All Forum Posts by: Alexis Monroe

Are you working with a realtor?

Hi Janus,

I am a Florida Realtor. Just to make sure I understand correctly, you are offering 75k for 2 homes as opposed to 150k for all 4 homes?

If so, essentially you are offering the sellers exact asking price as they are wanting to sell each home at $37,500. It will be up to the sellers to determine if they want to split up their 4 homes or Just find another buyer to purchase them all. (Usually, their decision will be based on the average days similar properties have been sitting on the market, average sale prices, and how quickly they want to sell) 

Realtors typically negotiate purchase price through a comparable market analysis. You will need to look up every home that sold in that area that had similar features as your home. For realtors, this information is in the mls but I think Zillow also now offers this information.

Choosing the right comparable homes are where you can get creative with negotiations and be able to convince the sellers why they should accept your offer. For example, If The seller is asking $37,500 for a 2bed 2bath but you found a 3bed 2bath In the same neighborhood, same upgrades, same features, etc that sold for only $38k, then you have every right to convince them their home isn’t worth $37,500 because your home is missing an entire bedroom and it’s not nearly as upgraded, etc. as the 3bed 2bath home.

But, this is a dance so you don’t want to offensive to the sellers if you really do want the property. 

At the end of the day, a home is truly worth the price that a buyer and seller both agree upon.

For closing costs, in Florida the buyer usually pays the closing costs one way or another. So, in the event the sellers accept your offer for 75k, they are actually agreeing to sell their homes much less than 75k as the closing costs will be subtracted from the actual purchase price. 

Oh and I recommend to always, always get an inspection! Whenever an inspection comes back, you can always re-negotiate based on what repairs are needing to be fixed. 

I hope this helps alittle and good luck!!

Hello,

I am a real estate agent and would like to start selling homes that are in pre-foreclosures. (Eventually, id like to purchase these homes myself but have to start somewhere)

Over the past few days,  I have finally finished compiling  my FREE list of all names, addresses and phone numbers of people that  have been issued a LIS PENDENS in my county from July 1-July 17. (109 homes)

Could anyone please give advice on how they initially approach the people that are near foreclosure to sell their home?

Do you recommend cold calling or going to their home? Should I tell them that I know their home is in pre-foreclosure? Or, just ask if they want to sell their home without mentioning pre-foreclosure? 

Any ideas, thoughts or advice is much welcomed!! 

In my past experience of trying to buy homes that are in pre-foreclosure, the owners seem to be very, very angry and are not okay with me taking the equity in their home. IN addition, they are in denial and still believe they can get their home back.  Do you ever run into these situations?

@Shawn McKehnie

I have been studying tax deeds for about a year now. I just flipped my first tax deed a few weeks ago!! I purchased vacant land for $2,300 and sold it for $12,500 4 months later. I'm also a realtor and law school student in the Tampa Area.  I had ALL of your same questions when I first started. 

1.  In Florida, A title search is required before the properties can go into a tax deed auction.  You can also search the title records in your county's public records website. You will have to look up all mortgages purchased under the owner of the properties' name. You can also run a search for municipal codes. There are ways to obtain title information FOR FREE. However, since this was my first deed, I went ahead and purchased a title from deeds.com just to be 100% sure there weren't any government liens that I was missing. (County and govt liens only survive the sale). Title companies typically do not rely on the county's version of the title search because they may not property notify all of the interested parties. 

2. Hospitals and utility liens do not exist after tax deed. The only liens that continue through the sale are government, county and sometimes HOA. (which means you will be responsible for) Most times, these county liens can be negotiated to a lower rate since you are the new tax deed purchaser. I don't see how an investor who does their due diligence can accidentally purchase a property with a government lien on it because in order for the lien to be official, the lien will need to be recorded on public record. IF the lien is not recorded in public record, then it does not exist. you must read public records for county liens and if your not comfortable googling public information, then purchase a title search. A title search tells you every person who currently has interest to that property and any persons that ever previously had interest.

3. When I initially purchased the property, I was planning to spend an additional $2,000 on getting a quiet title action. However, I was able to find a title company who was wiling to ensure my property because they were familiar with tax deeds and it was purchased from the bank. The title company explained that because the bank allowed the property to go into foreclosure, the title would be easier to insure. So, I got lucky with beating the 4 years that title companies are recommended to wait before insuring.  In the future, I plan to either use cleartosell company or a quiet title action to insure the property before selling it :)

Making sure your title is clear can be "complicated" because you basically have to do the job of the attorney yourself BEFORE you purchase the property so that you know if you can actually win the quiet title action or not. It just takes diligence and lots of reading to details. 

I hope this helps!!