All Forum Posts by: Matt Higgins

In my experience opening bid price is approx 30% of final sales price 

My guy in ham lake wants 25% but I get 15 yr fixed 

I have purchased numerous properties in Minnesota from Auction.com.  I have found fewer and fewer "deals" on the website lately.  I have had properties under contract that just get "canceled" after sitting in "holding" for months.  Then it takes a couple months to get your 5k earnest money back and for god sakes don't forget that you had paid it at one point.  Issues that I have come across recently.  Is the property occupied?  are they selling the property during the redemption period?  Is it really even a "deal" at the purchase price.  I made a lot of money buying properties off this site, fixing and selling in 2015, 2016, but I have only purchased one property off there this year and I'm not convinced it was a real "deal".  

That being said the site is legit.  I would use the filters and at the very least filter it down to the "bank owned" properties unless you really know what you're doing.  I have always closed with their title company and got their insurance, but after looking more closely at some of the cost I think I will consider using my local title and closing company on the next one.

I shouldn't say one bad word about this site considering how much money I made off of them and Hubzu over the last 5 years, just sad that the inventory is drying up and getting more competitive.  However, with sale prices up I wish I would have expanded my buying criteria a little bit so I was making money this spring.

You really can't count on a property you buy from them closing unless you have the signed contract from the seller and the property is not under redemption.  Just b/c you get a "congratulations" from auction.com does not mean you have a signed contract.  It can be a little bit of a frustrating process.

I was listenting to a couple of old podcast this week about how the housing market is getting close to the end of a cycle (one from 2015, one from early 16).  Flippers complaining about the lack of deals and margins squeezes do to lack of inventory.  Veterans of the industry talking about how newbies are being saved by incredible and unusual appreciation in home values.  I also listened to an investor from Florida talk about how he was only 50% leveraged before he lost everything when he thought he held an overly conservative position with his assets. 

I started buying right after the crash and haven't had to experience the headache of trying to rent my property in a down market.  I haven't had to watch my net worth on paper be cut in half.  I haven't had to sell a property for less than I paid for it.  My question is, when is the music going to stop?  After the stock market tanks?  When builders catch up with demand?  

My goal was to purchase 20 units this year. I have a potential 12 unit deal in the works that would get me to my number. Is it time to maybe sell a couple of these older SFR that I have purchased? They require more Capx, they are a little further out and more difficult to manage and rent than some of my other properties. These are properties that I own outright, don't need the cash flow, and aren't helping me with my taxes.

If so, take the profits and 1031 into the next deal or payoff some properties and wait for the next cycle?  In the past year I had conversations with two successful, long time business men who each expressed their interest to hold on "one more cycle" before they retire or sell their business.  They are both in "down cycles" right now (one agriculture and one in the oil business), but they both have been doing it long enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel.   Made me think about where my real estate business is at today.  People moving out of my rentals to put 3% down on a house  (after they had paid me 50$ late fees).  Seems like it might be time to sell a few things off, save money, and crush it when the music stops. 

courtfees, sorry 

I think you will be ok.  You took them to court, they know you're serious.  I was just reading a post about a guy buying an expensive 4-plex as a first investment, inheriting the current tennents, and sounding pretty green.  Real bummer if they hit the tenant that destroys the place on the way out the door.

For what it's worth I think you will be ok in this situation.  Did they pay your courthouse yet?  If not, security deposit should have been used up.

I have a few D class properties that I bought before I figured out that I didn't want to rent in that area.   I still have them, I hate them, but they have tripled in value and paid for the selves twice already.

I wouldn't consider north Minneapolis a transitioning community.  I still won't go there after dark, but home values are appreciating faster there than 2 story houses in the suburbs.

I know that all markets are different, but appreciation happens in the hood too

in Minneapolis they are considering measures to "make" you take/consider section 8 tenants due to lack of affordable housing.  Government pays the rent on time every month, but..........  That being said every time I take a section 8 tenant it has ended up being a horrible experience.  Maybe I've just had bad luck :(

The small town 500/month turnover is probably overrated too. I could see class A apartments turning over for job changes or people buying. I find that the 30yr old guy renting the 500$ unit is just as likely to stay as the people living in my SFR who wants to purchase a house they can't afford w 3% down now that the market is up 250% in 8 years.

city of Dayton required a 30k assessment to be assessed to all properties bc they brought city water to town.  Plus, additional cost to actually hookup to the system.  They rolled it into the property taxes.  So the taxes on this 150k house had a tax bill of 4500$

Also, I couldn't get them to sign off on the existing well and septic.  

Real headache, but everything went wrong and I still made $.  It was pretty hard to go wrong on entry level home flips last year.  I did 5 and quit for some reason to focus on buy and holds.  

What is your hustle?  How much/unit are you paying on these multi families?  Taxes, insurance, regulations, anything close to mpls kinda scares me.

Not that it's convenient for me to drive to Princeton to check on my properties 

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/12171-Dayton-Ri...