All Forum Posts by: Mark Graffagnino

Great News- she's dead!

Just a little humor there, but the mother in the above situation did pass away about 10 years ago and the daughter sent over the death certificate. So we were able to get clean title. The other trigger that I didn't mention was that the lender's deadline to get it paid off was June 5th.

We closed this afternoon. We loaned the seller the money, signed a deed and then will get a deed in lieu once the lender cancels their lien. According to the attorney there wasn't anything in the lender's documents precluding a sale on the seller's part....he was just nervous. After paying off all the outstanding property tax liens and utility liens, he isn't taking away much at all.

Thanks for all the input and feedback.
Mark

I like to have control over my assets. When you buy stocks or mutual funds you have no control, no way of increasing its value. You are just along for the ride, putting your faith in others to make your asset more valuable. I am not comfortable owning something that, because of something that happened over night in the Japanese or European markets, is worth 25% less today then yesterday.

Thanks for all the input. No, I won't do anything illegal or fraudulent. My attorney has reviewed and discussed with the lender to make sure we abide by the law. Unfortunately it looks like this deal may be doomed for another reason. House was originally owned by a mother and daughter jointly. When the curernt owner bought it, only the daughter signed the deed. She claimed her mother had died but we can't find a death certificate or other evidence of the death.....and it appears there is a 91 year old woman with the same name living nearby. Current owner is going to look thru his docs to see what he was given at closing, but my attorney says from the looks of it, it appears to be fraudulent. Add to that the attorney who closed that transaction was disbarred in 2009. Not giving up though, it is an awesome deal if it works out.

I've got a potential unusual situation on a deal. i had an offer accepted on a vacant house; owner is in default on the loan and way upside down. The lender told him "make us an offer" to buy the property outright. He got the lender to accept less than what I agreed to pay for the house and was going to pocket the difference....kind of like a wholesaler's fee. He is afraid that if the lender finds out he is getting some money at the closing they will kill the deal. Part of the spread is going towards paying off tax liens.

Has anyone ever done a deal like this and paid the seller a fee post closing? I'm thinking I might need some consulting/marketing services done after the closing and the seller would be the perfect guy to do that.

'04 Chevy Avalanche with 145K miles, bought in 2010. Fits my needs for the times when I do need a truck bed I have one. I like that it has a large back seat for the kids (its built on a Suburban frame) and the lockable panels that cover the bed are nice too.

This is my daily driver now but will probably become the property junker truck soon to be replaced by something more fuel efficient.

I pay a pest control company to do a quarterly quickie inspection/treatment. My lease says that the home was bug free when they moved in and if the pest control company determines that there is a new infestation caused by their dirty living habits, then they are responsible for the cost of the treatments to remove the problem.

This hopefully motivates the tenant to be more careful with things like leaving food out for days.

Hi Jan,

I'm in Atlanta also. I am a buy-fix-hold investor focusing mostly on intown properties. Let me know if I can help with anything.

Regards,
Mark

Hi Andy,

I am a contractor as well as investor (and transplant from Long Island). I'd be glad to talk with you also. I don't invest in Gwinnett. I focus on older intown properties. For $200K you could buy 3 houses that bring in $2,700-3,000 gross rents. Like everywhere else in metro Atlanta they are harder to find, but they are out there.

Mark

I guess they ended up renting another house; they haven't called back. But I was going to rent to them if everything else checked out OK. I agree with George, they probably would have been a good long term tenant.

Thanks for the input....and the laughs. Not sure if I'll approve but I know there will definitely be some kind of large pet deposit.