All Forum Posts by: Chris Seveney

@Shaniqua Dupree

 - sent you a PM

I had a friend who had an oceanfront vacation rental and the upkeep and maintenance costs are extremely high. If on the east coast, you will need to repaint the home and replace the HVAC system every few years. the salt and sand have extremely detrimental effect on the house and the upkeep. Also look at which flood zone it is in as flood insurance premiums can be in the thousands to tens of thousands per year depending on the cost of the home. 

As a newbie in northern Virginia I am curious to see what other investors which area they would recommend (and why) between Richmond virginia and Baltimore Maryland for buy and hold properties

What are pros and cons between both markets? 

Also curious where other newbies got started (areas) in the DMV since the immediate area has such a high barrier of entry.

If your buying a property that is $20-$25k below market value and is an auction property I would damn well want to do an inspection as you can spend that pretty quickly.

Also for a condo, make sure to get a copy of the condo documents as well as the last budget the association did. 

Also ask for information on the condo board and contact them and see if there are any special assessments planned or large capital purchases/improvements in the next five years.

Also ask what the HOA fees were for the last five years (to see a pattern if they are rising)

 I had a condo under agreement and the seller "forgot" to tell me there was a $7,000 special assessment (condos were selling for $40k) - when I went back to the seller they noted the price was based on the assessment. Needless to say the deal fell through.

I have been investing in tax liens for 2 years, I got my start by paying $99 for joanne Musa website. She has about 50 past videos on there that will teach a lot. I signed up for a month crammed in the lessons then cancelled. Stay away from paying $30-300 for training seminars on tax liens as I paid $30 for one and all the info provided was free on the web.

Use import.io - Its a web scraping software that is very easy to use. If you download the list from a site like realauction.com you can then get a ton of information on the properties. I have done this and it has been extremely helpful to sort through the thousands of liens some counties have to get to the properties which are worth focusing on.

@Seth Williams

 I was reading this post and if you would also send me some information that would be helpful as I have flipped one parcel of land I acquired off of a tax sale and now looking to do several others. If I could see what you send for postcards I would be grateful

thanks

Please note I have no affiliation or association with the website I note above - there are many sites to train on tax liens - I am sharing my experience with that site in particular. 

Best thing I did to learn about tax liens is pay $99 and join the taxlienlady.com

She has many videos on her site about tax liens and getting an understanding. I signed up for one month and crammed in a lot of videos and readings. I do not believe you need to purchase all the other materials they sell but it depends on your experience and how quickly you understand it.

Your questions are too much to answer in this forum as it relates to other liens and bankruptcies as it really depends on the situation. Like anything, the $ is not guaranteed and its a risk. Due diligence is the best way to avoid risks in any investment including tax liens. 

I am more interested in where you can buy a property for under $250k and rent it for $5000 a month