You’re trying to sell a Berkeley County WV house that just won’t sell?
And yet - the news says the real estate market is heating up. The media is practically shouting again about multiple offers, high demand, and record-setting prices.
So where’s your contract?
These tips could be just what you need to help you sell in local Tri-State Area.Martinsburg West Virginia, Hagerstown, Washington County Md, Frederick Md, Franklin County PA
Why won’t my house sell? - 6 Tips To Cure It

1) Get good help.
Just like before, there are novice agents and investors rushing into the booming market trumpeting that they know what they’re doing.
But they don’t. They’re getting hit hard with the nuances of financing, deal structure, and evaluation. Seriously, chances are good that real estate is your biggest investment – don’t trust just anyone’s advice. If you want great results, partner with the pros.
The Team at MDWVHomebuyer.com have been buying and selling homes for many years and Bill is a licensed agent to make sure your property is getting closed correctly and quickly.

2) Don’t make too many improvements.
Too often we see over-improved properties – those where the owners have gone too far. Even with the best of intentions, exceptional craftsmanship and true artistic talent, it’s incredibly challenging to exceed what the market is paying. Plus, most buyers want to add their own custom touches. Get rid of all the clutter and think “neutral”.

3) Do make necessary improvements.
Unfixed stuff scares buyers. Show that you’ve been a responsible property owner and get all the little details fixed.
Don’t leave gaps in the trim or plates off of the switches. Get it inspected by a professional home inspector, and show off the healthy home report. This goes a long way towards establishing confidence that they’re making a good purchase.

4) Style and design matters.
Curb appeal is as important as the inside – so don’t neglect one part of the property to improve the other. Give buyers a cohesive impression of great style. Paint the walls, update the landscaping, and most of all – keep it immaculately clean. Consider hiring a professional designer to help tastefully stage the property.
 Curb appeal Matters!

5) Pricing matters a lot.
If you’re getting a lot of showings but not a lot of offers, you might not be too far off in price. If your best efforts to advertise your property aren’t making the phone ring, you’re probably overpriced.
6) Every property will sell - sometime.
There’s no magic formula - but there’s no substitute for experience.
If you need to sell a house near Martinsburg, we can help you. We buy in the Tri-State are of WV, MD and PA.
We buy properties like yours from people who need to sell fast.

Give us a call anytime [304-313-4099] or fill out the form here today!

MDWVHomebuyer.com is a Berkeley County WV based company that specializes in Paying Cash for your home and helping sellers with properties that they need to sell fast.

There isn’t nearly a day that goes by I don’t have some type of conversation about real estate with someone. As with most people, these conversations are often with co-workers. The genesis of TheInvestingFireman.com was to help share my journey in real estate with folks, especially those that wear the uniform, how you can invest in real estate on a civil servant income. However, regardless of what you do for a living, I feel this article can apply to you.

The jurisdiction I work for has a schedule that is referred to as a 24/48 which means I work 24 hours at the firehouse and then I am off for two days. So my typical day for work starts at 3:45 AM, quick morning routine and I’m off. I’m pulling into the firehouse just before 5 AM, usually jamming out to a podcast or audiobook. Once I get my gear squared away and do the check of my riding position, it is time for a cup of coffee and some administrative work. I’m officially on-duty for the next 24 hours now and the person I relieved is free to go home.

So what the hell does this have to do with real estate? I’m getting there, promise. We go to work and we trade time for money; we all do it to some extent.  Some of us love our jobs and get there an hour early☺! Some of us contemplate hitting the nearest telephone pole on the way in so we don’t have to spend another miserable day in cubicle hell.

Here’s where the real estate part comes in…finally. Ask yourself; is your only source of income your W-2 job? Maybe you have a little side hustle mowing grass or turning wrenches. Those are all great! Wouldn’t it be cool to have something that produces a little bit of income everyday whether you were there or not? Behold the power of rental homes! This month, I work at my firehouse job nine days. Nine days where I have to be away from my family, at the firehouse to earn money. All 31 days of the month, 24 hours a day, my rental homes have dripped money into our business account. This all happened whether I was at the firehouse, the gym, sleeping or out of town. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job but how cool is it to have something feed your bank account without trading time for money?!

Recently, I just got my quarterly statement for my retirement accounts that are, as you would expect, in the stock market. Every single one of them has gone down this year! They go through this up and down crap that drives me crazy. Our real estate has stayed relatively unchanged in value. It might appreciate a couple percent a year BUT it produces a little income every day it is occupied. I love that consistency in my life, especially my financial life. We can’t really control our “retirement accounts” nearly as carefully as you can control a piece of real estate.  

For example, we bought a two unit building a few days ago that is already occupied. The day we took ownership of it, we had equity in the property (we paid less than it was appraised for), it had two apartments producing income ($1,400 to be exact) and when it is time to renew leases, we can make some improvements and increase rents. How cool is that?! We can control our financial future much more than if we bought 100 shares of XYZ stock. It isn’t sexy, it is actually boring but it is consistent and I like that.

So, could you benefit from some consistency? If so, I challenge you to get started. Buy ONE rental house in 2019.

If you’ve thought about “doing real estate” but haven’t jumped in yet or don’t know where to start, shoot me an email. If you’re local, we can grab a cup of coffee or lunch and chat. One of my personal goals for 2019 is to help at least one person (originally was to help one public safety professional) buy an investment property. I’d love to try and help you. In full disclosure, I’m not an expert. I’m not a blogger. I’m just a fireman ☺

How do we make cash flow out of thin air? The Buy, Rehab, Rent, and Refinance strategy is an amazing strategy for building wealth. This is how I did it in one of my successful projects.

When using Private money to purchase rental property its imperative that you know your exit strategy going in when you purchase it. Exit strategy can mean two things, one what is your end use and two how are you going to release your private money from the deal. In this case we are going to be discussing releasing/freeing up your private lenders money so that you can put it back to work for you.

The velocity of money is a term that refers to how quickly you can move your money from one transaction to another. In real estate the longer it is locked up in one deal then the slower you’ll be able to grow your business. If you can move your money out of each deal in 6 months rather than 12 months you can potentially double your rental portfolio each year!

At this point in my investing career I was using one lender that had a seasoning period of 12 months and I needed my private lender to give me more money to do multiple deals. Its better to move your money out of a deal quicker and put less of a burden on your private lender. Instead of having to borrow more money, you can turn it quicker and make your business and your private lenders money more efficient.

Through direct marketing I found a house, the owner had it in his family for many many years. He was retired and working on it very slowly, he had done many quality improvements. He had repaired the foundation, new windows, new furnace and tank, updated kitchen and flooring. There was only some minor work to make it rent ready which included some trim working and painting. It needed a Fridge and stove.  I had tenants lined up for this property. I had made a offer of 50K and he was currently at 70K. We were to far off at that point so I stayed in touch and over the next several months we go closer on price. He said he would come down and sell for 65K and I said I would still be at 55K. A little more time went by and I was still ready to go at 55K, this was a good deal at that price. He said he could do 55K all cash close quick. Having to wait a year to move money around is not ideal so its best practice to find a local lender that can do it in no more than 6 months. I didn't have the money ready to go so I purposed this idea to him I will pay you 30K now and in 13 months I will pay you the other 25K. He said I will do that deal but for 60K. I said you throw in the lawnmower, leave the materials and paint and I will do that. He agreed and that set the wheels in motion for me to get this deal closed.

My comps suggested that the property was worth at least $80,000 and possibly a little more.. At $80,000 I would be able to get $64,000 at a 80% loan to value. Even at $75,000 appraisal I would get $60,000 loan to value, so I would only be in to this property the two closing costs.

We closed the deal, my private lender pitched in the $30,000 and I paid the closing. I had the trim work finished and purchased the refrigerator and stove. The Stove I found on craigslist, it was relatively new, half price and cleaned up well. The tenants agreed to paint the three rooms if I provided the paint. I trusted them to do a good job and they did.

The rent for this home is $800 a month and tenants pay utilities. Its a 2 bed 1 bath. The 2% rule would say that this property should be purchased for $40,000. That was not going to happen and the location and condition of this property made it a good deal at $60,000. This would be considered a 1.3% property but when you consider after refinance I will potentially have zero money in the deal I felt it made sense. I typically like to make sure I purchase homes between 1.5% and 2% rent to ARV ratio.

The monthly payment was $246.39, taxes and insurance are around 1K per year.  Cash flow was $470.28 after PITI (principal, interest, taxes, insurance)

The property was cash flowing and after 12 months I started the refinance process. The Bank asks for the lease, my personal finance statement and past tax returns. They will give a cash out refinance at 80% of the appraised value. The one thing to consider is that based on your debt service coverage ratio of your whole portfolio they may have a cap they will lend you on the property. Its important to understand that concept and to ask many questions. They send an appraiser out to the property.  I made sure my tenants knew when they are coming and to make sure the grass is cut and the home looks presentable. I usually meet the appraiser there and bring comps that justify my value and you may want to have a list of any major rehab items that have been done by you or the past owner.

The appraisal came back at $84,000 which means that I could refinance $67,200 for the property. This meant I would have no money into the deal and could walk away with a check. I could pay off my private lender who I had the money at 10%, pay off the owner for the other 30K and have zero money in the deal. I chose to pay off all my expenses in the deal and not have to take any money to the closing. The new payment would be $360.28. My cash flow would be 359.39 after PITI.

At closing my seller was super happy and he asked if I wanted any of his newly baby chicken hatchlings. I said I would pass but keep me in mind for more houses! My private lender was happy because I moved that money into the next deal. I was happy even thought  I passed on the free chicks and my tenants are happy with their new home. It was one big happy family and I was getting cash flow in the end!

These types of deal make so much sense but it all depends on finding great deals that are win / win scenarios for both the buyer and the seller. If you know of anyone that has a home to sell like this one please have them call me or refer them to www.webuymartinsburg.com!   Happy Investing!

As we talked about in the Part I of this post, I had saved up some money to get started, made a focused effort on obtaining education and I was ready to take action. Nervous but ready to take the leap.

Early on I identified the type of property I wanted to start with: the duplex. In our part of the country it is common to have what we call duplexes and they are just semi-attached homes that share a common wall. For me, one of the attractive parts of a duplex was there were two units. Even if one was vacant, the other unit being rented would cover my mortgage.

 I teamed up with a Realtor I had met who was investor friendly and also loaned money. She showed me several duplexes throughout the market I had identified. I’m not sure how many I looked at before I made an offer but eventually I pulled the trigger and made an all cash offer on a duplex that I had found. As it turned out, the duplex I offered on was owned by an accidental landlord who was moving out-of-state and they didn’t owe anything on the property. (What I would later learn is AWESOME!).
 
The duplex I offered on was listed around $125,000 and I offered $101,000. I don’t recall how I came up with that number because I had not discovered Bigger Pockets or the 2% rule, yet. Since it was my first property, I paid to have a home inspection done and they cited a several items (as they all do). When I received the inspection report, I took it to the seller and showed them the repairs that were needed. They offered to give me a seller credit to make the repairs. After some negotiation and obtaining quotes for the repairs, I was able to get a credit of around $18,000.

Now you might be wondering how I made a cash offer for $101,000 when I said I only saved up $5,000 to start. Well, like I said I was working with a Realtor who also lent money. So, between her, my money and borrowing some from a family member, I was able to get the purchase and rehab done.
While the repairs to the property were warranted, some of them I did were what I would later come to know as over improvement. Once completed, these units were both 3 bedrooms/1.5 baths on each side and rented for $925/ month plus all utilities. They were nice and they rented relatively easily.

Repairs to the property had run around $20,000. So, I was all in this property around $105,000 by the time you figured closing costs, holding costs, etc. I really thought because this property was built in 1985 and all the comparable sales were built in the early 1900’s, mine would appraise much higher. WRONG.  The appraisal came back around $125,000 which was about $25,000 less than I thought it would.

Knowing what I know now, it shouldn’t have been a surprise for it to come in at that number. At the time, it was like a kick to the stomach. The bank I was doing the refinance through would allow 70% of the appraised value to be pulled out with the re-fi. I was able to get a check at closing around $87,500 to pay off the folks I borrowed the money from. However, this left me short of getting all the money back out by about $18,000. So, I did a little more learning by doing and worked out a secondary loan for the remainder and gradually paid it off.

That was the day I learned how important ARV’s were ☺

You might be saying “see?! That’s why I don’t do real estate! It’s risky!” At the end of the day, I didn’t lose any money and I learned SO MUCH from doing my first deal. Did things go as planned? Not 100% but do they ever? In my opinion, it is more risky to leave your livelihood solely in the hands of your employer or one source of income. This property was the first next step to me securing the financial independence I sought and taking action for my families’ future…because remember...“if not me, then who?”

Mike is a partner with MDWVHomebuyer.com, a real estate investment company in the Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania markets. Mike is a co-founder of the Berkeley County Real Estate Investor MeetUp – a networking group specializing in investment real estate. He works full-time as a career fire lieutenant with a mid-sized fire department in the Washington D.C. / Baltimore Metro area. Currently, he resides in Maryland with his wife and son. For more information or to connect, visit MDWVHomebuyer.com.

  @TheInvestingFireman

 August 2018
I remember the day it happened. It wasn’t long after we found out we were expecting our son and as I sat on the couch that evening, I felt several emotions. Excited, scared and grateful were just a few of the feelings that dart through you when you realize you’re now responsible for another human being.
At the time, my only source of income was my full-time position as a fireman with a mid-size fire department in the Washington D.C./ Baltimore metro area. It is an amazing career and one I have wanted to do since I was very young. Most kids want to grow up and become professional athletes, astronauts, etc. Me? I wanted to be a fireman. After graduating from college and having a management position for a few years, I decided to pursue firefighting and have done so for 10+ years. However, my entrepreneurial thirst wasn’t always quenched with the work and there were things I wanted to do that firefighting wouldn’t be able to provide.

After the initial wave of emotion, I found myself dreaming of all the events, experiences and moments our soon-to-be family of three would share. One experience in particular had me curious; the quintessential American kid vacation…Disney. Then I wondered what it would cost to go there. A few minutes later a number north of $5,000 was staring back at me.
A few quick calculations and I realized that based on my income at the time, it would be in the neighborhood of two extra months of work. Great! I can afford to take my family but it’s at the expense of spending time with them.

That was the day I decided to do something different. I began to devour every piece of information I could find about franchises, businesses, real estate and more. Over the course of the next few months I evaluated everything from buying into a SUBWAY, Liberty Tax, lawn care business, real estate and carpet cleaning company. I kept coming back to real estate. Something about real estate always seemed to interest me. Even better, it provided what I initially set out to find: a way to not trade time for money. It was a way to leverage both.

The more I began to research real estate and the many facets of the way you can participate in it, the more I began to think of the possibilities. So, as I continued down my education path, I started to work overtime shifts and a part-time job to acquire some money to get started. How many times I’ve heard “I’d love to do real estate but I don’t have the money”…guess what?! You can find a way or you can find an excuse but you can’t do both! I had saved up about $5,000 working extra shifts and a part-time job and I had found my new vehicle to reach my financial goals and quench my entrepreneurial thirst: rental homes.
In my next post, I will outline the highlights of my first deal, what I learned and my journey since that time. With these articles, it is my hope to share with anyone, especially public safety professionals, which are willing to learn how financial independence from real estate is possible. So, how many sources of income do you have? What if you got hurt or for some reason could no longer put on your uniform anymore? How would you provide for your family? Are you going to count on someone else to show up, pay your bills and keep food on the table?

 I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes by fallen Marine 1st Lieutenant Travis Manion:  “If not me, then who?”
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Mike is a partner with MDWVHomebuyer.com, a real estate investment company in the Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania markets. Mike is a co-founder of the Berkeley County     Real Estate Investor MeetUp – a networking group specializing in investment real estate. He works full-time as a career fire lieutenant with a mid-sized fire department in the Washington D.C. / Baltimore Metro area. Currently, he resides in Maryland with his wife and son. For more information or to connect, visit MDWVHomebuyer.com.

I recently watched a special about college football coach Nick Saban getting his Alabama team ready for the upcoming college football season. He is widely respected as the best in the business and a native of West Virginia. He has won six national championships, tied for the most of all time.

He runs a large organization and as a CEO his focus is on vision and performance. A clear mission (We will win the SEC conference and win a national championship) has become the standard for his organization/team.

In a full team meeting, he told his team that because of their past successes, people were starting to copy them and hiring people from their organization to find out how they do what that do. He told them that What We Do and How We Do It are now more important. What we do - Do the right things. How we do it - Do it the right way.

He told them they are on top and they are now the hunted. The differentiating factor will be Mental Toughness. We will have to do the right things and do them the right way every time but when it comes right down to it if you can be mentally stronger you will win the battles that will in the end win the war.

He explained what he believed mental toughness to be.. How much does it take to break you?
When you start to wear down and lose focus that is when you lose your mental toughness. That is when you make mistakes and one mistake can lose the game.

He explained, to maintain the discipline to do what you are supposed to do, when it is supposed to be done, the way is it supposed to be done will be in direct proportion to your mental toughness. Will you let the process break you? Will you let the competition break you? That is the real question. Understand What and How then make sure you don’t back down.

How does this translate to your real estate business? Very simply, Make sure your daily actions are in line with your priorities. When you are doing the right things you have to make sure you are doing those right things correctly. Finally as Winston Churchill famously said
“Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

If you want it bad enough you can have it. Period