and 34239... And I need a new buyers agent, mine moved to another state, and her boss, who I send my offers to now, seems to be slow and I think he takes interest in the properties I try to make offers on, he keeps telling me that there are multiple offers, to submit my highest and best and then a few days later the houses are already under contract and I never get a counteroffer or anything...

Also, we more than qualify to purchase both properties, so its not a problem to disclose. But am I just supposed to tell the 2nd bank that I'm buying another house first? I need to get the loan commitment for that house before I can actually be 100% certain that I will actually get to purchase it, so I guess I need to wait a few more days before its set in stone.

I have no intention of committing fraud. Its just that no1 asked and I answered all questions truthfully, (I put "yet", lol, but hey that's the truth.)

The only issue I see is that I would create new debt after I close on the first house, but how is that any different than doing an app-o-rama? I didn't purposefully try to buy 2 houses at once, it just happened that I found 2 great deals at around the same time, and on the 2nd deal the seller changed the closing date earlier than I wanted....

So my first 2 "investment" properties will be closing 10/20 and 10/24. House 1 is with Bank of America and I applied for mortgages with about 5 different banks before I proceeded with accepting BoA. House 2 is with Provident, I "switched" my mortgage application from house 1 to house 2 with them. On credit inquiry explanations, for BoA, they did not include Provident because it was not on my credit report yet, so all they got is, No new debt, for all the explanations. For Provident, under Bank of America I put, No new debt yet, since we didn't close yet and I technically didn't incur new debt yet...

Do they pull credit reports at/near closing again? Or will there be any issues with closing both of them, since I never told one about the other?

We almost didn't get approved for House 1 with BoA..., we got permits and sellers credit to change the denial into an approval.

 I don't want to have any issues with closing, time is of the essence, we have our first baby coming Nov 20th and we need to have the properties cleaned up and rented at least 2 weeks before then (just in case baby comes early)...

So, I called yesterday and spoke with one of the managers, since I can never reach my loan officers. She talked to the underwriter and they were able to approve the loan. Yay, now I just need to get that loan commitment letter...

Good idea, thanks for the suggestion. I was going to ask another bank that I am working with on another deal, but your idea sounds better.

I guess I will call the bank today and see if there is an update or anything, its BoA if that matters... The other deal is with Provident, which I like because their rates are good and they actually pick up the phone when you call and they get everything done very quickly, my loan is already in underwriting after only 1 day of me submitting all the docs. With BoA it took like 2 weeks, after I had to call them multiple times to schedule the appraisal and they only sent the loan to underwriting after the appraisal...

Anyone?