All Forum Posts by: Kevin Kaczmarek

put the purchase price at what you and the other party agree to. When you get to closing, you will just pro-rate the difference at your closing. Really no different than tax pro-rations, if you look at it that way.

get your feet wet by looking at the properties that are for rent on your local craigslist. Give the owner a call and see if they would be interested in selling their property. You are calling them at the point in time where their property is not cash flowing and most likely open to selling, and potentially at a good price. Don't just jump at the first deal, as you will find there are potentially quite a few owners that will be interested in selling, and you want to learn your market just as badly as you want to buy a property. This is how you buy right!

we also have found that the accuracy of zillow and realtor.com are so location specific that if you are not prepared with quality accurate, 3rd party data to support your price reasoning, you will lose the deal.
We recently sold a property to a California investor who pulled comps from zillow and realtor.com and wanted to back out of the deal when they thought the property was being sold for $5,000 above the highest comp, when in actuality, the property was being sold at $15,000 below the lowest comp. If we didn't get that chance to present the data, we would have lost the client and the deal.

Joe, shoot me a PM. I am local, and will give you an objective estimate of valuation. We do about 15 properties a month, and are very particular as to what areas we do and do not invest in. I will be tough on the estimate if the property is in Center Twp as most local investors try to push Center Twp properties to out of state investors.

my mistake, I wasn't thinking a sub-2 deal, I was just assuming a private mortgage note deal.

whatever a title company charges for a closing of a cash sale (say $300) along with the recording fees of the assignment, and the deed, and of course determining who pays for title insurance. It's a pretty in-expensive closing in my experience and very short closings at that.

have you solicited the services of a title company? My experience is they are the best to help with these things.

do you have a built buyer list for lots? Land is a different sale than SF homes, and usually involves a different buyers list. I would suggest making sure your builders list will warrant action on lots. I also would question the quick re-sale price. I am not saying you can't make between 50-500% on these two deals, but make sure you are pricing them to move over getting the best profit. If you move two deals in 30 days that produce $5K of profit, and you move 1 deal in 90 days that produces $10K of profit, what is the best use of your money, and the best value for your end buyer. Just my 2 cents.

Zak, knowledge is power. I would set out to become a subject matter expert in the market you are looking to make a jump into. Set a target date for you to get your first deal started, so you avoid analysis paralysis. I moved to a brand new market myself two years ago and for me to learn my market there was no substitute for talking to local market investors, business owners, non-real estate people, and the internet, along with some trial and error. In the end you walk away knowing more about the market than some locals who have lived their whole lives there, because you are asking the right questions.

I will tell you that in my opinion your offer gets much more consideration and taken with more seriousness if you do a purchase agreement without the lease/option route. I get about 20 lease option requests for every 1 purchase offer I get, and while I can appreciate people trying to make the offer on a lease/option route it just seems as though these offers are amateur to me. I only say this with a suggestion. Build rapport with the seller and learn their circumstance before you jump into asking about a lease/option sale. You will increase your likelihood for success by doing so.