All Forum Posts by: Amber Gonion

@Steve Sorensen yes, typically on the seller financing you would need to have a down payment large enough to cover the sellers costs (closing costs, and 5-6% for the listing agent who would pay the buyers agent as noted in the listing contract) and give them a cushion. Your agent should be explaining these options and other options.

@William Wright using Home Depot we get a 22% discount on paint using different programs. We do property management/acquisitions for clients and do rehabs for both so we spend a bunch. We also get cash back, 11% matching discounts and others.

So if you do little volume yes the contractor will have a better rate.

@Sean Abrahamsen we have considered asking for a retainer.

But do not. We do a lot of business in our area and have a lot of people contact us some are serious and some are just tire kickers.

Our reputation in the community is strong enough that we obviously are not hurting for investors, it would be nice to be able to separate the tire kickers from the legit buyers. We haven’t moved to that model yet because we generally will ask them go on a few showings to see if they are serious, if they don’t we don’t waste anymore time with them.

With oos it much more difficult.

We notice every few months there must be a boot camp going on where they tell the investors to network with multiple agents in the area and have them all looking for you. We can spot them pretty quickly and dismiss them.

We don’t require contracts, but also won’t waste our time with a client that is just using us. If I had a retainer it would make things easier. I spend $300 in the first two weeks looking at properties for clients.

The way I look at it if we are bad agents then you should have done your homework (if you are not an established agent how many deposits would you get anyway), if not I will always earn the $300 and save you a lot more than that.

@James Faillettaz if you are looking for portfolio loans we use Bridgewater, Sunrise, and Drake bank.

@Fred Roth we use Metro Heating also @Paul Reiland is great to work with.

@Adrienne Harrison we charge $75/month 1/2 month for placement for 1-year lease.

Most companies will warranty tenant placement.

@Nick Zito @Nick Zito with under 4 units it depends on the listing agent. If I know it is a high volume listing agent I will call the agent before wasting any time. With large apartment buildings there are very few major players and putting out low ball offers will ruin your reputation as a serious broker.

Clients need to understand you are not going to be able to get free equity from a seasoned owner.

For simple sfh and such I have no problem with low ball offers, I will explain the risks to my client ahead of time.

@Mo Muigai you have a bunch of directions to go. Most investors make the mistake of never getting into the game. Sure sometimes things can be slow to start, but in 5 years, 10 years, very few are sorry they jumped in.

@Bruce Runn we see the expenses and cost affiliated with regulatory process as risky. We have been urging caution on long term investment mpls for two years now due to the city council actions such as the background check limitations, TISH requirement for holes to be drilled to check for insulation, and section 8 requirements.

We are not saying don’t invest in mpls, just understand the monetary risks compared to other cities. The fact is, we don’t know what the city will come up with next so we call it risky. We find some great opportunities in mpls, but our investors are going in with eyes wide open.

@Steven Picker while this may help some landlords in the short term, long term mpls is still a risky area to be investing in. This goes into effect on Jan 1st, but they have been letting things slide for a while. We just had an inspection and they acknowledged a non-confirming 3rd unit and did the inspection. They seem to find a ton of discretionary violations on the non-conforming units, but pass them.

It is already difficult to park on-street in many areas, this will only make it worse, but maybe millennials not owning cars will even it out.