All Forum Posts by: David Begley

@Chris Farrugia  100% subbed out.  I apologize if my follow-up statement or question has been addressed, but I'm now very curious regarding those that have stated they do 100% of their own renovation or even 50%.  In Atlanta, one must have a general contractor or residential contractors license in order to obtain a building permit; an electrical contractors license for an electrical Permit; plumbing license for ....; you get the picture.  You even have to obtain an Arborist Permit if you want to cut a tree.  If you can't provide your license in good standing, no Permit.  Generally speaking, no Permit, no final Inspection, and no electricity.  How the hell is everyone "doing their own work" or are other jurisdictions not as strict on the quality of work or contractors doing the work;  or are folks just not getting Permits?  And without Permits, how can you sell the house?  

 The flipping Vegas guy sends me into a rage!  At least his wife is... oh never mind!  I don't mind the gurus/snake oil salesman nearly as much as I detest the aftermath of those seminars in Atlanta.  They'll draw tens of thousands of people over a few weeks and invariably a few weeks after that I'll start getting emails and phone calls from newbie wholesalers with ridiculous offers of abandoned houses, pie-in-the-sky ARVs, along with extremely low rehab estimates.  (For some reason, Texas seems to produce more than their share of these "wholesalers" too.)  After they get disillusioned, many show up on BP and hopefully are de-programmed!   We've all seen them - "Hi, I'm X from Atlanta, a newbie Investor, can someone please point me to the link that will take me to the list of cash investors?"   lol  Very entertaining thread!  

@Anna Watkins @Peter Skobic  For east, west and south Atlanta, the neighborhood's public school ratings on Zillow tells me more about the neighborhood overall desirability than anything else.  

@Peter Skobic If you have access to the Georgia FMLS, you will also have access to public records and "Realist" which will provide ownership and conveyance information for all neighbors around the subject property.

 @Anna Watkins I don't know the distinction you are making between rentals and investor owned.  If it is being used as a rental, by definition isn't it investor owned?

Anyway, I would think a rehab to sell would be more difficult to market to an owner/occupant if all rentals on the street.  However, if you are rehabbing to rent, it wouldn't really matter. 

@Crystal Smith Analyzing Block to block or neighborhood crime statistics is pretty much meaningless in the areas of Atlanta Petar mentioned.  It is not uncommon to have a $400K to $600K house in a "transition" neighborhood and go through a 4-way stop and hit a section of abandoned, boarded up crack houses.  

@Jim Farrell And if you can match the 1.0% origination, 10% rate for 9 months and a 75% LTV, you can also place with me! Let me know.

db

I pay my private lender 2 & 12 for 9 months, with no LTV requirements. Each deal evaluated on its own merits. After I successfully repay the two outstanding deals, he will evaluate to underwrite at 1 & 10 for my next deal. Since I no longer have a W-2, I consider that better than the banks!

As a prior banker, it would gall me to no end to pay 5 pts and 15% with another 5 pts if I had to renew.  Ouch!  (It would also make me wonder the creditworthiness of  someone that would have to borrow at those rates, but that is just learned bias!)

@Nikki Robinson  Welcome to you Nikki, and good luck on your endeavors!  You've found a wonderful community to bounce ideas off.

@Steve Rozenberg   I'll make you feel better Steve.  I acquired a tax deed foreclosure property which was vacant for at least a year while slowly proceeding through the foreclosure process.  To make a long, ugly story short, the vandals not only kicked dozens of holes in the walls but cut the wires at the junction box in the garage, tied one end of the wiring somehow to a car hitch to pull the copper out!  Needless to say the HVAC and other systems were also hosed.   To add insult to injury, when we were close to completion, someone shot a high powered rifle through the new front door which ricocheted through walls before eventually hitting close to where the junction box was.  The bullet nicked a wire somewhere causing a couple of previously working lights and outlets to not work leading to  having to cut and repair drywall to find the problem which led to 4-5 return inspections from the electrical inspector before he would okay the power being turned back on! 

Lesson learned the hard way on flipping in da Hood!

I currently own a "fractional interest" in a beachfront condo in Cabo San Lucas that we use 1-2 weeks out of the year. My family and I fell in love with Cabo and I am now considering buying a condo/house in Cabo to be used as an investment/rental property. Several real estate brokers will actually take the "fractional interest" (much like a timeshare, but not as restrictive) as deposit toward one of their properties.

I'd like to know if any BP investors have any experience in Cabo and can give me some insight. Properties there seem to be very reasonably priced, unless there is some "gotcha" I'm not aware.

Thanks!  

I currently own a "fractional interest" in a beachfront condo in Cabo San Lucas that we use 1-2 weeks out of the year.  My family and I fell in love with Cabo and I am now considering buying a condo/house in Cabo to be used as an investment/rental property.  Several real estate brokers will actually take the "fractional interest" (much like a timeshare, but not as restrictive) as deposit toward one of their properties.

I'd like to know if any BP investors have any experience in Cabo and can give me some insight.  Properties there seem to be very reasonably priced, unless there is some "gotcha" I'm not aware.  

Thanks!