All Forum Posts by: Peter Kozlowski

You must be looking at a different MLS than I'm looking on, because my agent is telling me his other buyers are being outbid on properties by $30-$40K. One guy he told me made twelve offers on twelve separate properties and it kept happening to him.

Jason, I hear ya, but in my experience over the past year or so that price-to-rent ratio has taken a plunge for the worse. I was looking at houses physically back when I visited in November 2021 and the 1% rule just no longer applied. They're going for too much nowadays.

Just curious as to why you've selected St Louis? I live in Oakland myself, but If I didn't have family there, I'd invest somewhere with more growth, like Dallas or Jacksonville.

Chris, fellow Californian here. What swayed you away from St Louis?

Wish I could help you, but I've had nothing but bad luck trying to find good contractors, and many other investors are in the same boat. If I had a guy I'd send him your way, but I've never found anybody worth mentioning. Good luck!

Yeah. Don't buy in bad areas lol.

At the end of the day you get what you pay for. Kyle said it best. If you think you're going to get any rehab properties under $30K in anything resembling decent neighborhoods in St. Louis, I've got a bridge to sell you. You'd be lucky to get that in warzones in the city at this point. By the time you've come close to completing the rehab someone's gone and stolen all the copper wire inside the walls you just put up. Can't tell you how many times I've heard that one from people who thought it'd be a good idea to invest in 'up-and-coming' neighborhoods in the Lou.

Got any good contractors in St. Louis? If not, good luck in this market!

So I've been shopping around for best rates with several lenders (Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Citibank). 

I was talking to a loan officer at Bank of America, and he said he'd send me a fee sheet with his APR and closing costs etc., and that if I had any questions that he could answer them by phone.

But when I asked him if we could just keep it in writing by answering my questions by email, he refused, saying that it was against BofA regulations. 

The strange thing is, both Chase and Citi had no problem answering my questions about their fee sheets by email. 

What really rubs me the wrong way about all this is that I've been a loyal BofA account holder going on ten years, and it's none other than my own bank that is telling me this.

Is it me, or is there something fishy about their refusal to keep everything in writing?