All Forum Posts by: Patsy Waldron

The agent is afraid to ask the seller why s/he is selling in case s/he is put off??? That's the silliest thing I've heard all day! 

We all go through ups and downs. Days when we feel we will never make it, and days when we feel we can conquer the world! Just keep plugging away.

As Josh said, find a realtor to help you in your search. A well-connected one will know of leads before they are listed, and can get you a great deal. The one thing I would advise you to do differently than what Josh said above is to line up your financing BEFORE you start looking at deals. Go talk to a lender (or a few, until you find one that you feel comfortable with and who gives you a good loan package), figure out how much loan you qualify for, get a pre-approval letter, and THEN hit the pavement! When that amazing deal comes your way, you will be prepared to make an offer immediately and back it up with proof of funds, which makes your offer that much stronger, especially in a competitive market. Good luck! The deals are out there. :)

If it is listed through an agent, you would go about it the same way as with a regular hime, except that the seller would be the lender instead of an individual. I.e. you get yourself a buyer's agent, have them prepare and send an offer, and wait to hear back.

If the home is foreclosed but not listed, getting in touch with the foreclosure attorney may help you secure the house.

I've owned a house like that before. The previous owner installed a baseboard heater, which I turned to a medium setting (3 or 4 out of 7) throughout winter to prevent frozen pipes and other possible problems. It worked well, and the bonus was that the laundry room was toasty enough to dry light clothes on a rack!

Lots of private lenders make long-term loans on rental properties. Just off the top of my head: Lima One Capital has a program called Rental360; LendingOne has RentalOne; Marshall Reddick has a long-term loan program.... All of these are 30-year fixed-rate loan programs that rely on the performance of the property. Higher interest rates than traditional banks, higher fees, but similar down payment requirement (20-25%).  Less paperwork and hassle, too.

Oh, okay. So you bought both houses! And the "we got paid" confused me, too. So now you have TWO flips in the area?! Wow, you have a big appetite! 

Surprised the sellers (bank? On a holiday weekend?) accepted your offer so quickly, when they could have waited a day more and got more offers! But happy for you that you snagged the deal.

Looking forward to following the rehab.

It depends what kind of deals you are looking at doing.... Do you plan to flip, buy and hold, rent to own? Each of these would lead to a slightly different approach. Generally speaking, you can either (1) use your friends/family as the bank, I.e. use their money as a loan to be repaid over a certain period of time at a agreed-upon interest rate, or (2) use them as equity partners, where you split profits/cash flow according to each partner's stake. Each scenario has risks and opportunities for them and you. You need to figure out what you and they are comfortable with.

Plus- part of what makes up your credit score is the ratio of debt to available credit. If you close 3 of 4 cards, all of a sudden the balance you carry is a much bigger percentage of your available credit on the one card, and your score will plunge. As someone advised above, wait until after you get your close on your mortgage to make any drastic changes to your financial picture.

Good luck on this project! Brampton is a nice area, and from what I know and have been hearing about Toronto, I have no doubt that you'll hit your target sale price. Cute house, too.

I didn't quite understand what happened with the first house, though. It was on the public MLS, and you say you for paid $415,000 on Monday after a long weekend....?? Not clear what the sequence of events was there, or what the relationship was to this house??

A residential RE agent is not going to be much help if you are looking for properties above 4 units. You need to get in touch with a commercial broker. Look up Mauricio Rocha with Keller Williams- Greater Cleveland West. Work with him to establish what you are looking for in terms of size, neighborhood, price point, etc. He is good at finding the right deals for serious buyers.

Also second the suggestion about property management companies, which are very good sources of info about everything from owners to neighborhoods/tenant quality to rents.