Ryan O’Neill, from the Minnesota Real Estate Team, is our guest writer today.

Here in the Minneapolis real estate market, agents on our team have seen a number of real estate investors over the years who have purchased condos or lofts as investment properties. Though there is no “one size fits all” approach to buying investment property, I wanted to briefly touch on some of the benefits to you as the buyer with this type of property.

First of all, a loft or a condo generally speaking has a much lower level of maintenance. My wife and I have owned a number of single family homes in Bloomington since 2001. Though I am certainly not displeased with this type of investment property choice on our part, I have had to spend a sizable amount of capital on roofs, siding, and windows over the years. As an investor in today’s market, I certainly do not discourage investors from a single family home. However, if you do buy a single family home, it will definitely save you money long term by buying homes that do not require these sorts of updates.

Secondly, a loft or a condo does not require the normal sort of lawn and snow care maintenance that a single family home does require. Last week I received a call that one of my tenants was moving out of his rental home here in Bloomington. And course we received about a foot of snow since he has left. As the owner of the home, it is my responsibility now to remove the snow myself or hire a company to do so. Again, if this tenant was renting a loft or condo, there would be no such maintenance on my part as the owner.

Obviously, a condo will have a monthly association fee that will affect your monthly cash flow. However, with the current state of the market here in the Twin Cities, even condos and lofts cash flow after the association fees. And there are a ton of them for sale on the MLS.

Lastly, our team is excited to have put together a collection of the various Minneapolis condos for sale. We spent a lot of time putting together this loft and condo guide for all of our investors and owner occupied buyers alike. It is full of pictures of the myriad projects available here in our Minneapolis real estate market.

Incidentally, I wanted to congratulate Scott Ficek for being voted The 2008 Agent of The Year for The Minnesota Real Estate Team! Scott won award through the votes of his peers, our team of 40 real estate agents. Congratulations and thank you for providing such an awesome blog for Minnesota real estate investors!

Happy Real Estate Investing to all of you in 2009!

It seems like the banks that are selling the foreclosed properties (REO banks) are trying to rewrite Minnesota law!  I am constantly bombarded by their version of purchase agreement and 100% of them require the buyer to sign a “bank addendum” after they accept the offer.

Many of these REO banks also believe that they are not required to sign a seller’s disclosure or the seller’s disclosure waiver.   Minnesota Statute 513.52 -513.60 (Seller Disclosure law) requires a property owner of an existing residential property (including banks selling bank-owned foreclosed properties) to make a written disclosure to a prospective buyer, prior to entering into a purchase agreement, including all material facts of which the seller is aware that could significantly or adversely affect an ordinary buyer’s use or enjoyment of the property or any intended use of the property of which the seller is aware.

The Seller Disclosure law does allows a buyer to agree to a waiver of the seller disclosure requirements under Minnesota Stat. 513.52- 513.60.  Such a waiver must be in writing signed by the buyer and the seller.  Often the bank will argue that they are exempt from signing anything because they have never occupied the property or because the property was acquired through foreclosure.

Other times the bank (and some short sale sellers) will claim the buyer is agreeing to buy the property “as-is”. Selling a property “AS-IS” DOES NOT eliminate the seller’s obligation to make required disclosures regarding the property. A seller is still required to give, and a prospective buyer still has the right to receive, the required written disclosures from the seller even if the seller is demanding that the property be sold “AS-IS.”  The “AS-IS” is not a “waiver” of any disclosures that are required by federal state and local government regulations to be provided by the seller.

So if you are buying properties in Minnesota, make sure you demand to receive the seller’s disclosure.  Even though the waiver may not tell you anything, it is still your right to receive it.

Have you always wanted to buy investment property, but never knew where to start? Don’t Wait! Get Started now.