All Forum Posts by: Sam Sagor

However, I do not know, or maybe I am not confident in purchasing a house not knowing what my exit is. <-- are you? You are wholesaling then you do not have to. You contract to sell their property you then assign that to an end buyer. They actually buy you make the spread. Probably this will only work with a cash buyer but it depends on the seller and their time frame.

Learn the market. I have a few open houses I will be attending this weekend to see what is out there and at what price. Is there any advice about things to look for at open houses, or any other ways to get to know the market? - No. This is not the only way. This is how to talk to a retail seller / representative. Find out why people buy in your market what they are looking for ... use everything at your disposal to do this. Ask investors at the clubs. Check craigslist, mls, talk to buyers and sellers absorb what they tell you. Do not believe their end without a grain of salt ... but learn.

One thing that would help - find somebody who does this intern yourself for free but obtain a smart way of learning the ropes.

When's the deadline? Depending on the time frame I can do this for Bigger Pockets. I could make some interesting designs for the back and front ... besides that we could make it a custom font and the logo option. Have anything in Mind Josh? Also suggest using a local company that does screenprinting better than cafe.

You should become familiar with what materials cost from a wholesaler / with a contractor discount at home depot. How do you get that - essentially you ask at the contractor desk when you have a big order give them the impression that you will be a repeat customer and you are doing rehab ... not just fixing a deck. It's up to 20% maybe more when you get a relationship going of being a repeat customer. Depends on your order and people skills, sheer luck. High mark up items seem to be easier to get higher percentage discounts on. This is so you can tell when somebody is telling you a price that just doesn't seem right.

I assume the following: you can't estimate on this alone because labor, differences in houses say a vaulted roof but maybe you can get a ballpark for your own uses. Then add labor for the hours you expect and that is going to be a hugely subjective number. I'd like to ask what other people are doing on that.

I am under the impression that most contractors will give you a bid free as a pitch to get the actual work. They want to be the one you turn around and use. I think it is generally advisable to get multiple quotes unless you have a fantastic contractor you really trust (and hopefully you can start using for all your deals). I would also like to know specifically when this could be achieved

a ) property on the MLS or through other lead
b) I have it under contract, Earnest is in place, etc
c) I actually closed on said property

I think it's a or b but am unsure if it's considered a higher service if it's one or the other (thus having a fee associated with it) would a cost and b mean a free quote?
I recently called 4 companies for dry wall quotes and they seemed unwilling to do so going on just square footage. I can understand that - but what is it going to take to have them get a look inside a property on the MLS?

It came up a while ago that there are free college classes available from places like Stanford and MIT. There are new ones coming out now in video format which until now had been a short coming with MIT (text and pdfs). Game theory is always fun.

http://www.class-central.com/

I also have found these to be an amazing (and free) experience :

http://oyc.yale.edu/

... and you can say you watch astrophysics on your lunch break. It's a great way to get familiar with subjects you know little about.

I'm going to say life lesson. Fairly is an ambiguous phrase. About as quantifiable as a pretty house. If it matters to you it might be a good idea to look up these numbers (how old is x) before entering a binding agreement. Also what is fair in your area? If all roofs in your area are typically older then this one may be relatively "new". It's your job to know these things or risk ending up with slightly older construction.

dictionary . com definition for fairly
1.
in a fair manner; justly or honestly; impartially.
2.
moderately; tolerably: a fairly heavy rain. <-- your problem
3.
properly; legitimately: a claim fairly made.
4.
clearly; distinctly: fairly seen.

It looks better. "They give to habitat for humanity" they can't say that if they sell it. They can now have an advertising campaign about BOA helping less fortunate in these hard times. If this is not an isolated event it could be for the PR purposes and you'll be seeing it posted, laminated and printed all over BOA branches.

Maybe this is why it didn't receive the fanfare they expected. "70% loan-to-value limit except for investors with more than 4 properties financed." 65% for over 4 properties up to 10. Conventional refinancing can get 80 % LTV after 6 months. This only works with cash. Seems like not all lenders do it. Could be why nobody is ecstatic about it. Personally I think this looks pretty interesting too. My question is it worth getting funds 6 months earlier if you are confined to leveraging 10% less of those funds.

Also there's closing costs. correct me if I'm wrong but can't you refinance with a HELOC in 6 months and avoid most closing costs? Banks around here do them from $500 to free to open the Line.

If they are ridiculously cheap you want to find out if zoning allows for actually building on the lots. Yes it's probable but gated communities are exactly where you run into stricter rules. Call the subdivision and ask, and I think you want to call city planning for asking about the zoning. Doing due diligence now will save your buyers headaches. For reputation purposes I'd make the phone calls.

Not sure about title insurance. It could become very important when these things have homes on them so it might be worth it. Maybe you'd want to charge more for these services depending the actual hours / fees you have to put into it. Can somebody else weigh in on this one?

If you have access to first time home owner loans you might consider FHA + multifamily as your first purchase. Just because you can get the other units (up to 4) with a property you can use for home base. As a bonus you could make sure this was where you wanted to do subsequent deals: I'm looking to jump into Texas so for me it would be near / in Austin. The downside is living there before going on to another part of the U.S but I think it's only a 1.5 year requirement.

Also read, read, read. You've come to the right place

P.S Have you noticed the thread on Wesse's new book? worth checking it out immediately

We have 45 year leaseholds it's true. Never thought of that. 2nd option probably won't happen due to doom and gloom attitudes of the undecided ... but that does seem like a better way. I'll make sure it's on the table. I'm going to ally with the investor aunt and see if we can stand up for ourselves together. She is afraid of of her sister, kind of the family mouse vs the queen B. This is going to be won by confidence and I think I've gathered enough to make the case. Thank you.

Rental vs. vacation doesn't matter that much but I'll make sure the legwork is done for vacation rental so the choice looks that much more appealing. Maybe I can find someone currently doing vacation rentals in hawaii for comparison.