Month: July 2017

Buying a house site unseen. Would you?

July 31, 2017

Yes, I’ve helped folks buy ‘site unseen’. This article is condensed but has some of the basics.

Online photos aren’t enough!
Here’s my ‘must do’ list:

  1. Use a local buyer agent that is on retainer/ agreement with you, not just the seller side.
    • I’d advise using a broker that will give you a referral from a client that used said broker more than once!
  2. Go ‘live’ on your walk thru. Interactive, voice/ video, tour in real time with your agent (broker) ‘on the ground’.
  3. Have an inspector give you feedback. Again, best if your broker/agent is live.
  4. Get your trades person that may do upgrades after purchase to give you pre-offer insights in the same way.
  5. Solicit immediate and local area videos – real time again is great. Good to do this during a busy weekend evening.
  6. View map from above. LOOK for train tracks, land fills, factories, freeways, etc etc…. look look look.
  7. Call: local utility for ‘estimate of usage’ for an idea of how weather tight the home is.

Value: Assessed, Market, ‘Zillow’, Taxable

July 25, 2017

That’s an ‘uuugly house’. It was my 2nd investment & I was a 20 y.o. junior in college. It was also the highest ROI realty investment I ever had!

Market Value = house specific, current, based mainly on aesthetic appeal (new kitchen, Anibal-Affiliates-Realty_NetWorth_3134birchrow-eastlansing-mi-1982-bwonderful yard, location, etc.)

Assessed Value = neighborhood average, historical (old), based mainly on exterior mechanics (size/ age).

Now that we have that established, lets proceed.

Whether helping a seller set a price or helping a buyer write an offer, they want to know my opinion. “So how much it the place ‘worth’?”

  • A seller always picks a number that is highest – e.g.: ‘Well such n such says my house is worth $bla bla bla’.
  • A buyer always picks the lowest number (surprise) – e.g. ‘Well this says its only worth $yada yada.’

Opinion? Not so much, I prefer to provide information. With me & numbers I’ll give you various methods I use & crunch the numbers on YourSpace – YOU choose the value. My accounting & finance degree and nurture of broker fathers background with an economics masters has dictated this style as my preferred approach.

Back to definitions:

  1. Assessed =
    • neighborhood average,
    • historical (old),
    • based mainly on exterior mechanics (size/ age).
    • The assessor used a complicated ‘multiple regression analysis’ to take all properties with in the ‘taxing unit’ and give approximate values to the ‘components’ of homes.
      • i.e.: bathroom #1 is worth $2000, bath #2 an extra $600, #3…$250, etc.
      • 1000 s/f = $XX per s/f, 1001-1500 is worth $X per s/f
      • New roof = $XX less $X for each year its been there
  2. Market =
    • house specific,
    • current,
    • based mainly on aesthetic appeal (new kitchen, wonderful yard, location, etc.)
    • This
  3. , ‘Zillow’ = a computer model spits out this often ‘train wreck’ of a combination of #1 &2.
    • I’ve seen Zillow ‘values’ of $165000 for a home listed at $80k. I’ve seen the opposite, which can confuse a buyer obviously. I’ve seen another house go from ‘Zestimates’ of $183k to $93k to ‘Unknown’ all in the same year that I listed and sold said home for $150k ?? Figure that one out.
    • After all, ‘Zillow’ never walked the neighborhood, or smelled the basement, or saw the standing water in the spring time.
  4. Taxable = as it says. Forget using this number as a value. Your only concern here is if its too high, then you need to protest it.
  5. Bigger Picture RealtyNetWorth Value ? = Have you every booked a flight online? IntegrationCapNotice it says ‘save money by being flexible with travel dates’, yes? If your timing, tax situation, stage of life, & non-financial intangibles aren’t being considered, you may well need a better qualified ‘resource(s)’.

So whats a wise person to do?

The model I use for buyers and sellers is a spreadsheet approach that uses input from both the assessment – which considers the interaction of house basics, and current market sell prices from ‘as close as possible like-kind’ homes. To use one aspect without the other is a huge absence of a critical treasure of data.

When to hold a rental, when to flip a house.

July 20, 2017

You invest in property. You’re approaching it as either a residence, retreat, rehab, or Anibal-Affiliates-RealtyNetWorth-LakeShannon-why-I-sell-lakefront-young-couple-at-sunsetrental. But which came first, the property or the label? And more importantly, why did you choose one over another?

With such a substantial investment, I hope you have an idea of how you are evaluating on the way in based on your plan for use/ resale/ or rental afterward. So many clients start out with the “well this happened along our path one day so we just…” approach. Maybe o.k. for a garage sale find. But this randomized thinking potentially leaves dollars on the table and years of your life wasted.

Example:

  1. Customer wanted to sell a unit. “Why did you buy it?” I asked. “Well, it was a great deal so we bought it. then we rented it out”. ( A great deal for what ?)
  2. Customer wanted to have a unit inspected. “Why are you interested in this house?” I asked. “Well, I heard rental property is a good idea.” I asked, “Why?” …. he said “I don’t know.”
  3. Customer had a rental. “Why did you buy it?” I asked. “My friend called me and asked if I wanted to buy it.” So I asked, “do you have other rentals and why do you want this one”. He said, “no, first one, we want others”.

None of these folks had a strategy. They stumbled into their situation. In each case, I sat with them, started ‘at the top’, looked for customer strengths/ weaknesses/ and ideal goals.

  1. For customer #1, I said “so you want rentals?” Actually, it had never been profitable as a rental. They sold it for a profit, but the title choice drove up their tax burden. Further, had they made some specific improvements, the profit would have been better. They sold to a hustler by owner, but fortunately we took a better strategy going forward.
  2. For the 2nd scenario client, I tried to not completely make fun of the poor choice of home he wanted to – and almost did had he not called me – buy. Instead, I showed him only 1 more property. We spent an extra 60 minutes of his time, got a house in a better location, less money, newer, better heat/electric + 2 car garage, 2 decks and shed. That property more than doubled in value in a matter of months, and has had only 1 tenant in the 4 yrs. he’s owned it, bringing a good profit from rent and appreciation. The other property – still a mess and not worth much at all.
  3. In situation #3, we sat down and looked at how there is no profit from holding. Further, because of his skills, he’s better suited to rehab than to hold a loosing investment. All profit available on his held house will come from moving it, not holding it. Timing the sale will be the extra expertise I offer.

So the basic questions will still be, what do you have:

  • More or less skills.
  • More or less time.
  • More or less funds.
  • More need for current income (you are in a lower tax bracket), or more need for future (retirement) income, (you are probably in a higher tax bracket).

Based on these answers, there are very specific properties, areas, price ranges, and portfolio management styles (e.g.: you/ us) you’d be better suited for.  Decision time

I meet w/ clients a minimum of 1x/ year. This is a great time for a no-cost initial meeting to chat about what your real estate ideas are. Contact me via the feedback form to set a time & day !

In the meantime, I’m inserting text from an earlier post of mine:

In the early 80’s I picked up a very honest yet motivational ‘how to’ book on real estate investment. In my senior year of college I was set to invest. I actually drove to NJ, looked up as many of these homes as I could, took pictures, and tried to take notes in my then ignorance. After reading the book I bought a shack for $17500, w/ $1000 down, gutted the kitchen and bath, and placed into service what was one of my most successful investments to date.

I’ve used these & other techniques I gleaned from my broker/investor dad, and have shared them with clients for 3 decades.

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It comes down to humble work, patience, time value of money, and good mentors – I had my dad ! I keep a few copies of the book for clients I work with. Let me know if you’d like one.