All Forum Posts by: Robert Wood

Welcome to Washington Greg. My wife and I moved here in January and love it. We live down in Olympia but get up to Seattle pretty regularly and are looking for a multi-family house hack somewhere between here and there. Always good to know others in the area!

Rob

Howdy!

My wife and I are looking to owner occupy and put 5% down on a duplex, triplex or Fourplex in the Tacoma area. Hopefully our DTI ratio allows us to put 5% down on a conventional. I would love to speak with someone who has already done their first multi-family (or owner occupied multi) or make contact with an investor friendly lender. We have 3 houses in Houston TX, two long-term and one short-term, and they all cash flow. Since WA state is expensive, we will probably need a lender that can cancel the debt of those mortgages (as they are all leased) and use the cash flow to bolster our income.

If you have house hacked multi or have lender recommendations please advise. Looking for any extra BP wisdom in this pursuit. Thanks for being the very best RE community on the planet!

Rob

@Jerel Ehlert

@Jerel Ehlert

@Jerel Ehlert @Steve Rozenberg @Greg H.

Thank you very much all who have responded! 

Here is the email (from my wife to prospective tenant) from January 30th stating that the moneys would be non-refundable as a deposit and used as security deposit if she did go through with her end of the bargain and move in March 1st. She delayed until February 8th and we were going to re-list the property when she decided to send the money. She sent in $500 dollar increments 3x. Why else would she send the money unless she understood what it was for? Then she changed over our electric and water and when she decided not to move back in we had a heck of a time getting it changed back over. The damages are that we did not receive any money after her very clear verbal agreement and her actions were to move into the house including hiring a moving truck and terminating her current lease. We did not get a tenant for the house until March 26th 2019, essentially two months later. ESSENTIALLY, my question is this, if someone sends money before she decides to sign anything, having been fully informed that it is non-refundable should she decide NOT to move-in, why can she come back at me for thousands of dollars? I will meet with a few lawyers Monday but would love to speak with your friend @Steve Rozenberg and would like to know if it changes anyone's opinion that she had full knowledge that this was a non-refundable deposit to hold the property for her delayed move in. 

Here is her notification that she would not be moving in or signing the lease.. 

@Caleb Heimsoth I suppose that was an exciting comment for you to make but not super helpful on this end. When you have a kid in the NICU for weeks while going back and forth to Washington to take a job so you can go down to one income so that wife can stay home with unwell child HMU. I just want out of the rat race someday and knew I wouldn't get it perfect the first try. 

Thank you all who have been helpful!

Hello Bigger Pockets!

My wife and I are looking for a bit of legal advice. We recently moved to the Seattle area from Texas with our 2 month old daughter, leaving behind three rental properties, two long-term and one Airbnb. During the move in Nov./Dec. we started showing our primary residence to a lady whose story kept changing. In the beginning it was just her and daughter moving in. Then it was her and ex-husband (interesting situation). Then her + more children + pitbull. We wanted everyone moving in to be documented, as well as a standard deposit fee for the animal but she kept asking we change the contract in different ways and would not sign it after having agreed verbally and via email to move in and pay security deposit. This is after we told her we could take the house off of the market and hold the house for her an extra month (she couldn't move in right away). Normally, we wouldn't have dealt with such a sketchy situation except for it was the dead of winter and we weren't getting many showings or applications. We are a young couple (early 30s), have mortgages on every property, and don't have the capital to let houses sit empty for months and her initial pitch as a single mom with one child was preferable to us.

Eventually, even though we use a standard lease agreement, the lady didn't want to sign the contract and we mutually decided to go our separate ways a couple days before the move in date. This is after weeks of having it off the market and a month letting it sit empty waiting for her. We felt totally jerked around from November of last year (2018) to March of this year and got screwed in the end but were fine to be done with her as more and more unsavory things were uncovered. Of course, she immediately wanted her security deposit back even after we informed her that it was to hold the property for her and she sent the money in understanding of this. After reminding her of this, she said she hadn't signed anything agreeing to have the security deposit with held if she didn't move in and that after 30 days she would file suit. We were certain she was bluffing and wouldn't get a lawyer involved for $1500 especially after she had agreed to pay the security deposit and sent the money of her own accord. We did not feel it fair to give her the money back as it cost us the monthly mortgage payment and having it off of the market, unable to get another prospective tenant.

Today, we received a letter from attornerys at law in Texas telling us to immediately pay three times the amount according to Sec. 92.109. in the next ten days or be subject to higher costs and penalties as we are deemed "bad faith" landlords. It also states that if it were to go to court, we would have to pay HER attorney fees of $10,000+ lien on the house etc. A fellow RE investor/friend still doesn't believe she has a case and reminded me that these letters are free to people to send and that folks can sue anything and anyone, it doesn't necessarily mean they have a case. We still have all of our correspondences but don't know the law well enough to know if she has a case or not. Any advice from someone who knows the law (especially TX RE law) or who has been sued in like kind would be very happily welcomed! This has already been an expensive lesson learned from us, just don't want it to get more expensive. SO GLAD we have a community like this one to get advice from other seasoned investors! 

Robert Wood

@Kristy Farmer same!

Howdy! My wife and I are looking to try our hand at the BRRR tactic on a distressed property in Waco, TX. After listening to Podcast 233 (with Arianne Lenore) I am increasingly interested in the Delayed Financing strategy and really just holding on to our capital in the effort to do more deals per year. Anyone out there have any advice or experience in this arena? Any other investors have a specific recommendation for company/lender to use? Thanks for any help or wisdom! :) -Robert

My wife and I are young-ish investors in our late twenties. We have purchased two by and hold deals but are looking to branch out into a wider variety of real estate investing. Personally, I just love houses and all types of real estate and would love to be full-time someday. We really love the encouragement and support of the real estate investor community and are happy to be a part of this!