All Forum Posts by: Sergey A. Petrov

Buy at $550k and give the seller an equity stake in the condo project. The percentage of the equity stake could be even more than $100k of the projected return since the seller would be assuming some risk on the overall success of the project

Quote from @Ashish Chadda:

Thanks, yes I reached out to redfin and they blocked me :) 

They didn’t block you. Your buyer profile on the app may have been deactivated for whatever reason. Use a telephone, email, USPS, FedEx, UPS, a personal courier, drive to the office and tell the receptionist you need to speak with a manager to file a complaint against one of their agents, check their website for dispute resolution procedures, use many other available channels of communication. They didn’t block you.

Buyer beware at auctions…read all the fine print and you’ll find more than enough language around that

Either a title company or an attorney can help you put the deal together. But…ask the seller to see the agreement they signed with the listing agent when it was on MLS. The chances are it says the seller will still owe commission even if sold after it goes off MLS for a period of time (6 months to a year is common)

Out of state for someone just getting into it will have a very steep learning curve and even then you’ll need more than $10k set aside. What happens when you can’t find a tenant for 2 months? The water heater breaks? The roof leaks? You have to file for eviction? Look for a property you can buy and owner occupy with the lowest possible downpayment. Get a roommate to help pay the mortgage and save more money. Once ready, buy another primary residence and rent the first one out (after satisfying the lender’s owner occupancy requirements)

It is not free money if you are paying 3.5% interest on it… a cash offer does give you an advantage but it is not always the winning offer (especially if you are low balling). there are other ways of structuring a “cash offer” as well especially if you plan on using additional equity in an existing property… look up bridge loans as one example 

Quote from @Ashish Chadda:

Well, my understanding is that redfin assign an exclusive agent to their app user. So, I used their service to go tour various homes. And I have seen many other during open houses as well. This one was an open house ..I liked it and submitted my offer in the redfin app. But their agent reviewed my offer and said he can't put offer to seller and suggested me to increase the offer amount. So basically my offer never reached to seller. And eventually the home was sold for 10k less 

If that is the entire story and there is nothing else to it, the agent violated all sorts of laws and you should most definitely file a complaint with the real estate commission, the attorney generals office and whatever other consumer protection agencies exist in your area. These may not put any dollars in your pocket but will certainly help weed out bad agents. Hiring an attorney and pursuing litigation is another option but will be expensive. Have you called Redfin’s management team? 

A hard money lender will most likely require an even higher downpayment especially if you are brand new to this and have no other investing experience 

Quote from @Ashish Chadda:

Quote from @Sergey A. Petrov:

Was Redfin the Seller? Sellers can do whatever they want with the offers they received. An agent, a Redfin agent or otherwise, brings the offer to the seller who then makes a decision. Plus, you likely don’t know the full details of that transaction- the purchase price may be lower but something else may have been much better than your offer 

 Thanks for your input. No, redfin was representing me as my buyer agent. I understand if seller declines the offer but in this case the buyer agent i.e. redfin refused to put forward my offer to seller 

Is Redfin your exclusive agent or are you working with other agents? I suspect they asked you why you are making an offer and how you found the place. You might have said this other agent showed it to me or told me about it but they don’t offer the rebate that you do so I want to submit an offer with Redfin 

I see no issues with using multiple different service providers. I buy milk at Fred Meyer and at Safeway and other stores. Neither gets offended and happily takes my money and welcomes me back when I need more milk.