All Forum Posts by: Larry Turowski

You can offer whatever you want.  It can’t hurt to make an offer. The worst they can do is say no. But if you really want the property you want to make the best, most competitive offer you can that still makes sense for you.

@John Pflederer I'd have to see the numbers to comment.  We have some things in common.  I also bought an 18 unit, all studios, in a C neighborhood and am sprucing up units that come free with vinyl plank flooring, paint, etc.  I do my own property management, but I'd be fine even if I didn't.  I knew that it was undervalued when I bought it.

Generally speaking, brokers make cash flow seem rosier than is the actual case by leaving various expenses out.  You'll be better able to evaluate the next one.  Take this as a learning experience.  It doesn't sound like you're getting crushed, so that is good.  And maybe some of your repair expenses are one-offs that will not recur, at tleast not before recovering the expense several times over.

@Christopher Fawls A cash offer precludes any financing contingency, which is pretty big, and attractive to sellers.  You can still have other contingencies.  An inspection contingency is the most common.

First, make sure what you are doing is legal in your state.  Be totally up honest with the seller.  It is simply not fair to them to tie up the property, make them think they've sold it, and then back out later.  Really, you should have your buyer lined up before the property.  The best wholesalers in my area have a list of no-nonsense buyers, what types of properties they like to buy and price points they like to buy at, so when they find a deal they know exactly who the buyer is, and know that they will close.

Besides some data that others have provided, I think of educated guesses.  Research has shown that if you take the average of a large pool of guesses as to how many jelly beans are in a jar, it will be pretty accurate.  It is called the wisdom of the crowd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOucwX7Z1HU&list=PL11E70446D4EC2C65&index=1.

The second thing is the intelligence community running gambling sites on world events.  https://ideascale.com/cia-takes-a-gamble-on-prediction-markets/.  People rarely have all the information but they have pieces of it, maybe anecdotal, that on average will sway the consensus and give a better prediction.

In my unscientific observation, there has been a dramatic uptick in people asking if a crash is coming, here on BP and in the news.  More than any information I personally have, this gives me pause.  Lot's of people are sensing something but have incomplete information.  I think it is wise to keep it in consideration.  How does this play out for me?  I want my flips to be quicker, I want my buy and holds to be solid.  Sometimes I'm willing to speculate with a portion of my portfolio.  Now, not as much.

@Kara Beckmann that's awesome!  It is hard to get over one hurdle of doing something new and you got over several.  Kudos!  I'd love to see more pictures.

I've never done additions or new construction.  And that would be a hurdle for me to get over.  How did you manage to do at $110/sqft?

@Shiloh Lundahl I agree with @Albert Ng and @Jay Hinrichs.

Again the splitting of the first $500k was clear and deplorable marketing tactic of implicitly promising results while providing deniability.

@Account Closed is correct.  You need to change your market.  But you can do that right here in Rochester.  I'm going to PM you.

@Renee Z. You should not decrease it.  Commercial long term leases generally have rent escalations built into them, at a minimum at a rate that reflects expected inflation.  Why would you decrease the rent, especially when it is already a deal? That is enough to keep them there.  The lease provides predictability to the tenant and predictable tenancy to the landlord.  For an apartment, a one-year lease generally provides enough predictability to the tenant and you can always just tell them, if it is a tenant you want to keep, that you have no intention of increasing the rent if they want to renew.

Okay not much interest so I’ll skip the scheduler. If you are interested in chatting PM me.