Mr. PFL and I apparently had the highest offer on the duplex, but the sellers went with a different offer due to financing. I spent almost the whole second quarter of Super Bowl 50 texting with the seller’s agent about becoming “pre-approved” in order for them to accept our offer. I did my best to explain that, due to our purchase through our LLC, we can’t be “pre-approved” like a traditional residential buyer. The big banks aren’t even interested in talking about a loan and our local bank treats this as a commercial transaction. The local bank wants a signed purchase contract and information about 2-3 years of profit/loss on the investment property before investigating loan terms. The seller’s agent did not even provide me with the current rent on the one unit that is occupied, so I am not surprised they went a different way.
Mr. PFL and I did see the vacant unit on Saturday afternoon. The location was perfect, but the unit needed some updating. It was small (probably 850 square feet). We could definitely envision ourselves at this property and realized just how much downsizing would be necessary.
Overall, this has been an interesting learning experience. It looks like cash will be king if we want to stay in the neighborhood. We’ll need to get creative to make that happen.