Loan Closing And Apartment Financials Improving

The property behind hard money #14 has been sold and is supposed to close escrow this week. If it does, this will have been a 6 month loan, which is pretty good. (The mortgage note was for a one year term.) The property was rehabbed in two months and was on the market for four months.

Things are turning around slowly at the Houston apartment complex too. Occupancy for November was 90% and we saw a decline of about $3,000 in rent concessions as well. Revenue is up about $3,000 from the late summer months and $20,000 higher than March, which was the lowest month this year. Expenses dropped due to some management-negotiated utility rebates from overbilling. Management also waived some management fees - not sure why. Cash flow was about negative $1,600, the lowest it's been since February. Things definitely seem to be turning around. Rent concessions, while dropping, are still higher than I'd like to see. They are roughly four times higher than they were in January of this year and three times over the budgeted amount. If we can cut that expense down, the property will easily be back in the black. But that all depends on if the local economy can support that.

In looking at the income statement in more detail, I just noticed not only did management waive their fee in November, but they did in October as well. That's a $4,800 a month savings for the last two months. Obviously, that won't continue. And I believe our mortgage switches from interest-only to interest and principle soon after the first of the year. So we're not out of the woods yet, but we are on the right track.

Man Stands On Principles, Dares Bank To Foreclose, And Wins

I wrote last month about a guy who was willing to let his bank foreclosure on his house over $25 in fees the bank erroneously charged him and refused to reverse. Turns out the bank blinked and has agreed to the man's (entirely reasonable) demands and has canceled the foreclosure four days before the auction. Nice to see someone at the bank has some common sense.

House Now On The Market

Last time, I mentioned the property behind hard money loan #15 was about two weeks away from going on the market. I'm pleased to say it is now on the market! Below are some photos.

This is a bit interesting. The house isn't fully staged, just a few pieces of artwork on the walls and some plants. But I still think it makes the property show better than being completely empty.

The property is listed for $400,000. My partner's wife is the owner of this one and she bought it for around $299,000. When it was bought, our estimates of comps ranged from $375,000 (computer generated) to $400,000 (opinions of two real estate professionals who have lived in the area most of their lives). Our mortgage is for $220,000 or 74% LTV based on the purchase price. With the holidays approaching, I don't expect any movement on this until after the first of the year, but who knows.

Rolling Along

Nothing much new has been happening on the investment property front. My hard money loans are being paid on time. Operations at the Houston apartment complex were essentially unchanged for September (the last month I have data for) from August. As I mentioned after the last investor conference call, the property is currently losing money, but things are slowly turning around. Management expects a return to profitability in early 2011 and a resumption of investor payments at that time. I think some of the other investors are getting impatient for distributions to start again - management sent out a notice today reiterating what they said in the yearly conference call. I guess many of the investors were not on that call so didn't know the situation.

The property behind hard money loan #15 will be ready to be listed in about 2 weeks. Back when our borrower first got the property at a foreclosure auction, it was still inhabited by the prior owners and their brood - a total of 8 adults, 2 kids, and 3 dogs. The prior owner wanted $6,000 and 1.5 months to move out. We offered $1,500 and 4 weeks. He came back and asked for $3,000. We told him no way. He threatened to take all the windows when he left. I've now found out that we did have to hire an attorney to file a suit to get him out, but as soon as he was served, he moved out without damaging the property. It cost $900 for the attorney, so we saved $600 over what we had offered him and he got nothing from us.

The property for hard money loan #14 is still on the market. It went up for sale in mid-August for $499,000. Our borrower has dropped the price now to $475,000. If I was the seller, I'd drop the price more to sell it quickly, but as long as the borrower keeps paying, let him list it for whatever he wants :-) Even with the price reduction, he's got close to a $100,000 profit waiting for him when it sells.

I don't know the current status of the property behind hard money loan #13, but I received another payment on the loan yesterday, so it's current.