All Forum Posts by: Matt Ridenour

@Tim Winter, thanks for the post.  I appreciated the time you took to reply.  Currently, the probate attorney is (with the niece's approval) cleaning the hoard out and prepping to list it on the market.  I have asked for an opportunity to match the offer they get on the sale, and I'm assuming I'll get that chance, but with my area booming out of control I'm assuming they'll get top dollar for it. I'm not willing to catch that falling knife.  

Thanks again all.  I'll update this thread if something intriguing happens with it.

@Jamie Hoth thanks for the reply.  I spent a fair bit of time trying to build a relationship with the niece.  My son was working for the elderly lady and she loved him.  In my offer I detailed the reason for the low offer, with a full explanation of repair costs.

The probate attorney got an opinion of value (not a full appraisal) from a real estate agent. He thinks he can get 325k as is, and so why sell to me for so much cheaper?  I agree with him, but I don't want to stick my neck out that far.  I'm hoping someone out there has experience with creative deal structure with probates.

In my head, I'm debating offering the full 325k, with a delayed balloon payment in order to buy time to rehab and pull out the cash.  Also thinking about paying full price and trying to lease option it.  Just not super solid on lease option contracts and structures.

Thanks again Jamie.

@Jamie Hoth I have the ear of both people, though the niece does not communicate well.  She doesn't reply to emails very often.  She also doesn't feel like it's her rightful place to speak directly to me, and that we should be speaking through the attorney.  

Hi all.  I always get such great advice here, so I'm back looking for strategy suggestions.

Briefly:

Neighbor's house.  She passed away in March (not covid, just old age.) 

She has a niece in Germany that is going to be the recipient of the money from the sale of the estate. 

The house is derelict, with roofs that need to be completely redone, hvac concerns, some foundation issues, etc.  I am fully capable of doing the entire rehab on my own, but I would probably hire the roof and hvac done.  

Now the issue.  The probate attorney thinks the property is worth 325k.  He's probably not wrong, because the 15 acre parcel has 3 splits on it in addition to the current house.  The house itself is straight out of the 50s, but in a cool way and I'd probably just restore it.  I would develop and build new on the 3 parcels.  A one acre parcel within 300 feet of that property sold for 55k. 

I know someone is going to come along and come close to that price tag, though I sure would like to pick it up for less.  

I'm looking for lease option, seller carry type deal structures that you think might work.  I have read a bit about lease options, but it's not my specialty.  

I offered 150k as is, but that was flatly denied.  With that I would have found a hard money loan to finish the work and then brrrrrd it out as a rental or lease option this summer.  Add in the uncertainty of the market this spring, depending on covid and I'm drawn to the forums for creativity.  With a purchase price of 325k, I could lose my shirt if the market tanks.

Thanks all for any thoughts you can provide!

Matt

Update on this post.  I have made contact with the probate representative on this property.  We have an offer in on the property. Fingers crossed, this could be a fun acquisition.  :)

@Dylan Tanaka I'd love to hear from you on the CPA recommendations.  

Crickets!   :)

Ahh well that's ok I'll figure this out.  

Hi community!

I'm starting my 4th rehab this year and I'm finally getting around to trying to figure out how to best use credit to do this.  So far I've paid cash for my rehabs, totaling about 70k.  Was listening to Rondi Lambeth's podcast and it got me to thinking that I should be using credit more as a tool.  

My next rehab is going to be about 50k and I'd like to maximize my points. Currently my only rewards card is an AMEX with a 3% cash back deal.  I started looking at Lowe's business account, but it's only 5% savings, no travel points that I can see.  I do like their bid room concept and also the $20 delivery option though.

Thoughts from the credit card savvy?  

Thanks all!

@Odie Ayaga it seemed to me that their terms were similar to everyone’s. Their web interface is clean and easy. I didn’t expect the underwriting issues that came up.

I have been buying with cash and rehabbing properties.  That is obviously a cash intensive strategy, so I looked into hard money.  I found what I thought would be a good solution.  I used Lending Home.  My rep was very positive and professional and the web interface is clean and easy to use.  

Here's what went wrong. Because I do my own work, my rehab costs basically just include materials. This was a red flag with underwriting, as the budget seemed low. They told me that if I wanted the loan to go through I had to increase my rehab budget. I increased the rehab budget and they came back and told me that the LTV wouldn't work because the rehab budget was too high.

Sigh.  This would have been a good win for them and myself.  Now of course I'm in a cash crunch.  I expected the loan to close this week but instead I'm scrambling for a solution.  

For those looking to use hard money, make sure you do your homework ahead of time and don't count your chickens until they hatch.  Lessons learned.....