I'm not sure if I should go for this one or not, so I thought I'd ask for your opinions.

3/2/1 about 12 years old. Move-in condition.
Seller bought it last September (2006) for $234,650. Now asking $244,500.
One similar house sold a few months ago for $249,900. Before that the last sale was October 2006 for $230,000.
Seller wants $1,500/month rent. I can RTO it for $1,750-$1,800.

Sounds alright so far, right? The only thing that's holding me back is the $1,500 rent. This is roughly equal to a mortgage at about 4%. Thing is, weekly I'm being offered houses for rent equal to a mortgage in the 1.5-3% range. So this house won't have as much cash flow as others do, and there's no instant equity, so that's what's making me wonder if I should bother.

I could do a CA of course and make a quick $7-8k.

These words make for an easy decision.

What does he need? Equity seems skinny for a SLO. CA it, and still see if you can get him down on the rent amount to just cover his expenses. Nothing wrong with a quick $7K to $8K or even a $5K wouldn't hurt my feelings.

She claims that at $1,500 she "won't be making any money".

Yeah I think you guys are right. CA is the way to go.

CA sounds good to me....I really wanted to make a joke about if it is Canadian or US $, but with this economy all you Canucks would be laughin......arghhh.

I'm with the consensus, Doug. No meat on them bones to be in the middle. Do a CA, take the money and hit the tavern. Blow money, wake up with no recollection of what you did or who you did it with, find another deal and repeat. . .

Ahh the good ol' Canadian dream!

Is this the life you lead?

If so, then you should add it to your 2nd edition of the manual.

Guilty as charged.

Hmmm. . .I could call it The Really Naked Investor! Thanks, Jason!

You'll need a new logo, MC. Maybe a guy laying naked in his own vomit in the gutter. And a nice guarantee: "THIS could be YOU in the next 30 days! Just follow my system!"

Nah...don't show the negative side , just emphasize the chicks and beer

Phil

Seller changed her mind. She's going to keep it on the market and if it doesn't sell she's going to leave the current tenant in place.

I wonder what changed her mind? At first I thought it might have been the fact of having to manage the property within the CA, but if she has a tenant in place now, it doesn't seem that is the issue. Did she say why she changed her mind?

You can always shoot her an email with the short offer of what you can do, and let her keep it if she should change her mind. Let her property sit on the market through the holidays and she'll be calling you back the first of the year.

When I asked if she wanted to sign the papers when we meet, she said: "If you want to make me an offer I'll bring the contract." Which immediately made the hair on my neck stand up! So I asked: "Before we waste each other's time I just want to confirm that you are still willing to rent for a couple of years and let me buy sometime during the lease, right?" To which she responded as above.

She said something during the first email that I should have picked up on and discarded her as a lead. She said: "I would prefer to sell." Even though she indicated some willingness to rent (and as it turns out it's already rented) the phrase "prefer to sell" = definitely not interested whatsoever, get out of my face you bastard.

Oh well, sorry to waste everybody's time asking for opinions on this one. It never fails, when I break my rules I pay. In this case I broke the rule to ONLY do business with people who excitedly say: "YES, YES!!! I want to RTO my house! Where have you been all my life?!"

So the current tenant isn't in position to purchase anytime soon, Doug?

If they have a chance, I'd go for the CA.
Inform the seller you have some financing programs available
that could possibly help her get this thing sold.

Do the usual CA paperwork, run the T/B to your mortgage
broker and help all involved. Who knows, they may be able
to cash the seller out 6 months down the road.
Besides, the seller might still be waiting for that "perfect buyer" 18 months
or more.

Of course, you might wanna scrap this one altogether.
?
Dunno.
Just a thought.

I think I'll just pass, too many other better deals to be had.

hey Doug, is it possible for me to give you a call for a brief interview? I am located in Toronto, Ontario.



if you think is ok, please email me your contact info at zerggross@hotmail.com
thanks a bunch.

Daniel

Real estate agent in disguise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aaaahh! Paparazzi!

hah.

hey Doug thanks again for the call, very helpful.
i can't believe it's gonna cost me 420$ to record the memorandum, i probably will just skip it.

Time to rewrite it to just one page

Or you can do CAs so you don't have to record anything. I wouldn't do a SLO without recording something.

What?! $420 to record a Memo of Option?? What does Canada do with all that revenue? You guys must have one hell of a health care system, school system, and military.

PS: if you're not in the deal long term, (sandwich lease), no need to record a memo. Do the deal, get out, and move on.

I ran into the costly expence (they said it was a sales tax I said I didn't by anything it is a layaway plan) So I didn't record it I got a POA coupled with an intrest. $21....