All Forum Posts by: Rachel L.

@Stephen S. Thanks for the tip! I will also look and see about ARV for a 3BR/2BA

@Ann Bellamy I've gone down to the city's Building Department. They looked up the info and said the Assessor's Office has the house as a 6BR/1BA. A building inspector pulled the file and there were no permits for turning the attic into 2 bedrooms. The inspector said that since the house was built in 1921, there are really no codes for what is considered a bedroom and they use the codes from when the house was built. The inspector said that as long as they have a smoke+carbon dioxide alarm, windows that can open up to 20"x24" (in case of fire and for escape) and the average person can stand upright with ease, then the owners can consider the two rooms in the attic as two bedrooms. In this case, the bedrooms could be legal?

@Mike D'Arrigo This single family house would be the largest single family house on the street. That being said, the street is really the length of one block and most of the houses on the street are duplexes. How does that affect the value of a house?

I've done a little bit of research for a 4BR/1.5BA. I ran my numbers with the idea of not making a lot of layout changes. If I change out the kitchen, do some cosmetic work, add a half bath and make the basement stairs easier to go up/down, MAO comes out to right at $200K. (If I'm being optimistic, MAO would be at $220K). I think it's better to be conservative?

I'm still going to put in an offer (with much expectation of being laughed). Step two of the learning process! :D

Thanks everyone for the great advice!

I plan on going to the Building Department and put in a request to see if the permits are there for the bedrooms in the attic.

I'll update the thread on what out. Thanks again everyone!

@Ann Bellamy thanks for the advice! I will go look up the info just so that I can maximize this learning experience.

@Chan K. my goal for real estate investing is to buy & hold and use flipping as a way to purchase buy & hold properties.

@Mike D'Arrigo my thought was, would it be worth it to educate the seller and find a way to talk the price down to what single family houses are being sold for. Then, if the numbers worked, possibly flip the house and change it to something like a 3Br/2Ba. So far, the only good thing about the house is the location/proximity to things like transportation/school/shopping.

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone!

@Matthew Ferguson I remember reading somewhere that if you go FHA, when you get to 80% LTV, you can ask the bank to cancel PMI. Am I mistaken?

Hi BP community -

I'm new to real estate investing and this is the first house I have looked at to use to learn how to crunch the numbers. I would like advice on how to proceed, if this would be worth any further time.

This is a FSBO single family, 6 br, 1 bath. 1st floor is kitchen, living, dining. 2nd floor is 1 bath, 4 bedroom. Attic (finished) 2b bedroom. Unfinished basement. (The bedrooms are small though).

The owner had a print out from Vision Government Solutions, Inc. Has anyone heard of this company and if so, are their appraisal amounts accurate?

The appraisal from that company came out to roughly $270K and there aren't any 6 bedroom/1 bath single family houses in the neighborhood. There are some single family houses with roughly the same amount of living area and less bedrooms and 2 baths. Would those be considered comps close enough?

Also, the owner is asking for $540K (least she will take is $500K). She's basing this number off a duplex sold with 4 bedrooms/2 baths that's a few doors down and was recently sold. She said that she will list the house with an agent if the house she can't sell it herself. Would it be worth my time to educate the seller why comparing her house to a duplex isn't going to give her the right value for her house? Should I even try to put in an offer?

Any advice would be helpful! Thanks in advance!

@Lynn Migliori - welcome to BP!

@Paul Timmins - thanks for linking to the latest BP book. I'm new to real estate investing so I'm definitely downloading it to read.

@Eric Black - thanks for the clarification! This definitely helps and I didn't know that the taxes+insurance on the current house would be included in the debt to income ratio. Having that will definitely help with figuring out the numbers. Please pass along a thank to your wife for providing the info.

Hi BP community -

I am a beginner to real estate investing and my goal is to buy a multi-family (maybe 3 or 4 units) by the end of the year. My aim is to buy it via FHA loan and will probably be my first investment property.

My parents deeded the single family house that my family currently owns to my brother and I. My parents and I still live in the house and when I am able to buy/invest in something, I will move out and my parents will still live in the current home (I am not likely to sell the house unless my parents are willing to move out).

From my current understanding, FHA loan is, in general, for those looking to buy and live/own their own house. Since there is already a house in my name, am I able to still get a FHA loan? If I can get one, are there any "penalties" for currently having something in my name?

Any help clearing up this point would be much appreciated!

@Shaun Reilly and @Mike LaCava - Thanks for the info on the real estate groups in the area! I will definitely check out those groups you guys mentioned.