Rolling Along

My funds from the closed loan #13 have been reinvested in a new hard money loan #18. This one is actually a pretty sweet deal for the borrower. The property is a 4 bed, 2.5 bath two story single family home built in 1979. The property was purchased at auction for $105,000. Our loan is for the full amount. The property is currently occupied. The exterior looks to be in fairly good shape - new paint is needed and that's about it. No idea on the inside. Current value is estimated to be $180,000 and after rehab, about $195,000. So our LTV based on the after rehab value is 53%. Using the current value, it's 58%.

What makes this a good deal for the buyer is that it appears some websites might have led people astray. ForeclosureRadar.com, which is a site used by many of the people who buy at these auctions, lists the property as 1,649 square feet. In fact, our borrower was the only one who bid on it at the auction, probably for this reason. But a visit to the property shows it looks bigger. In fact, it turns out the property is about 2,049 square feet - a room was added on above the garage. And the work was done with the proper permits and the larger square footage is reflected in the tax records for the property.

The borrower is a first time customer for us, but he is a licensed Realtor and often buys properties for our biggest borrower, so he knows his stuff. He is also personally guaranteeing the loan. Looks like he did his homework and found a good deal. This is a good example of why I like to use official records when checking out properties.

In other news, the April financials for the Houston apartment complex are in.Occupancy remained stable at 93% and total income was up about $1,000 over March, mainly due to increased collection of late fees. We had another month of positive cash flow - about $4,300. The year to date positive cash flow is about $21,000. Mangement is cautiously optimistic that we will have a strong second half of the year. Some maintenance of the exterior wood will be starting in June, but it shouldn't affect cash flows as it will be paid for from the replacement reserve account that is in escrow with our lender.