All Forum Posts by: Monica Breckenridge

I like # 1 but I don't like using up my own money. I prefer using other people's money method. But I understand that deals are getting thin and people are doing more creative things so that is a good idea. What I have been doing on my thin deals is getting my hard money lender to partner with me. He doesn't charge me any money costs, at the end of the day we split the deal 50/50. I make less but it's better than a stick in the eye.

I also like #2. But I wouldn't have this as your only strategy. You should probably do half and half. Half of my deals are fix and flips and the other half if buy and hold. I am getting hard money loans to buy and fix up the property and then I am refinancing the property with a permanent 30 year fixed loan. I can only do 10 of these so I am utilizing partners as well.

I know that things have been getting tough lately. But I am still finding deals through short sales by creating equity by negotiating a reduced payoff with the bank. These are unlisted properties. I know you said you don't like rentals. I didn't like the idea of rentals when I first started. It wasn't until last year when I dove into buying up rentals. I now own 25. I was really scared at first but now I"m finding that it is actually a lot of fun and a lot easier then i expected. If you still don't like to deal with rentals, try to buy them still and use a property management company. I believe that rentals are the true way to wealth.

Sure there are lots of ways to invest in real estate. I haven't been hearing good things about commercial lately. Everything is vacant right now and it takes forever to re-lease a commercial space. Plus when something needs to be repaired, it costs a lot of money. Apartments might be a good thing to look into. But I don't have any insight to help you on that.

Hi Tyler, Congrats on your first post and diving in. I'm not in Salt Lake but the market is getting better all around the US. There are less good deals around so you have to find more creative ways to find good deals through marketing. The good news is our fix and flips are now selling higher and faster.

Scott Ficek I honestly didn't read through all the responses, but I have found some asset managers on LinkedIn. Some of them like to join the linkedIn Groups in real estate. Or you can do a search for them on linkedIn. I have found linkedIn to be a great resource.

Samantha M. In my MLS area we are allowed to put houses we have equitable title to on the MLS. Equitable title meaning you are under contract and can now try to sell the property. But like J said it will depend on the local MLS in your area if they will allow it.

Terrance Upsher Hi Terrance, I'm sorry that Bank of America foreclosed on your home. That is very unfortunate. They typically are one of the lenders that do want to help. It depends on what state you are in and the foreclosure laws. In Colorado once the house foreclosed it's done. We do have 8 business days after the foreclosure to rescind the sale but that needs to be done in a hustle. I have actually rescinded a few foreclosures before. But it takes a lot of work and effort on your part. You will need to get on the phone with the VP office at Bank of America. Here are some good numbers and emails:

Matt Vernon Short Sale and REO executive [REMOVED]

Lancia Herzog VP short sales [REMOVED]

Robert E. Hora
SVP; BUSINESS EXEC - OPERATIONS
EXECUTIVE

Email:[REMOVED]

Dominique Roy
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT III
BUSINESS SUPPORT

Phone: [REMOVED]

Email:[REMOVED]

Crystal marie Dingman
VP; MTG SERVICING UNIT MGR I
SIMI – ESCALATIONS

Email:[REMOVED]

Please don't take advantage of these numbers and emails. I only contact them in desperate situations which is usually only a few times a year. But in this case, Terrance, if you feel you didn't get all the help you can get, I would try here first.

I always do Criminal, Credit, employment and past resident check. You should always do Credit. If somebody is behind on all their bill and are currently behind you probably shouldn't rent to them. They could get their wages garnished for unpaid bills if they get judgements. A judgement can get slapped on at anytime when somebody isn't paying bills. I always do an eviction search as well. We will not rent to anybody with a prior eviction. I sometimes even go to their current house to see how they keep up the house before I rent to them. I especially do this if they have pets because i want to make sure their animals don't destroy my house.

in this market you can afford to be as strict as possible. There are so many people needing to rent. I often find my best tenants are the tenants I am doing a short sale with and they just had a temporary hardship and are now back on track but can't get caught up.

I'm going to say something that may be opposite than what's posted. I could go either way, but I had a friend who recently got a bad reputation so that is why I am changing my opinion.

I would say if you don't have the ability to close with your own funds or private or hard money funds, then you need to find the investor first. The reason why is if you don't close and you couldn't find the investor you will get a bad reputation among realtors and they won't even consider your offers. You also need to know whether your offers make sense to potential investors. I know that some wholesalers don't understand all the numbers. So if you can find a good investor and find out what numbers make sense to them, you can become their birddog/wholesaler.

On the other side if you find a good deal and are under contract, you can always find a buyer. They will come out of the woodwork's. But if you don't have a good deal, then you won't see investors lining up to buy the house. So evaluating the deal right the first time is key. If you are presenting bad deals to investors you could quickly be known as the wholesaler who fudges numbers. Investors who have cash will quickly not take you seriously and people talk and word spreads fast. If somebody see's you as a joke, people will spread the word. It's a tough business, but you want to start out right and build a good reputation. That is why I think you should start by getting the investors lined up and find out how to evaluate the deal for them. Each investors numbers are different.

I haven't had any problems with re-selling a property immediately, but I also do rehab the property and explain to the buyers lender that I bought the property on a distress sale. Always keep all documentation and receipts of all improvements in case there is an issue. We've had sometimes 2 appraisals ordered. You should pay for the 2nd appraisal for the buyer. If all this still doesn't work you can see if the buyers will find a new lender that doesn't have issues with the closing. Or you may just need to close after day 90.

I don't like to lease option my houses for short term , because if for some reason the buyers loan doesn't go through they now have lived in the property and may damage it. Plus you may have to go through an eviction if they don't get out and the sale doesn't go through. My husband and I prefer to just put the house back active if the first buyer can't pull it off. We've had too many bad experiences. Unfortunately it takes a bad experience sometimes to learn the ins and outs of this business. Thank goodness I've never lost money on a single deal. And Thank goodness for this site to learn from other people's experiences.

I'm not sure how the broker got $98k. Was that over a span of many many years, did they end up selling the and got a commission plus property management. For one deal that doesn't add up. Brokers get 10% each month for the monthly rent. It is a very lucrative business, but in order for it to be lucrative you need to have a good system implemented as well as realtors to be property managers. I have my whole property management business set up. the only thing we do is sign up the lease and chase the rent if it's not in on time. The rest of the system is set up for us with our employees and systems.