Hi guys, I found a nice property and the owner is a Real Estate Investor who's open to do a lease option to buy. I've never done this before and I would like some advice from you guys who definately have more experience and knowledge.

The property is a multifamily, 4 unit, in a very good part of town that's got a good rental rate and no vacancies. Looking through the comparables I wasn't able to find something that was comparable to it but I was able to get it down from 839K to the upper 750sK. The owner lives in Houston, TX, and wants to sell (according to him) because he wants to use the money in TX since it's cheaper to buy and it's a better investment all together. He also said that he's not there anymore and it's harder to be a landlord, even though his partner is here in NYC. The building is full of tenants, but the rent could be about $25-$50 higher. I asked him about this and he said that they were "good" tenants and he didn't want to loose them. But if it's a good neighborhood I wonder if it's really that hard to loose them. Maybe the tenants aren't that good after all and he's just wanting to get rid of the headache and leaving the dirty work for the new owner. I don't know, but I'll get a better idea once I go meet the tenants this Saturday God willing.

I asked about owner financing but he cannot since he has country wide and they said that they can't put anyone else on the deed unless he pays off the mortgage. Basically he can't do it. Anyways, I'm having a little trouble with the numbers and maybe some of you guys have some suggestions for me to be able to find a formula that can better help me do the numbers to see if it'll work.

He told me that he would not do a lease option for any more than 24 months, which I do not like at all. How can I make it attractive for him to want to do it for a minimum of 36 months? The rental rates come in at an average of $1300. He's renting the apts around 1225. Now, the taxes are about 4K, and the utilities come in at around $4,000 a month with the taxes. Of course I added a little more just in case so as to not get any surprises. By the way does anyone know where one could get a better assesment of the utilities outside of asking the owner? What if they're lying?

How on earth could I make this work? How should I negotiate the rent amount for the lease option? His mortgage he said was about $4,100 though he said not to worry about it. I was like huh? Also he said that he wanted 80K as a deposit that would go towards the final payment.

How does all this work? Does anyone have a simple dumb version they can share with me please? Because it sounds so confusing, and the numbers make me dizzy.Still, I find myself sooooo excited about the possibilities and I want to learn as much as I can and finally understand it.

Thanks in advanced folks. I really appreciate your wisdom and your advice.

Carolina.

So here's something to make you go "hmmmmmm....."

What is the goal of marriage?

The question is not "What is the definition of marriage?" Or "What is marriage?".

Let's put those brains to work guys and gals! Get out of your ordinary routine and think about this for a second. I guarantee a fantastic and stimulating process as we travel the journey together to get the right answer.

Oh yes, there's only one right answer. Good luck.

Oh and if somebody gets it right I'll send you a little candy treat. Seriously. Unless you're a diabetic or something, that wouldn't be good. In that scenario I'll send you something else just as good or better!

And if it's agains the rules to send something to anyone then I won't send anything. I don't remember reading anything about that anywhere, but just in case.

Happy thinking amigos!

Oh well, it was bound to happen. I let my happy little fingers take me to places I should't have gone before reading rules and regulations.

As a member of the Newbie group you're suppossed to introduce yourself, ask newbie questions, blah blah blah, etc, etc. Of course I never read any of it!

I guess I just assumed that newbies meant newbies in real estate as well, but it doesn't in this group. This group is strickly for Active Rain Newbies and everything pertaining to active rain, not real estate.

So I joined Real Estate Rookies. Now I'm faced with a decision that although it may seem trivial it's hard to make: Should I leave the Newbies group or should I stay? I just don't want to make a mistake and click on the little box the next time I post a blog. And it could very well happen.

What do I do? I'll make up my mind tonight.

So I've read about private investors in many books and I've heard about them in my classes at Trump University, but I haven't been able to really align myself with one. The thing is that I don't want to use my own money, plus banks aren't giving too many approvals these days. My credit isn't bad at all, it's close to 700, but I just rather not use my own money for a deal that's $200K. I got a deal for under $50K and on that one I'm ready to fork it out, but anything above $100K I rather use a private investor.

So are they really out there or what? You guys know way more than me. Tell me please because I'm really eager to find out.

Are there people who have money, who want to invest on deals that will bring them a return on investment of 10%-12% secured by a lien on real estate, short term 6-9 months? Do they exist?

Or is this a myth?

If they are real: How do you find them so that you can begin to develop a relationship?

Thanks in advance guys.

So I was nervous, naturally. Oooookey, I was terrified. Ok ok... I could hardly breathe. Ok ok ok... I had a panick attack! No really, I was terrified when I actually sat there and wrote up my first written offer and slowly but surely sent the fax at 12:45am on a Wednesday morning. Yeah, I had been procrastinating for a few days and down to the last minute.

Anyways, my first offer was on a single family that was converted to a 2 family. It was beautiful, but too perfect. There wasn't much I could do with it except rent it out but the numbers weren't adding up, so when the realtor told me it was a good investment I think he was exagerating. What do you guys think? Do realtors tell you what you want to hear? (Don't be shy amigos).

The asking price was $469K and the house was located in Rockaway Park, Queens. Not a bad part but not a great part either. I really loved the house but there wasn't much I could do with it unless the price was dramatically dropped so I decided to make an offer based on the amount that would work for me, plus I had no idea how much the outstanding mortgage was because the realtor wouldn't tell me. 

So I did the numbers and all, and I decided to make a ridiculously low offer. I've been in networkmarketing for 4 years so I figured "How much worse could it be?" everything is negotiable anyways right? Well...

I made my offer for $290K CASH. The realtor probably wanted to kill me, slowly and painfully. Needless to say I haven't heard from him since. It's been a little over a month and the house hasn't been sold yet, but it's too soon to tell. Maybe they found someone who was willing to pay that much or at least a little more than I was. I really hope they did sell it, and if they didn't I think I'll keep checking on it and keep making offers (probably the same one) until they respond.

Was I wrong? I didn't mean to make him mad. I thought you negotiated in real estate so I figured it was a good start to offer that low. I remember our last conversation, which didn't go over well, he was very aggressive and pushy. But I'm sure he's a nice person.

Since then I must say I've seen a lot of better properties that have lower asking prices than that one and better investments at that. I am really glad that my offer was low. Though I did learn a valuable lesson: Multiple offers.

So instead of sending just one, like I did that day or morning rather, I learned to send multiple A/B/C offers so as to give more of an option. Maybe the guy thought I was on crack and not a serious buyer, but I was serious and I was ready only if that was the price.

I've done another written offer since then, but this one went way better and it was a multiple offer. It was directly with the owner, and he is running it by his people at this time. You know what else? He didn't get upset or psychotic.

This is my story and I'm sticking to it! Tune in for more adventures in Real Estate... Coming soon!!!

I never thought I would love real estate as much as I'm loving it right now. I've gone cross eyed at times from reading tons of paperwork that seems like Chinese to me, but it's still exciting and fun most of the time. I just never thought I'd ever feel this way about this industry.

My first exposure to residual income and business in general was through networkmarketing in June of 2004 (a tremendous blessing and an incredible education that is) but that was all. I thought that I would just do my home based business and write my songs and that would be that. I never thought I would love this industry the way I do.

Well amigos, if you haven't guessed it yet: I'm a brand spanking new Real Estate Investor. I'm soooo excited!!!

I love this! You may be wondering how I came a across my newfound love. Well here's the story:

A friend of mine had this house she had inherited from her mother when she died. My friend had her ex-husband and her kids live in the upstairs and she lived in the basement with her brother. Well, her ex moved out and though they had tried to rent the upstairs they hadn't been able to find anyone. Soon it was almost a year and the house was still empty. During this time my friend left her job and had to go to Hong Kong to be with her daughter. While talking to her over the phone one day and talking about her situation and how the bills kept piling up I decided to help her. I formulated a plan to fill her house and help her get some cashflow. I invested a couple thousand dollars (which I got back) and put some adds and furnished her upstairs. I was surprised at how much fun I was having. Though there were some times where I was a little scared because we found in the process that her property tax hadn't been paid for years (thanks to her ex who was supossed to pay it and didn't) and she was about to loose the house. I did a lot of praying and just at the last minute, in about two months time, we got the upstairs full of happy flight attendants who were eager to live there. She now has an income of $2,000 a month after all the bills are paid. 

You may think "Well it must be a big house" no my friends, it is only a small three bedroom. I just got a little creative and decided to turn the upstairs into a home for airline employees marketing to them specifically. I rented the rooms separately and turned the living room into another room. Everyone is happy, we saved the house, and if she doesn't find a job she's ok!

After that project was done I was left feeling bored and kind of like an addict, I mean I wanted that high! No I don't do drugs guys, you know what I mean. I wanted to feel that adrenaline rush I felt while doing that project with my friend's house. I wanted to do it all over again and do it even better!

And this is how it all started. My Real Estate adventures have only just begun! Now I'm looking to buy my first property in the next two months (a coop) and I'm also looking at a short sale for a house. I find this time to be the best time to help people get what they want, whether it's buying, selling, or saving a house. Though some say it's the worse time ever: It's all a matter of perception. If you think it's the worse it's the worse, if you think it's the best it's the best.

I think I can.

Carolina.