All Forum Posts by: Tarik Abdullah

At this point in the market I have found $50k is about the minimum you will find a single family that needs about $30k worth of work and even these are not common. Right now I feel prices are all inflated because of all the investors with tons of money "fighting" over sub par deals. I think as time goes by the economy will settle the housing market back down. It is in that time when nobody is buying that you should make your move. I'm not a financial analyst by far or claim to be an economist but around August 2019 you should see better deals. Just don't make the mistake of jumping on anything because you feel you have the funds and need to move. Thoroughly vet your deals and if the numbers are right then make a move.

Thumbtack is another good site!

@Rashida Sigmond I have invested in what you would call F neighborhoods and have also lived in them as well (I have a short story about it on my blog). I have goals of owning an Empire and started in the "hood". My intentions were not to become a slum landlord but rather to improve any community I invested in. What I have found was this, "hood" is a state of mind and there are individuals out there that don't want better. I was planning on getting the houses for the low fixing them up, nothing too extravagant but then refinancing and buying more WRONG! Bought house for $10,000 it appraised for $40,000. The problem is I was unable to refinance first of all most banks or lender don't lend anything under $50,000. Then the rehab no soon as a copper pipe was put in the house it was taken out. I know you are saying put pex in then well I did and when they discovered it was no money in the walls they trashed the house out of anger (Lesson: speaking the "language" and being friendly does not always work . I didn't put any AC units in until I had a renter in the house already which helped. The problem was when a renter left they would take the AC with them LOL!! I know you say then keep the deposit math: AC unit $1500 + certified AC install $800 Deposit kept $600.(Lesson: spend the money on the AC cages it is worth it )

My intentions are not to discourage but to offer you some for sight. The truth of the matter is someone owns those homes and are getting that money.

Pros: always able to rent
           cheap to acquire
           low rehab cost
           Pride of helping a community

I would like to add to this discussion the flip side of things. With all this development going on we must also think of what is going to happen to the "bad elements" that are currently in these "up and coming areas".  They are going to be pushed probably further south to the towns Riverdale, Jonesboro, Morrow, Stockbridge, Griffin and Stockbridge. Just my thoughts.

In my opinion, for what it's worth :) , If your main source for deals is the MLS than you are in for a tough time. By deals I mean being able to purchase and fix up the property for under 70% of the ARV. I am not going to criticize anyone on what they feel a deal is but by all means if they have a deal they would like to offer message me, I am always looking for a deal that I can purchase with hard money.

@Dustin Mathenia - I requested the information

Is the house still available?

@Stefon Bostick - There are tons of books on the subject by the so called "guru's". My first "no money deal" was achieved by reading and following Carlton Sheets. Most of what he was saying was simply ask a million people to give you their house and one will oblige but there was one method that stuck out to me was go to county or city and there are programs for home ownership with down payment assistance. Sure enough in my county they had one. I utilized the program (first time home buyer). I came out of my pocket for home inspection and something else but all together it came up to $1200. I used a 203K program which provided funds to fix up the property. At closing I walked away with a check for $1200, they grant reimbursed the money I spent. After a year I refinanced the 203K and pulled out $40,000 worth of equity. "No money down"

I am a "cash buyer" because I use a Hard Money lender but the problem is I can't find 'true good deals'  the lender will approve of. If you find any great deals and need funds, maybe we can partner up!

@Joel Ubiera - I have linked up with a hard money lender and paid the $3000 initial fee. They provide proof of funds letters up to the amount of $250,000. I have made offers on two deals so far, it is not more because of the strict stipulations of the lender (the deal has to be EXTREMELY good). The first deal fell through because the ARV (after rehab value) was determined, by their inspectors, to not be as high as I calculated it would be. I am currently waiting to see if the last offer was accepted. In the past I used to say "man all I need is some funds" now I am saying "man all I need is a great deal!" Before you sign up with any hard money lenders that require you to pay a fee contact me and may be we can partner up. I was hesitant in the past with taking on partners but I recently read something that makes a lot of sense....." 50% of a deal is better than 100% of no deal"