All Forum Posts by: Marc Winter

@Jesse Hodges,

The greater Scranton area is not an appreciation play, it's all about cash flow.  Growth in medical and tech sectors translates into more and better jobs.

It is well documented that people are fleeing cities (NYC, Philly) for a less stressed, less crowded, and less expensive COL for towns like Scranton and the surrounding small bergs.

IDK, with less than 20% DP, I wouldn't do a traditional sale/deed transfer.  I WOULD consider a lease with non-refundable option fee.

If the buyer doesn't have cash for a decent DP or doesn't have the credit to finance the purchase with a mortgage lender, do you really want to be their bank?  

Why is the Scranton PA market getting hot?  New companies can find easy access to funding, space, talent pool, and experts.

'When Dr. Robert Karpman needed a fertile place to germinate a potential cure for billions of dollars wasted on health care, Scranton checked a lot of boxes.

The orthopedic surgeon, entrepreneur, and Cornell professor from Ithaca, New York, needed somewhere to grow Medi-Trust, a robotic assistant that all but guarantees people who struggle to manage medicine regimens can stay on track...'

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It all depends on how much that $3K means to you; are you already wealthy, or did you scrimp it together by brown-bagging lunch?

You have two options to get your money back, so why not do both?  

@Daniel Taylor--look at two scenarios;

A. An end-user makes an offer at full price, subject to FHA financing.

B. An investor makes an offer 20% under asking, all cash, no contingencies, inspectons, or appraisal necessary, closing in 30 days or as soon as title clears.

The A offer might or might not actually close, or close with a price reduction for repairs if the seller is willing to negotiate.

The B offer will close for the amount contracted within a time-certain period.

Of course, it always comes down to seller motivation, but many MANY experienced sellers would take offer B over offer A because there is a price/cost/value in the security of a strong deal.

@William Przybyla, congratulations, you're off to a great start!

At your current stage, you have some experience as to what to do and how to do it to make some cash-flow happen. The next step is becoming more creative, not focusing on your DTI ratio.

Example:  you are concentrating/focusing on bank financing.  You are paying too much attention to their requirements.  What would happen if you looked beyond the box they want to put you in to qualify for their money?

Just a couple of ideas:  find the deal, get the seller to finance it, or get a partner, do a 'subject-to' deal, build up a private money investment network.

There are so many more avenues to acquiring real estate besides conventional financing, I'd recommend you put some of that positive cash flow into more education or meditation to free your mind to birth another way of doing deals.

Namaste.

This sounds like you should be speaking with an architect and/or very experienced and knowledgeable general contractor.  Possibly if the use of the subject property is grandfathered in, you can still pull permits--but guessing is not a way to be successful in this business.

Get professional, local advice.

That's why God created title insurance.

Happy 4th!

IMHO, I'd get another electrician to check it out.  If the outlets are not grounded (open ground) and the system itself isn't grounded, putting in GFCI outlets won't do any good.  They won't work on an ungrounded circuit.

If the tenant has a good payment record with you, think about doing a lease with an option to buy.  Get a non-refundable option payment, good for x-years.

Keep both documents completely separate.  One does not mention the other.  If they buy within the option period, you might consider giving credit to them towards their closing costs.

If they do not buy within the option period, you keep the option fee.