All Forum Posts by: Tamara Elliott-Deering

I agree, in this market if you're looking for a consistent return your best bet is in lending money. You'll be in first position on the note so if the partner defaults you'll have the property to back it up. I'm sure there are many members (including myself) here on Bigger Pockets that would partner up with you and provide you the returns you are looking for. One piece of advice, ask for a package from the investor that includes summaries of their last 3 deals and a full pro forma on their proposed deal. That will go a long way towards weeding out the less than scrupulous or naive people in our market.

I'm in Texas and even though a lot of people will tell you that lease options and sub-to's will work in the state you are taking a huge risk. Make sure you know what you're getting into and what you can lose. Also, because of the peculiarities of the laws in our state I absolutely would use an attorney who specializes in real estate to write your contracts. You can find some at the REI investing club. If you can't afford an attorney to write your contract you probably don't have enough float to get through your deal so you should probably look at other strategies like:

partnering, wholesaling, jv deals or possibly buying into an owner finance deal if you can find one that doesn't require a lot of cash down.

Don't quit but don't do anything stupid either, it takes a long time to recover from a foreclosure or other legal action.

@Michael Clevenger

Remember that every day you hold the property it costs you money. So don't get so hung up on your asking price that you shoot yourself in the foot. Also, the longer the house is on the market the harder it will be to sell so you want to price it right up front. Please don't get burned because you are married to the number.

Welcome to Bigger Pockets.

I think flips are fun, but I might be crazy. Where are you in the process? Please keep us posted.

My favorite things about the mini splits

1. Units are wall mounted so they don't block the windows, and since cold air falls they are more efficient than window units as well

2. Depending on the system there are either no ducts or the ducts are much smaller than traditional a/c ducts so they are much easier to install in older homes

3. If you leave your baseboard heat in place the tenants will have their choice of the best heat that works for them as hot air rises and if you're feet feel warm then you feel warmer, but the heater in the mini split could be on as well if they needed more heat

4. You only turn them on in the rooms that you want to cool, thus saving on energy costs

My least favorite things about mini splits

1. They are much more expensive than window units

2. The wall mounted unit is fairly ugly

3. Most systems need to be professionally installed. I have heard there may be a diy system but I haven't seen it yet.

I don't think I helped any but I wanted to join the discussion

slab or pier and beam?

There will be others who reply with more specific information but it may be something to do with the lien position. There are lots of lenders and lots of financing types out there, I would hit the phone in your local area, call the bridge guys and the portfolio guys, even the hard money guys and see what they say. It's good to get to know them anyway.

I don't think you should waste your time. If an experienced investor offered her $63,000 and she wants $84,000 there is no way you can wholesale it. Check out the wholesaling calculator or the flipping calculator to verify but here are my quick numbers having not seen the property I came up with a repair price of $62,000 so your investor is probably spot on, for someone to pay cash for the property, flip it and still make a profit their maximum offer should be $65,600 so you would need to lock the property up for $65,000 - your wholesaling fee.

You really need to spend more time learning your numbers before you negotiate the deal. Find the free calculators out there and run numbers until they stick in your head.

Best of luck.

The way that I understand it, you are considered a first time home buyer if you have not occupied a house that you purchased in the last two years. Double check me by doing a quick google search, the FHA guidelines are easy to find and they have a great website.

I am unclear did the 2nd appraisal come from the same appraiser? I know you are frustrated but step back and breathe a second, the appraisers job is to protect the lender for the life of the loan so maybe the penalty is for a possible failure in the future? Next, have you considered that maybe, just maybe this isn't a good deal? You said your numbers were lean, now you're having appraisal issues, maybe someone is trying to protect you from yourself. Go back and take a really hard look at your numbers, put everything back in that you took out because you wanted the numbers to work (I've fudged my numbers on houses I really wanted and it came back to bite me), then see if it's still a good deal. I suggest this because in my experience as a realtor and an investor, I have never seen a low appraisal reversed on the same mortgage application. So if you're still passionate about this deal and you really feel like it makes sense you may have to line up different financing. I'm really sorry, hopefully someone closer to your market has better advice but those are my two cents.