Property Flipping – The Good

These days, the term “property flipping” or “house flipping” carries illegal or fraudulent undertones. It used to just innocently mean buying a property or house below market value or at a discounted price from a motivated seller and selling it quickly with little to no renovations done on the property, thus, quickly generating profit. This real estate game plan includes wholesaling, contract assignment and fix and flip schemes. Property flipping is a good starting point for real estate investors as they can generate quick cash using this strategy with little to no money required.

Property Flipping – The Bad and the Ugly

Then unscrupulous and greedy individuals enter into the already topsy-turvy realm of the real estate market and sullied the innocence of the term through their twisted schemes. They buy a… Read the rest

What is Section 8?

The Housing Choice Voucher Program, more commonly know as Section 8, is a federal housing program administered by the department of housing and urban development (HUD) which provides assistance to low income renters and in some cases homeowners.  This assistance comes in the form of rental subsidies paid directly to the landlord.  For real estate investors and rehabbers, the key point here is that section 8 pays 100% of the tenant’s rent in some cases.  100% guaranteed rent in low income neighborhoods provides for some awesome monthly cash flows.  With that said, get ready for more frequent maintenance and repairs being needed at the property.

Section 8 does not pay for any damage caused by… Read the rest

The #1 rule is to actually be there!  If you, as the real estate investor, cannot make it to the appraisal, then send your partner, construction manager, or reschedule if permissible.  A bad appraisal or a failed inspection can be the difference between a transaction closing or falling apart or weeks of delays being incurred while waiting for another home inspection from the section 8 inspector.  A section 8 tenant will not always wait around for a failing property to pass its inspection when there are a handful of other rehabbed homes readily available for rent.  Similarly, a bad appraisal may scare off potential buyers or reduce the amount funds available for an investor’s cash out refi.

Bring Favorable Comps to the Appraisal

Whether the property needs to appraise high or low, find the three most favorable comps… Read the rest

After a break in at one our properties, our construction manager/partner decided to start doing nightly surveillance for an hour or so every night to make sure our latest rehab was secure until the new tenant moved in.  Mark would drive his plain blue van with no rear windows past some of our on going projects and then park a couple houses down from the property he was staking out.

One night while Mark and I were talking on the phone, Mark was driving past one of our houses and saw the front door wide open with the lights on.  Someone was inside our house that was just broken into the other day.  Mark’s adrenaline spiked through the roof as he informed me that he was going inside to get this guy.   You have to understand, Mark is not afraid… Read the rest

Home Buyer Tax Credit Update

The Senate has passed a bill to give homebuyers another three months to close on their homes and receive tax credits up to $8,000. The Tax Extenders Bill would apply to homebuyers who met the April 30, 2010 deadline with a signed contract to purchase a new or existing primary residence. The amendment would extend the deadline to September 30, 2010 for homebuyers to close on their real estate transaction. The previous deadline was June 30, 2010. The bill now goes to the House of Representatives, where it is expected to pass.

The National Association of Realtors estimates that as many as 180,000 homebuyers have qualified for the tax credit and met the contract deadline of April 30, 2010, but might not be able to close their transaction by the June 30, 2010 deadline due… Read the rest