Ray, You don’t need an appraisal. Do you have a realtor in the family? on the bowling team? part timer that you work with? They can pull comps for you. Make sure they are real comps. Similar size, layout, the more recent the better. Don’t let them show you listings. you want homes that sold and closed.
Barring that. Drive around the area and look for FSBO signs. Knock on the door, tell them you’re “just looking” and see if they’ll show you around. Check out a bunch of open houses and look around and get a feel for asking prices. (Make sure to ask how long its been listed).
You can also ride down the street and look for similar houses. Write down the address and head to the county assessor or recorder’s office and check out the public records. They’ll tell you what any of those houses actually sold for and when. Good education for you anyway as you’ll need to know your way around and you should get acquainted with the people who work there as it will make your life easier if you want to stick with this stuff (Its a H*LL of a lot of fun by the way!!).
Sorry to ramble. The point is that there are things you can do. Only limited by your imagination and ambition.
All the best!!
Lyal
I have made an offer on a house. The house was listed for $100,000. I offered $93,500 and the seller countered w/$97,500. According to the realtor, the house will sell for $150,000. It is in a good neighborhood with good schools and the houses don’t stay on the market long. I estimate that the repairs to the house will be $20,000. I have already been pre-approved for a $100,000 loan with a local mortgage company. The only problem is that they mortgage company wants me to put 20% or $20,000 down. I have about $10,000 available in cash, and I don’t know where to get the other $10,000 for the down payment. I have a $25,000 line of credit available to me, but I was going to use that to fix up the house, and I think if I used it for the rest of the down payment, the mortgage company would say something about it. Any ideas?
Do NOT take the realtor’s word for the FMV!! Do your own comps to establish the value first and then decide if its “fat” enough to support your rehab and holding costs.
Re: Need Advice on a potential deal - Posted by jim Rayner
Posted by jim Rayner on November 06, 2000 at 18:33:48:
Ray,
You can get a 90% LTV NOO loan from many lenders. I use North American Mortgage for these all the time. Check their web site for an office near you. namc.com
they are a direct lender no broker required.
Thanks for the advice. Could you be more specific as to how I can determine the FMV. The only way I know of is to pay for an appraisal. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.