Newbie & Need Some Advice Please...

Welcome to the DG family.

Who is the realtor to say you can only look at properties at or under $210K? I would think even a non-investor-friendly realtor wouldn't do that. hmmm... I think I'd find myself another realtor.

If you feel comfortable going directly to the bank, go for it. What have you got to lose? Try it a few times and then if you think you'd get farther with a realtor, you can always start again. Heck, you can see what kind of deals you can make with them personally, and if that doesn't work submit offers on the same properties through a realtor. Might be an interesting test.

If you have opportunity to join the Success Academy, really consider it. You will have terrific coaches to help you through your deals. Makes it that much easier.

Well, I wish you the best. Keep us posted on the props.

Rina

We are newbies, too! We joined the Success Academy seven weeks ago, and only found this site about a week ago. We are submitting our first 2 offers tomorrow, which is REALLY exciting!!! We can offer you two peices of advice: 1) DUMP that realtor! That is crazy! Our starting offers tomorrow are for 40 cents on the dollar, and we have decided not to go over 55 cents for our highest offer (of course, these homes are a DISASTER and need a lot of work!! Also, we are assigning to other investors, who will not go over 60%. With Retail buyers, we may go as high as 70% on a move-in-ready home.) We are in Southern California, too, and with the number of homes on the market right now, I would NEVER offer asking price. The second thing we wanted to add was that we are sooooo grateful for the Success Academy! The coaches are GREAT and very helpful. We entered into the academy with ZERO knowledge, and we feel like we know so much more, now. In 7 short weeks, we are already at the point of making our first offers!! We look forward to growing right along with you and hearing about your journey as we share ours!!

Thank you so much for the advice =). I was actually pretty disappointed with the realtor because when I talked to him earlier today, he was happy to tell me that my brother and sister are pre-approved for $210K but when I told him that we wanted a 2 story house he right away said that for the amount we are pre-approved for, it will be difficult to find one. But after reading the book, I said to myself, why can't we make low offers on the houses that are forclosed and it's on the market for over 200 days? So right that moment, I said to my brother and sister to get a new realtor if he is afraid to make a low offer in this down market.

I am really thinking of joining the Success Academy in the next couple of weeks and I am excited about it too =).

I am self employed though and I earn my money by selling on eBay. I profit about $3K-4K every month. I really don't know how I can start REI without a job. I basically treat my business as my job.

I really do appreciate the advise and this site rocks! I mean, I just posted this awhile ago and has been answered right away =)

Oh by the way, how can we show the bank we are pre-approved for that amount? Because, the realtor we're working with right now has our documents to which he also submitted to his loan officer. Do we get that documents back and bring it to the bank directly? Or do the banks have than info already where they see that we are pre-approved for that amount? I am a bit confuse =(

Hello All, I'm new to academy and I've been looking at alot of properties (mostly foreclosures) and have found some pretty good prices. As low as 85K. My question is what do I need to look for besides how much repairs would cost me and also, I'm having trouble with calculating how much to offer, and maybe how to get the property for as little money as possible. I have very little money to put down with pretty decent credit.

Thanks in advance. -G

Hello again DG Family! Our realtor just called today and when I told him about making low offers around 30% of FMV and he right away said it's crazy. He also said that they represent the bank and banks will not even look at offers below their asking price. He said that for the banks to accept our offer, we will have to submit offers with their asking price? And to me, that just doesn't make sense. There are properties we want to look at that are on the market for over 200 days and are REO's. and the price range of those houses are between 250K to 300K. We would like to offer 30% off of that price at least right? We are just looking for a bigger home and this is a perfect experience for me but the realtor we're working with right now does not want to submit offers that are low. Should we look for a new realtor? By the way, we are pre-approved for 210-220K so that's the price range we want to offer the bank on the properties they have for over 200 days which have price range between 250-300K. I will appreciate any advice you can give us. Thank you! =)

I live in San Diego and I have been using this website for 4 1/2 months now.I have yet to get my first deal, but it's because I have been just studying like crazy.I did get 25 email offers out on my own with properties that have been on the market for awhile and acually the first 12 I put out, I got one accepted a month later. But after I submitted the formal offer (purchase agreement) using my Realtor,the bank got another offer in and took there's over mine.So, yes you can get a house at a discount in San Diego.The property was listed at like $320K and they were willing to take $242k because they said they had not one offer on this home.Anyway, someone came in and offered $305K and swipped it from me.So to end this story, This couple ended up paying like $60k more than I was going to get it for, probably because there Realtor told them to offer close to asking price.

There's about five of us on deans site in San Diego.I will PM you if you need a Title Co. ECT.

You need to get another realtor ASAP. Then make a bunch of offers at the discount you're wanting, and if nothing gets countered start again a little higher. As long as there is a counter-offer you know you are within negotiation range. So feel that out and you'll be good to go. Find a realtor that won't be embarrassed. And tell them you're just going to keep going until you get something accepted. I know, easier said than done. BUT you need to Plan.Do.Check.Adjust. If something doesn't work (with a valid effort), adjust it a little and try again.

Hope that helps.

Rina

Thanks so much Jason and Rina for the advise. I am currently looking at a new realtor mentioned from Dean's New Book. So far, there are agents giving me their proposal. I do have one agent who is willing to do low offers of 30%-40% FMV and I am emailing her back and using Matt's advice for finding an Agent. I hope this goes well =). Thanks again DG Family! You guys are the best! I'll keep you guys updated when I find an agent and when I get my first deal. Right now though, we just want to move in a bigger house so I am using this situation as practice and see how the transaction goes. I will definitely call the Success Academy in next couple of weeks to sign up and start. I am so nervous at the same time so excited just thinking of the opportunity.

Glad you are now part of the DG family. Rina is a gem. Thanks Rina. G.R. everyone told you right about that realtor. He is a fishy fella. You should be able to submitt whatever offeer you want. Thats why its a offer. Glad you found someone else to possibly work with. Do let us know what happens.
Kingjuss,

G.R. when you are looking for that RE agent, Also look for that RE broker and
RE attorney Bottom line you will need a team ,no time like the present.

Randy

2birds----------1stone
MAKE YOUR ACTIONS COUNT

Thanks Kingjuss & Randdee! I am really happy to be part of the DG Family and I am learning a lot by reading info's from this forum. It's a wealth of information! I am just starting and I want this situation to get at least an experience. The other agent has replied to my email and she's happy to represent us and she would like to start sending some listing that fits our criteria. I haven't replied to her yet because I need to talk to my brother and sister first. I'll update you guys on how it goes =). Thanks again!

Another newbie and I'm confused with this blogging stuff.

Where does my post go after I click post? I can't find my first post still?

Well anyways, here it goes. I live in a small town and found one agent to work with so far. She's been RE agent for only 3yrs. She said she would work with me even if my offers are low. Should I still keep looking for more agents? Will I lose ther confidence if I search for more in the same town? I'm just starting with the academy and really don't know what I'm doing yet. I should be dealing/working with 3 or 4 agents, right? I only read Dean's first book so far.

My computer locked up when I was reading an awesome blog on BIRD DOGGING! Can someone help me find that Blog? I was just reading in a few hour ago.

Thanks,

deb

I am new at this and just finishing DEAN's new book. I want to start with ASSIGMENTS since I have no money to invest and a fair credit.I live in Florida. My question is ... Is it legal to assign contracts in Florida? Does anybody know? I will appreciate very much your response. Thanks!

Sara

Hi Deb, to answer your first question I could not find my first post neither until I decided to click on my name under where it says who is online now on the home page.I found my post at the bottom. I hope this help you. I am very new at this too.
Sara (gigi)

What other websites that have the recent home values? I check zillow.com and I think their site don't have the recent home values. I ask this because we're looking at house and I want to calculate the FMV of it so we can determine what to offer. Any help will greatly be appreciated. Thank You! =)

Regards,
G.R. ^_^

I was wondering about using websites to calculate FMV, too. Our realtor has sent us comps within the last 30-60 days, similar amenities, similar square footage within one mile. Of course, with those requirements we are only getting about 3 to 5 comps, so I went to Zillow to see if I could find more comps. On each property, I saw the comps our realtor sent, as well as LOTS more that were maybe 90 days out. I was wondering if people were using this site, since it seems to be pretty accurate. I know I wouldn't want to rely solely on the web, but since the comps my realtor is sending me are all on the site anyway...

A lot of my fear in making offers comes from my lack of confidence in calculating FMV correctly and in the wording of the contract and clauses. I'm not afraid of making low-ball offers, but I'm worried that I may have calculated the FMV wrong, and that I may THINK I'm making a 50% below FMV offer, when I'm actually offering 90% FMV because of miscalculations!

Be careful of the on line comps, like Zillow and others, I have found most of their comps are 3 to 4 months old. The market values on homes here have fallen 12% in the last 3 to 4 months. Use them as a guideline but get up to date comps before making an offer.

Hi All. I'm an investor and a licensed realtor. I will go to bat for my buyers anytime and submit as many offers as it takes. I'm just let you know that in cities like Hemet, Ca where I focus, the prices are so waaay low that investors on already in the game bidding up the asking price. You can get a 3 bed/ 2 bath house here for $65K and rent it out for $1100. That's huge cash flow already. And if you try to get that same house for less you'll get out bid and pass up your chance for income. If you are not a cash flow investor and just want to flip, you can easily find a retail buyer and offer them a lease purchase until their credit clears up. Conventional financing is still very difficult right now. Anyway, my point is don't be afraid to crunch the numbers on a property, have a desired ROI or Cap rate in mind (be objective) and if you run into a property that meets that criteria even if you pay more than the asking price, then you should pay more than the asking price. Investors obsess over bidding below the asking price and lose sight of the goal -- making money.

I found that Zip realty .com seems to have the most updated FMV. My RE agent seems to think thier information is quite recent!

Thanks, I'll check out ZIPRealty.com! By the way, Terry60, when I look at the comps on Zillow, I make sure and only use homes that sold in the last 30 to 60 days. Do you mean that those comps may be incorrect, too? I just feel more confident with my offers when I've got 7-10 comps to calculate FMV, and my realtor will sometimes only send 3 or 4. I thought I would use her comps and supplement with others I find online. Now I'm starting to think that may not be such a good idea. I will check out ziprealty.com, though.

HemetProperty, hi! We're So CA, too. I've noticed that Hemet has A LOT of cheap homes for sale! I agree with do the calculations. We hardly even look at the asking price. We figure out the FMV and offer based on that. Is that what you do, too?

I am also from Florida and my RE agent say's he has used them, but very limited use. He says that banks won't use them for short sales. I don't believe that he has all the facts? Are there any other Floridians on the post that might be able to give myself and Sara some insight.My RE has used them for FSBO's

Hi DG Family! I posted this on another post but I want to post it here also.

Our realtor showed us a house we want to make an offer on. The house is listed at $238,500 and we would like to offer $210K-$215K but our realtor says he can't do it because he sees a lot of offers and offering low is just a waste of time. I am really a newbie on REI but I am willing to learn. What I can't understand is he told us that we can offer anything we want but when we tell him to submit our offers of $210K, he said he can't do it. I am just so frustrated that he does not want to submit our offer. What he want to offer is $235K and he said to ask for $10K closing cost and some repairs on the house like stove, and dryer hook up because the house does not have an exhaust for the dryer.

Also, I am just curious as to how short sales work. We have some properties we want to look at and make offers on but our Realtor don't want to look at short sales because he said it will take so long to close like 6-9 months? Is this true? We want to look at a property that is a short sale and it's on the market for over 210 days and it says "subject to lender's approval". Kindly please someone advice me on this? We really want to buy a house we can move into.

And one last question, if we change agent, do we have to go to the process of getting pre-approved again? Also, we'll we be able to look at a property by calling the listing agent without our realtor? Thanks so much in advance! ^_^

Hi DG family! I just have a quick newbie question again and I do apologize for asking so much =(

My question is, what are the fees that are associated in buying a home, example closing cost, etc.? We are asking our realtor if he can at least give us a checklist of what are other fees involve in buying a home so we don't get surprises in the end. Are we asking our realtor too much? Are we required to call our realtor to have him contact the listing agent of the house we want to look at or can we call the listing agent our selves without our realtor knowing? I asked this because we want to look at some properties we're interested in but our realtor only shows us properties that are foreclosed and if it is a short sale, he just wouldn't look at it nor have us look at the property. This houses are on the market for so long and we're just curious about looking at these properties and if it interest us, making an offer. Our realtor just won't look at properties that are listed above what we are pre-approved for and only wants to submit offer that is close to FMV so if the house we want to look at is listed at $249K and we're pre-approved for $215K, he straight up tell us that we are not pre-approved for that amount so there's no sense looking at that property. It's just so stressful knowing that our realtor is holding us back. And one last question, how do we change realtor? Do we go about telling him that we want to work with other agents who can accommodate our needs? Thanks again you guys! =) - G.R.

Hey G.R.
Save yourself from the headacke of trying to get another realtor for now.I will do all the work for you and have my agent submit the low offers and in the process show you how to assign.Win Win Win for all of us.

HI Jason! I sent you an email regarding the property we are interested in. Thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to help us =)

Regards,
G.R.

Hello everyone, I'm new to this whole process and is seeking some advice.

I've decided to take the Re-Assigning approach due to my credit and lack of employment.

I need to know specifically what forms I will need and how to go about getting them.

And also how to draw up personal contracts

Thanx in Advance

My attorney has an office in Daytona Beach and Edgewater FL. I use the Edgewater office for ALL my real estate deals. Email me and I will give you the name and phone number. They are VERY reasonable. You can call her and talk to her about assignments. As long as you are in Florida she can help.

Thanx for the help but I live all the way in Pennsylvania, The Poconos to be exact .....