All Forum Posts by: Chris Winterhalter

@Georges A.

I think it depends on how savvy you are as an investor. If you know what you are doing then I think it can potentially limit your success by using one dedicated buyers agent. I'm a big believer in relationships and from my single family investing career I stuck with one really great buyers agent for years and years. However the market was different (08-11) and a lot of deals were available to be picked up. I think if you build solid relationships with a lot of agents and build a strong reputation that you can work with a lot of different people on a non-exclusive basis. Having access to the MLS can help with scouting and comping deals though (so figure that in somewhere). I know of an investor that just calls sellers agents all day long looking for deals and has great success. It also depends on how much time you have...if you want to be the one scouting all available MLS deals then I think that can replace some of the responsibility of the buyers agent. If you don't have time then a great buyers agent can be worth their weight in gold.

If you are a rehabber a good plan can be promising the sellers agent the retail listing after rehab on any deals they bring you to buy. If you get connected with the right agents this can be a good strategy.

On commercial and larger multi-families I don't really see active investors giving any broker exclusivity.

@Brandon Turner

When we first started out we were buying and selling a lot of single families...I came across an old old lead through PropertyLeadsNow (which is now Zbuyer.com). I contacted that lead for over a year with continued follow up. The house was in St. Louis and was inherited by a daughter that lived in CA. She couldn't keep up with the back taxes and was three years behind with St. Louis County. I told her I would give her $200-300 and pay the back taxes. She finally went for it....so I ended up paying around 3k with closing costs and back taxes. It was a tiny little brick house around 800 sq/ft with an unfinished basement. We had to put around 17-18k into the property which mainly consisted of adding a bedroom (it was a 1/1), all new HVAC, plumbing, electrical panel, and cosmetic upgrades. We rented it for $565 and have had good success with it minus a few issues here and there.

@Victor Cuellar

Si se puede!

@Don Konipol

You may have been to a Guru seminar if...

The only correct answer to the question "Do you want to succeed is....

YES OR YES

@Albert Bui

It might be helpful if you posted a few of your tips on the thread. For example from my understanding it's important to have the following for conventional financing:

-Continuity of profession

-No declining income

-Two years of tax returns with solid income based on what you are purchasing.

-Seasoned cash reserves in personal accounts as business accounts will require much more due diligence from underwriting.

@Tou V

Is this your first deal? Where is it located?

Like @Ryan Swan points out we need more information about the building to make an assessment about the deal. I don't even like talking about expense rules until you can figure out if the area is solid and you have a sufficient amount of demand to keep the building filled. Building condition is huge....you need to properly assess the building condition with a good inspector and local contractors.

@Mike Bryant

He might not need to be licensed but that doesn't mean he doesn't need to be insured with a legitimate business. Get proper W-9 and insurance information before hiring unless you could get tagged for misclassifying an employee as a contractor. It doesn't matter what your contracts state in regards to insurance etc. Nothing replaces actual insurance. In regards to having a business he can be a sole proprietor and file under his social security number on the W-9 (In MO) without a legal entity however you need prove that he has a legitimate business. Does he have a business name? Letter head? Invoices with letter head? These things are important and Missouri will request proof from your business on an annual basis for anybody that you 1099.

*No legal or tax advice

@Jean Bolger

I doubt you will find anyone to underwrite a FHA 223 loan under 5MM. I am curious to see what you find out though. Even if they would the hoops you would have to jump through and the costs involved wouldn't make sense.

Your best bet is to find the right local/regional bank for the refinance. Being out of state crosses out a lot of local lenders but there are still some banks that will refinance the deal for the right out of state owner. US Bank also does small balance multi-family loans under 5MM in certain local markets. They have rates in the high 3's right now for 5 year fixed 25 year am loans. Good luck!

@Joel Owens

I definitely see the issue when purchasing however from a refinance standpoint it could work well in certain situations. The best part of the loan is the fully amortizing nature of it (in my opinion).

@J. Martin

I wish I could make it however I am unable to attend. Hopefully I can make it to the next one!