All Forum Posts by: Matt Turbitt

I'd encourage you to play around with some of the calculators on this site, they are great for flip estimating and calculating what you'd need in rent.  Also, I don't see in there where your accounting for the HM costs, those couple of points and 16%ish interest can be a big profit killer on something so tight. 

Also, the lending handbook (the national guidelines 99% of lenders follow) states a property needs to season for 12 months before ARV can be used, most (not all) will only offer you 70% on the 125k, please keep that in mind.

You may want to start talking exit strategy options with a local lender and start lining up one that can help you.

things to keep in mind are the agents have 0 say in any part of a hud deal, the asset managers call all the shots and realistically their computer program calls all the shots. Hud does not have rules on houses needing to go above list, that's probably the listing agent looking to drum up bids or speculate. Also, hud no longer appraises the house and uses that rate as the asking price. That was the practice for many years but stopped a few months ago. They found their was too much hassle and risk, an example of this is now, you have to get your own appraisal on an fha where you didn't before. They also essentially let the market have more of a say in the opening price rather then letting the appraisal do that.

Also when bidding on Huds, bid. Bid before every deadline. When it goes to daily bidding, bid everyday. It's shocking how many people don't do this. Whether you keep your bid constant or change it around is up to you but don't expect hud to come back to your bid from last week and counter. 

Also the 82% rule is the most common, try to stay above that if you can within the first 30- 45 days or so. My most recent hud I paid 96 on asking price of 116 as an example.

that's a tricky one and alot kind of depends on how long you plan on keeping it and on what amounts. You'll probably need to run the numbers once the bank gives you some rates. 

Normally the heloc is going to have a more favorable payment schedule up front and like you said you'll only use it when you need it. Downsides are it's normally 1% higher then conventional rates and is variable. Also they won't normally give you long terms on it so you'd need to pay it off sooner down the road or refinance anyway. I'd lean towards waiting 2 months and  refinancing.

You lived in it 2 of the past 5 tax years (assuming it was your primary at that time not seasonal), you don't have to pay any taxes on the income or use a 1031.

Your Realtor needs to go talk to his/him. Attempting to work out a resolution but also explaining to him that the contract he signed is binding and if he breaches it he will end up losing the house, and alot of the proceeds from the sale (court fees, damages, your housing during litigation, your moving costs)

or you could take that line of credit and extra payment your making and invest it in something with returns that are greater then 5%.

Assuming you have a level floor it's easy, the trickiest parts are installing where you have to make multiple cuts to a single board in different directions. Around doors, closets, odd angles in a room, hallways sometimes. If you install it correctly you don't need to add quarter round to the trim afterward but most people screw up the cuts and/or are lazy so that's the quick fix.

Forced air systems are efficient, 20yr old furnaces are not, start by switching to a new high efficiency system, while expensive it's fast and increases property value. Often in that area you can have an energy audit done for $100 or less where someone comes in with a thermal camera and shows all that places the heat (or ac) are escaping. That will give them a list of where they need to fix window seals, attic doors, door jams, etc.

like others have mentioned a floor scrapper is your starting point to see what you can break up. Then depending on if it's glue or mortar, sand it if it's glue or grind it if it's mortar. Of its glue Lowes will also carry large bottles of a solution that breaks down flooring adhesives.

Once that's done you technically are supposed to mix up some large batches of self leveler and pour it over the floor and let it level it out for you. But just sand down the high spots and you'll be fine.

personally I wouldn't weigh a 2006-08 bankruptcy as heavily as as a 10-13 bankruptcy. I'd lean toward this applicant though my only worry would be that they may not be likely to re-up next year.