All Forum Posts by: Bryan L.

I'm in TN too, and most buyers here are using "rural development" loans - and these do not require any seasoning. I don't think VA does either. On FHA I think it's 90 days. It will probably take you at least half of that to do a rehab anyway. Check with a local lender. Do you have Mortgage Investors Group (they are lenders in the first-time buyer market) in your area?

I live in a small town and the cost of living is much less, but I generally pay $10 - $15 per hour. And I have several guys that do good work and that I can trust, and they are all eager and thankful for the work. And these guys can do just about anything except lay carpet (and I do still need a sheet-rock guy). The carpet guys always want to do the work by the square foot or square yard. And based on the time that it takes them to do a job, it usually turns out to be much higher than 10-15 per hour. But it seems that they all get together and commonize on a per-yard rate.

You really need to be working with a buyer's agent. Especially since you are a newbie. No cost to you, so why wouldn't you do that?

First, get your own Realtor (preferably from another firm) to represent YOU. The listing agent represents the seller. It could be possible that the seller has instructed the listing agent to only show the property to cash buyers. If so, that is perfectly legit. If you still think that the agent is doing something shady, you could go speak to his broker. The next step after that would be the local board of Realtors (assuming that the agent is a Realtor). Another option is your state's Real Estate Commission.

We generally have a term for people like this. "Next". Move onto the next prospect, but leave them with your business card and ask them to please give you a call if their situation changes.

(Just my opinion), but be careful about this. I run into people on a regular basis that tell me that they would "love" to rehab and flip houses. In reality, what they would really "love" to do is to be an interior decorator. And they have gotten the two professions confused. If you go into flipping with the mindset of an upscale decorator, you may find yourself losing money instead of making it.

For whatever reason, it seems that women are more likely to fall into this trap. I can see it in their eyes and hear it in their voice when they tell me that they would "love" to flip houses. For the men, the trap that they tend to fall into is "doing the work themselves".

Now, can you make money by making houses "pretty" and "adorable"? And can you make money by doing the work yourself? Yes to both. But be careful. Stay focused on the numbers. Think of the house as an Excel spreadsheet instead of a canvas. Think of yourself as a spec-home builder instead of a custom home builder.

Before you ever make the offer, determine what needs to be done to bring the house up to the quality and design of similar homes in the neighborhood - maybe a little nicer. Then back-out your purchase price based on a conservative ARV of the neighborhood. Don't expect to sale a 150,000 house in a 150,000 neighborhood for 300,000 because you have added gold-plated fixtures, ivory countertops, etc. But hey, if you can get it cheap enough that you can install some gold-cover stuff and still list it for 149,000, then go ahead. But, the TV shows are not very much like real life in my opinion. At least not like my business.

Just my opinion that wholesalers add more value in finding deals that are not on the MLS. I would like to have a good wholesaler or bird-dog like that in my area.

I've bought 5 or 6 HUDs over the years, and also wondered about the value of wholesalers in this regard. I am a combination investor/Realtor (in that order). I mostly buy, fix, and sell retail. Why do I need a wholesaler to call me with a HUD deal, when I can log on myself and make an offer in about 10 minutes. I put an offer on one earlier this afternoon. Did a quick MLS search. Found a HUD that was back on the market cause some owner-occupant wasn't able to get their financing approved. Then I logged onto HUD and made the offer. Probably took less than 10 minutes. I will say that I have wholesaled a HUD before. But that wasn't my original intent. I bought one and closed on it with plans to rehab and list it at retail. Before I could get started on the rehab, a Realtor in my office asked if I would sell it as-is to her young o-o buyers. I did and made about 5K without touching it. But that is rare in my area.

I went thru all 13 pages that google returned. Only me and my little second cousin (he pops up for making the honor roll). Our last name first appeared in the US in the mid-1800s. Some of us think the name was "invented" about that time.

My situation is a little different from most. While there are probably thousands of David Beards in the world, there are only two Bryan Lynchards (and the other one is a child with no internet presence). Also, most rehabbers list their homes with a Realtor. My finished rehabs are often listed by me/myself (I am also a Realtor). And I have to include the term "owner/agent" in all advertising of the listing. I've already tested it out by googling my name and these forum posts come up very easily in a google search. It would do me no good at all to have the general public to be able to see the details of what I do. I already have to deal with the old crap of having potential buyers to tell me "there ain't no way I'm gonna give you $xx,xxx for this house cause Zillow says you only paid $xx,xxx for it". Been down that road many times already. And my renters don't need to know that I made $X on my last deal either. Plenty of reasons to keep details to myself. I'm speaking from experience. Been down the road already.