Lisa's Blog

I am trying to close on an investment property where I have a 25% downpayment.  Problem is that with the current mortgage crisis, the banks do not want to loan to investors who own more than 10 properties.  Is there anyone out there who would put this $120,000 mortgage into their name if I front the 25% downpayment and we can partner up on the deal - share the appreciation, tax write offs, etc.?  If interested, please contact me asap.

I come to you with a heartbreaking story.  Someone called me to rent a home that I personally own.  When I asked the prospective tenant why his family was moving, he told me the most heartbreaking story.  They were moving to be close to the hospital and rehabilitation facility of his 21 year old daughter who was driving home on Father's Day when the roads were slick with rain.  Someone else was speeding...and hydroplaned...doing circles around the highway...and that car pushed his daughter's car into a ditch.  Now his 21 year daughter is lying in a hospital in a coma, blind in both eyes, with her face crushed and every bone in her face broken, with brain damage...and she will never live a normal life again...all because someone else was driving carelessly.

This story really affected me.  It could happen to us or to anyone we know and love.  So folks, please drive sober and please drive safe.  The life that you ruin may not be your own.  

Today, I received a call from a potential buyer who told me that he wanted to make an offer on my listing.  I asked who had shown him the house and he did not want to tell me.  He said that he wanted to deal with the listing agent directly (because he falsely thinks that he would get a deal on the commission).  I told him that I would like him to make the offer through the agent that showed him the home.  He told me that he has worked with several agents over the last month and isn't sure who showed it to him.

So I pulled up the Supra lockbox log and called every agent who has shown the home since I listed it 2.5 weeks ago and no one has owned up to knowing this buyer.  My thought is that the seller must have opened the door to let the agent and buyer in since the agent's info is not registered in the lockbox log.  There is no card at the house for anyone whose name was not on the lockbox log.  So now I have no idea which agent showed the house to this buyer.  I am trying to do the right thing so that this agent receives credit and gets paid for their work (it is not their fault that this crafty buyer is trying to circumvent the system), but with no business card and no reading on the Supra log, I just don't know who it is.

Agents, please always place your keypad in the lockbox so the listing agent knows who is showing the home.  I spent over an hour today trying to track the agent for this buyer down and now someone isn't going to get paid for their work (unless we can figure it out later - after the contract has been written and other work has been done). 

I  found this CNN.com article to be so inspiring that I just had to post it.  What an amazing feat for this 57 year old woman to run 20,000 miles around the world in 5 YEARS in order to bring about cancer awareness following the loss of her husband.  Sleeping in a trailer type tent that she carried with her, she ran through the heat of summer and the cold of Siberia.  What an amazing woman!

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/06/19/davies.uk.granny.runs.round.world.itn 

My phone has been ringing off the hook here in central New Jersey with people looking to rent homes.  I have never, in 19 years, had so many phone calls from potential tenants.  I also have properties that I own which have been for rent out of state which have all rented quickly.  The paradox to this is that there seem to be so many homes for rent on the market, yet the potential tenants are telling me that they are having a hard time finding homes because no one returns their calls.  This does not make sense.  People are telling me that they are calling rental agencies and Realtors who have listings on MLS who are not returning their calls.  No wonder there are an abundance of rental listings on the market - if agents aren't calling them back, then how is their inventory going to get rented?

I know that most agents prefer to concentrate their time on sales, however the landlord with the vacant home and the tenant looking for a home are real people and deserve respect just like buyers and sellers do.  Not calling someone back can truly affect someone's life.  If an owner's house is sitting vacant for months because his/her agent is too busy doing other higher priority activity and doesn't taking renting that house seriously, people can wind up in dire financial straits and even foreclosure.  In my opinion, every person deserves respect no matter if it is a sale or 'just a rental'.

What is it with people whose houses are going in to foreclosure and with banks who own foreclosed homes?  Why can't they take responsibilities for their lawns?  Recently, I drove through a neighborhood where about 10% of the homes had lawns like these photographed.  Who would want to buy into a community that looks like this?  People want the market to recover, then let the homes look marketable. It is so sad to see these nice homes be so neglected.

I am an investor with 10 mortgages, a 750 credit score and 25-30% downpayment.  All of the banks are telling me that guidelines have recently changed and most banks won't loan to a buyer with more than five mortgages.  Can anyone help me obtain a loan that is not hard money for an investment property which I want to buy and hold?  I am also open to private money options if anyone knows of someone willing to lend at a decent rate for a loan secured by real estate.  Contact me for more info on the property at Lisa@LisaFriedman.com

Any thoughts would be appreciated, thank you.

Hello Active Rain Community,

I am seeking your help.  I am an investor with 10 mortgages, a 750 credit score and 25-30% downpayment.  All of the banks are telling me that guidelines have recently changed and most banks won't loan to a buyer with more than five mortgages.  Can anyone help me obtain a loan that is not hard money for an investment property which I want to buy and hold?  I am also open to private money options if anyone knows of someone willing to lend at a decent rate for a loan secured by real estate.  Contact me for more info on the property at Lisa@LisaFriedman.com

Any thoughts would be appreciated, thank you.