Mouse Bandit's Journal

You sure jumped in there pretty fast.
Keep us posted.

You are on the move. I love the aggressive moves being applied but stil tactical in your approach. I like to hear stories like that. Food the mind. Great motivation. Keep going HARD and definitely keep the updates coming in. Don't forget about us.
Kingjuss,

OKay, reading through the Student Success Strategies now, and trying to nail down what Greg is doing. I'll look around on here for his posts to get some clarity, but real quick, does anyone know -

1) is he just using a "lease to own" or "lease with an option to buy" deal with the sellers, and the deed and original mortgage stay in the seller's name unti the end buyer gets a new mortgage 12-24 months down the road?

2) If he is getting a deed (a warranty deed, right) signed over by the seller, is the seller taking a note back for their profit (the amount they're going to walk away with after the original mortgage is paid), or are these all pre-forclosure, "just get me out of it" deals? If the seller is taking a note, that note is for the same 12-24 months that Greg is allowing to the end-buyer, right? If that's the case, what happens if Greg's end buyer doesn't get a mortgage- does he renegotiate with the seller for more time on the note, or does he arrange his own financing at that point, or does this just not happen to him?

3) When he gets the deed, is this doing a contract "subject to"? If so, do the title companies and/or lawyers freak out about it? If the original mortgage holder finds out, they can call the whole note due, right? But do they not care as long as payments keep coming in? (Yes, I know there's a ton of info on here about subject to, and I fully intend to read up on it! I'm just so busy trying to make a deal happen to get some capital!!)

I think those are my questions from what I've read so far.

THANKS!!
Tracey

keep it up.....it's just a matter of time until your dreams become reality.

Holy moly!!! One of these portland (oregon) investors is interested in the triplex down in medford (400 miles away). We've been emailing back and forth today - I think this may fly!!

I thought we were going to just have to let these go, because the seller had a cash offer on the table, and I didn't want her to blow that off when I didn't really have a single lead down there on a buyer.

But she rejected that offer, and now one of the investors up here is considering it. We've gone back and forth about 6 times in the last 2 hours.

If he will commit, and she will take a small note back until he refinances, I think I'm going to do my first assignment!!

It will be so awesome, not just because we could REALLY, REALLY use that $5k for the closing and rehab on the apartments, and not just because I would get to join the academy (oh but that is a big part of it!!!), but just to say - I DID MY FIRST DEAL!! I CAN DO ASSIGNMENTS!!

That's what I want!! Then I KNOW I can do it and then I think the floodgates will open up and I'll just do more and more!

I am literally sitting here hitting the send/receive button on me email over and over, and chewing my fingernails off, LOL!

Wish me luck everyone - think happy, assigning, closing thoughts for me!!

Tracey

Thanks for posting. It is great to hear the hard work is paying off. Also, I love the fact that we have a place to get advice and help each other out.

Keep it up, I can't wait to hear more about your success. Keep us updates. That is so great in December you didn't even want to bother with real estate and look at you now! Awesome job!

I just posted the world's longest post to update and my dang computer lost it!!! Going to bed now - it's nearly midnight. I will try again in the morning!! ARGH!!! (I did good today, though, I'll tell you that much!)

Tracey

Great work and keep us updated on the progress.

Okay, I sat down last night really late and updated everything I did over the weekend on yesterday, and then of course I lost it all when I went to post (my comp, not the site's fault). ARGH! But whatever.

So, to re-cap, I've set up a lunch meeting with one realtor up here, and he's supposed to bring an HML to meet me. The realtor seemed a little like a pain, he wanted to talk to my mtg broker to confirm that I was for real, and had the $$ to pull these deals off. Anyway, all seems fine now (I'm still broke, but he's on board with the HML plans). That will be tomorrow at 1pm and my son (18yo) will babysit the baby so I can appear somewhat professional, LOL!

I've also got another realtor up here I'm working with and so far she is incredible. She keeps sending me listings, comps, hotsheets, etc. She's fast to respond, and has reiterated that she will submit any offer I want, she isn't worried about how low it is, or how many we do. She is golden! I'm going to take HER to lunch next week to meet her and show my appreciation!

I spent about 4 hours yesterday morning finalizing all the spreadsheets and lists for the apartment rehab. Project sheets, who's responsible for which projects, the materials shopping list, the overall budget, the time line (what gets done first, then what next) - all of it. It's all done now except for a few little details that Jeff (my hubby) has to fill in on dimensions or amounts or prices.

I got on the contractor yesterday and sent him the last of the paperwork / contracts for him to sign, and filled out one of his client referral forms (we have used him in the past). TOday I got all that back and sent it into the mtg broker. We're still waiting on copies of the bond and insurance, but the broker isn't saying he has to have that, so I'm not too worried about it.

Yesterday afternoon Justin (my teenager) and I and the baby drove around to look at 7 houses that the RE agent had sent me listings for. They're all short sales or REO's, and we got through 6 of them before baby had a meltdown. Took pictures, made notes - I got a little 5x7 notebook and gave one page for each listing and put specs on there, comps, zillow info, impressions from looking at them etc. We'll see how that system works. Anyway, 3 of the ones we looked at and the 1 we didn't get to I'll go through the inside with the RE agent on Thursday.

I also called the city hall back home (where the apartments are) and talked them into letting us just pay the flat rate for 1 apartment's usage (instead of 4 apartments) during the 6-week rehab period. All we'll be doing is using the toilet occasionally and then refilling hot water heaters and toilet tanks. Anyway, they were surprisingly haggish about it, but finally agreed. We'll have to pay the $125 deposit and sign stuff before they'll turn them on, though.

I also got ahold of the bank down there, and they're mailing us the paperwork to open a second checking account for the apartments. That way it can be ready to go to receive the draw money into and we can keep everything separate. Our little hometown bank doesn't have saturday hours, so this was the only way to get that done without taking a day off work.

I also picked the insurance company for the apartments - we went with Allstate. They seemed to be on it, and had a policy that looked like exactly what we needed. The other guys were giving us a typical homeowners policy with a business owners policy attached, which isn't exactly right. Allstate had a landlords policy that allowed for us to occupy some, but not all, of the premises, and covered everything under the sun. Plus, you can have 1 claim every 5 years with no rate hike (no matter how big the claim) and you have guaranteed renewal, no matter how many claims you file. So, Allstate it is.

Still waiting to get a firm date on signing, and make sure we can sign up here. It will seriously jam things up if we have to go down to sign and then wait 2 days for funding. Jeff will lose way too much time from work, so it will just have to work out the other way, LOL!

We have officially dropped the triplex down south. After spending all day going over the numbers with the investor, he showed me that I was leaving the HML or conv. lender fees and a few months holding costs out of my equations, and that made about a $10k difference. So, his offer was that much lower than what ours was, and seller just wouldn't go for it. So, it's been dropped. We'll keep looking for more buy and holds down there, but probably nto until I get down there to supervise the rehab and can go look at them and deal with them myself. I'm just feeling really scattered trying to do all these different deals at the same time!

Jeff's been talking to his crew at work (he's a construction foreman) and one of them has cash saved up and is ready to buy a home. He said if we can find him one in his town that he likes, and line it up, he will pay us a $5k assignment fee! Woo hoo! I'm going to be all over that tonight!

Well, I think that's been my day yesterday and today. Today has been mostly going over more listings and comps from the agent, and dealing with family stuff and household stuff. I'll get some more work in tonight on the assignment deal for hubby's buddy.

Tracey

What a day. Busy. I like it. Would you happen to know if coastal funding is hard money lender? I have been told that they are not. I am confused. Help ME.
Kingjuss,

I love how focused you are, and thorough. Thank you for sharing all the details and steps you are taking. And congratulations on all your deals in-the-works!

I am looking forward to reading your journal updates.

Rina

Coastal Funding is a HML, but they only do "flash funding" - that is they'll fund you for a double-closing - they get the money back same day. You can check out their website, and they explain it pretty good, plus they're really nice and will answer any questions you have via email.

Tracey

Thanks Tracey. Have you done a transaction with them before? If so and how did it go, and obviously you had your end buyer lined up? Correct? Let me know. Tracey....
Kingjuss,

Kingjuss - no, I haven't used Coastal yet - I've read about them on here, been through their website, and emailed someone over there with a few questions.

Okay, so for my update. The most recent and disturbing update is that the lender for our apartments - my little goldmine - has rejected the flipping appraisal ($850 later, thank you very much). They say the comps are too old, and well, yeah they are - but that's life in a little town with a stagnant market and hardly any comp properties to begin with. Our little town (a bustling community with 2 whole stoplights and 30 miles from the nearest larger town) has only a handful (like less than 10) apartments - there's 2 big "complexes" with like 12-20 units - one of those is for seniors and the other is HUD housing (like section . Then there's *our* 4-unit complex and 2 other sets of 4-plex's, plus about 4 sets of duplex's. That's it. And nothing ever sells - they're never empty, why would anyone want to sell them, LOL!

So, the comps the appraiser pulled were mostly from 2006, and he even included the prior sale of our apartments as a comp for themselves. There were a couple of more recent comps from the city 30 miles away, but that's weird, too, since stuff over there is simply worth way more than in our little town.

So, anyway, my RE agent and I are trying to find some stupid comps from 2008 or even 07 and send them up to the mortgage broker and he will show them to the appraiser and try to get him to include them. I don't know why the appraiser is being so rigid, but between him and the lender I feel the pooch coming on, if you kwim!! ARGH!! We were heading down tomorrow to do final measurements and take the materials list into home depot!!!

So - things are on hold til at least tomorrow there. I will be way freaked out if this lender bails on us at this point.

On the northern front, I went today and looked inside 4 of the places we drove by the other day. One of them could be worth a bundle, but it would have to have the whole roof ripped off and the entire inside gutted, then re-laid out and done properly. Plus all new siding, mostly new windows, maybe a little expansion, and some landscaping. Not cheap.

Another one would need the upstairs gutted and re-laid out and moved down from a 4/1 to a 3/2 then add in a b/r downstairs, too. Could be done though, and could be gotten cheap enough to make it worthwhile if you were into it.

The other two just need to have all the previous owner's belongings hauled off, some paint, and maybe carpet in 1 of them, and then they're ready to go. They're both vacated short sales. They've got me intrigued.

I'm just feeling beat. I am so close that it's like I can taste blood, but I can't seem to make anything happen. I haven't made any offers up here - I am just freaking out over the thought of offering like 55-60% BELOW fmv - so that I can make a little, cover the HML fees, and still be able to offer to my buyers at 50% below. That just seems impossible.

Oh, I also met with the high powered RE Agent yesterday for lunch. VERY informative, I will post more on that in the morning.

I am trying to work out a partner deal with someone from here who has a buyer (we think, LOL - not sure if buyer is legit) so I need to address that, then hubby wants me to take the night off and veg with him in front of the TV. We ordered pizza and I think I'm heading that way, LOL!

More in the morning!

Encouragement and tips welcome! I want those apts so bad - we're gonna cashflow (AFTER expenses) like $1600/mo on them and this is making me nuts!!!!

Tracey

I bet your husband loves you. You are aggressive in approach. Very determined. You always seem to have a good attitude. Good work lady. Juss don't give up. Something good is coming your way. Believe that. Appreciate the update.
Kingjuss,

Hey everyone. Well, I'm sad to say I'm going to lose my deal maker thingy in my name box next to my posts. The apartment deal, my sweet little cash cow in our home town, is dead as a doornail.

The first lender couldn't pull off the FHA loan because there weren't recent enough comps. Shouldn't have been a big surprise, seeing as there's only a few apartment buildings in our little 2-stop-light town, and it's not like they trade hands every year or anything, but that's what's killing the deal. We had two other methods of valuation (one being the income method - which I think should carry some weight in a multi-family rental unit, and the other replacement value), but the lender declined to even consider those, and said that there's just no way to determine the value of this property, and that furthermore, they don't want an unusual property in a way-out location, but a cookie-cutter property in a more populated area. Hmm, could have mentioned that a little sooner than 5 days to signing, on a 60-day close, ya think?!

So, we're out $2500 on our expenses for this, and that doesn't include the trips we took back home or anything like that. $1050 for the inspection, $450 for the appraisal (mtg broker is paying $350 on top of that because he quoted us the $450 cost), and $1000 we paid in advance to the contractor to help him get is license and bond and insurance squared away, because he was going to be so flexible for us on this job.

The gift downpayment is going back, and we are in the hole some now. It is discouraging, to say the least.

Oh, and did I mention that my 18 year old son moved out on Sunday? I thought he was just going back home for a spring break visit, but apparently I only heard what I wanted to hear these last few weeks, and he is GONE. I figured this out about 3 hours before we took him to the bus station. Yeah, I had a nice weekend, LOL!

However, as always, there are silver linings. Hubby is going to ask his brother if we can use some of the money we were going to give them back to start up my membership with the success academy. That would help a ton. I am just so flippin' close to making things happen on all these different fronts, I can taste it. I know that if I had a little direction and mentoring, things would start breaking out left and right. Hubby sees it too, that's why he's willing to do this.

And, hubby is fully in on doing the flipper up here, and so is his brother. So, no conflict over whether or not there would have been enough cash and how to structure the loans to do both deals.

And, who knows. Maybe no cash buyers will come up for the apartments in the next couple of months, and maybe they'll still be there after we flip this one, and we can do the deal properly funded, and not be eating beans and borrowing last minute funds left and right. THAT would a HUGE blessing!

So, I"m still pursuing properties up here for assignments and this one for the flip. Jeff (hubby) and I drove around on Saturday and looked at a couple, I was going to go yesterday but the kiddo accidently took my keys back home with him, so I was car-less until hubby got home last night. I will go up today and go through one that we (hopefully) have a buyer for - I'm partnering up with Wealth2009 from these boards, and he's got a buyer (we think!). I FINALLY got the listing agent to call me back on another one that I think would be a good assignment property (been trying to reach her for a week now!), and Thursday morning she'll meet me up there.

There's a bunch more that I will drive by, probably today, and check out the exterior, and the neighborhoods. I'm putting concerted effort into learning Portland, which is really hard for me because I'm from such a rural, middle-of-nowhere place and have lived there all my life. I don't like cities, LOL, and here I am stuck dealing with one of the biggest ones on the west coast! But, at least it's got a great RE market, LOL! We bought 3 different portland city streets maps, 2 of them laminated, which will help me use them while I"m driving. That's another thing I'll really miss about my son being gone is he's been my chauffeur, now I have to learn to negotiate traffic by myself and with the baby!

So, I've been going through my little notebook of addresses, and figuring what i think the FMV is on these properties. Sometimes, it seems so clear cut, but sometimes it varies wildly - espesially on the bigger houses - with over 3000sf, if you change your price per sf even $25, it can make a HUGE swing in the FMV! And I'm learning to make my brain distinguish between prices like $275,000 and $350,000 and between $500,000 and $550,000. It's like once I get over $250,000 it all gets fuzzy and it just seems "really expensive" to me. So, I have to learn to make myself understand the price points on these higher priced properties. Working on that, LOL!

Re-reading the book, sporadically looking at foreclosure lists. I have to admit I have a hard time using the foreclosurealert program. I'm sure they'll do updates to it, and I will learn more ways to streamline it, too.

So, this week's agenda is to put an offer in on the flipper property (will have to get earnest money from brother-in-law or something), make offers on other properties up here (try the promissary note technique for EM on those), drive by all these places in my notebook and try to see inside as many as possible, and get into the success academy! Oh, and I desparately need to organize my desk and file cabinet.

Tracey

Okay, long overdue, and very long in length update. I had done one a couple of weeks ago, but it got lost when I submitted, and I never got it redone. Beware of time-lock programs when you're posting late at night, LOL!

Anyway, I'm still hot and heavy on things - starting to make progress!

We are totally out on the 4-unit apartments back home. We had to cancel due to the lender pulling out at the last minute, and within 1 business day there were 4 other offers in, and within 3 days they had accepted a cash offer. I was pretty burnt about it for a while, but I'm letting go. It still stings to think that we just walked away from $1300+ cashflow per month, and how many SFR it will take to equal that, but whatever - I have to believe that there was a good reason the deal fell apart like that. OH, and to whomever handles the little emblems next to our names - better take away my deal-maker one until I actually close on something!

So, we're concentrating on places up here (Portland, OR) to flip or assign. We talked with the brother-in-law and he's game to go in with us with the cash for down and repairs on a place to flip, then split the profit. We put in an offer on a short-sale, and the first one was rejected, but second one is getting some attention. They've done an outside BPO (broker's price opinon), and since we submitted the 2nd offer, they're going to do an interior one, plus they had us sign an addendum to the offer disclosing some short sale stuff - so that sounds like they're considering it. Wish they'd hurry up, LOL! Place is sweet - 4/2.5, 2400sf, built in 1989, cute as a button in gorgeous neighborhood, most desirable schools in the Portland metro area, just a winner all the way around. Some fixtures are missing, tons of "previous owner stuff" throughout the house that needs to be removed, update counters and appliances, finish the pergola over the back deck and make sure the hot tub works. Maybe a little trimming on the landscaping, and good to go. FMV is $370,000-$390,000 - we're offering $247,500 and planning to sell just under $300,000 or thereabouts.

I'm also looking at places to assign. Had my awesome agent pull the 100 oldest listings from the RMLS, and I used MS One Note to sort them into areas by high school. I'm starting with the areas I'm most familiar with and submitted 2 offers so far - 50% below FMV. I've got one more I'm ready to submit, but it's a short sale, has an offer pending, and I still have to read all the stuff on Land Trusts. I'll probably still submit, just because I want to take some action, LOL!

I've also pulled all listings from the RMLS here that are under $100k (only 23 listings - this place is expensive!), and I sorted them by area, too. We went and looked at 6 of them today, and I will make offers on 5 of those. One of them, we would actually consider keeping as a rental, maybe two of them. One of them has dropped the price even more since I pulled the listing last week, and I wouldn't be shocked if we got our offer accepted on it. THey're all fixers, some more than others, LOL! Leaky roofs are a big problem up here in the NW, so that's an issue with 2 or 3 of them. 2 were so bad we couldn't even go inside due to safety reasons - one of those would be a tear down, and one I'm not yet convinced that it couldn't be saved, LOL! I'm determined to go in there, just not with the baby in my arms! They're all WAY below FMV (after repairs), but I need to get hubby in there with me to help me estimate costs. I can figure out what needs to be done (mostly) but he knows how long it takes and can estimate the costs.

I also started looking on CraigsList for "motivated" sellers, and found a place that we might actually buy for our own residence!! It's looking totally providential, and if we get it, I have to give all credit to the Lord. Hubby is working way up in the mountains on this particular jobsite (a water supply plant for one of the towns here), and it's just beautiful up there. But, all the places cost upwards of $300,000 and we couldn't buy anyways because we can get transferred anytime, and there's no market for rentals that far out of the towns / cities. So, anyways, there's a place on CL that sounds like it's up that direction, and the price is under $300k. There's no way we can do it, but it just keeps popping up for the last couple of months, so finally I called the guy and set a time to go look at it, just to have an excuse to drive up there. Well, I get there, and it's like 1/2 mile from hubby's jobsite, it's BEAUTIFUL, has 2 acres, a barn, great house, etc. Then the owner and I get to jabbering, and he's practically going to give it to us! He's willing to carry, will work with us on the down, and will guarantee in writing to buy it back for what we pay for it, when we get transferred, if we can't sell it to someone else!! There's a lot of backstory to it, but it's a total win-win for both of us. INCREDIBLE!! Praise the Lord! So, we're figuring costs, and we've been renting this place in town that has a tarp on the roof because there's huge holes in it (not kidding!) and lots of mold, and various other stuff, plus it's literally right on the main highway at a stoplight so the traffic noise is insane - but the rent is dirt-cheap (maybe mold-cheap, ha ha!). The utilities here are outrageous though, and when we figure the difference in costs, after payments, utilities, insurance, taxes, and tax deductions, we will pay about $35 more per month to live up on the mountain. Woo hoo! I think we have ourselves a house!

I also met with a guy that I connected with via our local investors group, and he's got cash plus more investor buddies, plus 18 years of experience as a major commercial project developer and he wants me to be his bird dog! He's looking for SFR to buy and hold, but doesn't want to spend the time looking for them. So, I'll be sending him all these ones that I'm looking at right now.

Things are looking good! I still need to get my first deal that pays so I can sign up for the academy but I'm hoping it won't be long!

The things I'm working right now and could use feedback on:

1) Having enough earnest money to cover all the deals that might get accepted when I blast out so many offers at once. I'd hate to have a great offer accepted, and then have to back out just because I didn't have the earnest money to tie it up! I'm seeing everyone else slamming them out, and am wondering how you're all dealing with multiple acceptances - maybe you have enough EM to cover, or something else?

2) Trying to figure out how to get that stinking first time buyer's credit without doing anything shady. We would qualify for it on the personal residential property, but we'll have to delay the close on that until after the flipper property, since we have to use FHA OO on the flipper. Don't think it will work, which is a major bummer! We got audited and could use that refund to clear things with the IRS. Maybe if we assigned the flipper instead of flipping it, but then we wouldn't make enough profit to split with the in-laws or really be seed money for a down on the next place. Have to think on that one more.

3) Got to read all the Land Trust stuff so I can get offers in on these REO's and short sales.

4) Got to figure out LLC's and S-corps and get that going. Our IRS situation is only going to get worse this year as we lost the 18 year old as a deduction. Figuring out how to strategize for taxes and structure things properly is becoming a HUGE priority now.

Well, it's nearly midnight, and 5:30am comes early, plus baby will be calling on me at least once before then!

Tracey

Congratulations on the home in the mountains! That sounds absolutely gorgeous!

And congrats on the new investor! Boy, determination pays off (even when you have things like the 4-plex happen).

I'm very happy for you and your family. Maybe you can put pics in when you move?

Thanks for the great update in you journal. I love reading this.

Rina