All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Heather,
Hard to come up with anything new to say, but I will say that you should not allow the guru or whoever you took your $16K course from, to upsell you on any additional services or mentoring. It would be natural for you to think that your were "protecting your investment" by buying more services, but I would advise against that. Now is the time to take action. Take a strategy like sub-tos, lease purchases or wholesaling and work on that at the same time as you complete the rehab. Pay off the credit card asap. Good luck! Mike

Very well put, Larry. Sounds like you may have been there yourself? I think we all have. Thanks, Mike

In my area there is a Craiglist category for trading houses. In this market people are being more creative. If one party wants or needs to sell, but can't, then they are advertising in the area they want to move to see if anyone wants to trade. Not a high percentage probability that you both would like each other's house, but always possible and worth a try since it's free advertising. Your best bet if you are not using a realtor is to try to sell creatively by owner - contract for deed, lease purchase, then you might get more buyers who are not just in the conventional arena. Also, there are several realtors who will list your house for reduced commission or a flat fee, which gets your home on the MLS as well. As Jon said, Realtor.com is a "national" service that has listings from all the local MLS services. If your Dad is willing to help you on that end, that could work. Good luck , and thank you for your service to our country! Mike

Brian,
I assume from your post that the house is not a factor in your divorce, and that it is all yours at this point? Sometimes ina divorce a person just wants to get away from the memories of a house that you were in with your ex-spouse, is that your situation? I understand if it is - I have been there.

If you sell as you have suggested, make sure you get a good price in return for offering those terms. Regardless of the appraised price, set your price higher, and get your monthly payment as high as the market will bear. You may be able to do better than you think, like $90-95K. Are you saying the first is $80K, or is that the total of both loans? Try to sset it up so that the buyer pays off both loans if possible. I think you have a good idea. You can rent somewhere, rebuild your personal life, and meanwhile get some good interest income, and save for your next home purchase.. Maybe the market will rebound in fived years as well. Good lyck! Mike

I would just say to be very careful about using the equity in your home. Make sure you don't risk everything. I have worked with alot of sellers lately (in this crappy market) who got Helocs, used their house as a debit card, :roll: and now are upside down because their home value went down 20%. Now they can' t sell and if there is an event in their lives that causes a loss in income they are in forclosure and can't get out. Don't let that happen to you! Good luck, Mike

Welcome!
I agree to take it slow and dont' chase any edals that don't make sense. Check out the creative financing forum, and start to get a feel for what strategies seem like a match for your personality. I wouldn't advertise too much how much cash you have to any realtors or other invesstors. I nstead go into the process by trying to send as little of your cash as possible. If you get an opportunity to pay cash for a property and achieve a huge discount, then you would be in a good position to take advantage of that. You can find REI clubs at:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investment-clubs.html

If I were you, I think I would do as you are doing, and spend several months reading the posts here, and some good books, adding to your education. Use a portion of your cash for quality marketing, then you are on your way. Good luck! Mike

Hey Debbie, Weklcome to BiggerPockets!
One thing you might consider is, as you said, selling on a lease option. You would be selling more as a "retail" lease purchase. Ask your renters if they would be interested in structuring a leae purchase where they give you an additional option fee (as much as you can get) and then set them up on a two year term. They pay you about $200 more than what their current rent is, and you would apply that amount toward the final purchase price if they end up exercising their option and buying it. You can get them in touch with a good creative mortgage broker, and start fixing their credit and gearing up for them getting their loan. If for some reason they don't end up exercising, you can start the process over with another couple. You can also do a search in this site for lease purchase deals and there is a creative financing forum that is very interesting and helpful. Good luck! Mike

Hey Curt, welcome to BiggerPockets!
Sounds interesting, could you explain briefly what you mean by Frational Ownership? I assume it is in the realm of coops, condos or timeshares? Excuse my lack of knowledge, maybe you can start some good discussions here. Thanks and good luck, Mike

Welcome Zak!

You can find REI clubs at:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investment-clubs.html

I think your experience and education is one of the best one could have when entering the REI business. You will be more apt to buy deals that don't drain you of maintenance and repair dollars if you know and understand the construction of a property. And you can communicate better with contractors and subs you use for the properties you rehab. Good luck! Mike

Hey SGT,
Welcome to BiggerPockets! And, thank you for your service to our country. :beer: Sound like you are well on your way in REI. What kind of investing have you done and want to do? Is Philly a good market in your opinion? Good luck, Mike