I need help pulling comps on a condo. I searched (manually anyway, is there not a ‘Search’ feature on this site?) and came across the Ditech and Yahoo sites but neither have provisions for an apt # or unit # and as a result the results weren’t helpful in this situation. I found a Condo that is bank owned and needs work, lots of it. The last line of the add is in all caps ‘MOTIVATED MAKE OFFER’ So I’m thinking this might be the one. I also need to know what steps I take… do I offer contingent on approval of ‘partner’ or do I have it looked at prior to offer? I also need to know who I call to check out for repairs. Someone looked at it for me already and said there was a VERY strong odor of mildew so it will require some work. I just need to know who to send over and when to check it out and let me know what it’ll cost.
Thanks for the help and I’ll post more questions in this thread as they come up. Fingers crossed this one could work out.
Hey Jeremy,
Do you have a appraiser and or Realtor that you are working with if so ask them to pull comps they can do it real quick! Make sure though that they are not trying to compare a t-bone to a hotdog if you know what I mean!!! Best of luck
I don’t yet have either one. My mother was condo shopping and her Realtor (who I can’t stand because he’s not very good at what he does) showed it to her. It was quite a bit less than what she was looking for for her residence but knowing what my aspirations are, she immediately thought of me. She emailed me the info along w/her findings from looking at it. It seems right up my alley as I truly believe the bank wants out if this one any way possible. I was thinking about using her Realtor just because he’s handy and knows the details on the property. I would rather find someone who I trust and want to work with on an ongoing basis as this commission (albeit small) will help solidify a Realtor/investor relationship versus starting out asking a Realtor to do tons of work w/no compensation. This little snack of a commission would be a better start to that end. I also need an appraiser who can look it over and tell me what it’s worth as it sits, what it needs done (assuming they give this general info) and what it could sell/rent for once this work is complete. Am I in the right thinking about this or will I have to contact someone else to tell me what needs to be repaired and at what cost? I really want to pull the trigger on an offer but don’t want to put the cart ahead of the horse since this is my first deal. I can’t really afford to learn the hard way if a few extra days of research could save me from making the same error.
I’ve reading every post in this forum and have paid special attention to your posts as you are in the same state and appear to have figured it out for the most part. Best thing I can figure to do is study those who are where I want to be.
Condo’s are rough right now as far as fix and flips is this in the Denver area? I buy and hold right now I think I will do things different as soon as there are not over 30,000 properties on the market in Denver area! Back when it was good I fixed and fliped everything now I just hold Denver is really a great place to invest I know for fact it is going to boom here is going to be 3-4 years before it does but it is nothing more the a 10 year cycle out here in 1995 you could not buy here unless you were bidding 5k over asking price in 1985 the bottom fell out you can trace this all the way back to the 1940’s so I am going off history and of course are new mass-transit system they are saying that house prices will go up by 40% over the next 5 years so that is huge enough for me its not Florida but I am also buying 2500sf house in a real nice area with great lot for 200k and you can’t beat our weather!
Make sure that you understand all of the Condo rules before starting! For instance:
(1) Are there limits on what sorts of construction you can do on the unit?
(2) What is the monthly condo fee? What does it include?
(3) Can you rent the condo to another party after you complete the work? Some condo associations have a cap on the number of units that can be rented out (i.e., 70% owner occupied, etc.)
What is the price that the condo is listed for and what rent would it bring?
I would make the offer contingent upon an inspection by a qualified inspector and an appraisal.
As for the mildew, there HAS to be a water problem. Once you find the water problem and correct it, you will have to abate the mold…depending upon the problem this might mean some “Kilz”, some paint, and some carpet or it might be serious and costly.
Can you give me any ideas on how to put together my ‘team’ of professionals? For instance, I’ll need an inspector and appraiser (right?) as well as a banker and realtor amongst many others. I have an accountant that I think is going to be a good fit, but how can I be sure? I still want to check into this condo more but am not sure how to go about making sure I do the steps correctly. Thanks for the continued help.
That would be the best way, especially if you know someone. The Condo Association is going to want to charge you and it ain’t cheap – usually $100 or so for a small binder of poeerly Xerox’ed convenants.