All Forum Posts by: Bill Hamilton

Again....hmmm. While I understand you not wanting to cost the RE agent her license, this is business.  Real estate exams are supposed to be comprehensive and difficult for a reason. And managing brokers exist for that same reason. It is not that I doubt she is a nice person and was acting from good motives. It's just that it doesn't really matter. If she doesn't understand her responsibilities under the law, then it is best that she move on to a less taxing career. In Colorado, real estate agents function (in real estate matters) as attorneys to a great extent under Colorado law. The ability to write legally binding contracts etc, etc.  What if instead of low balling on this offer, she had offered $30k in the other direction without your approval? While I imagine you would still have been able to back out of the offer, what if this was a no contingency offer (common currently in Colorado)? Or at best it costs you your earnest money? In Denver that earnest money could be huge. I am not saying be vengeful or to try and punish this person, but RE is for most people the largest investment they will ever make. If the person representing you doesn't understand, the legalities, the seriousness and their fiduciary responsibilities, they are best off doing something else in life. I will tell you that I personally know former RE agents that made errors that were done with the best of intentions but ended up with felony convictions for mishandling transactions. And one of these is someone I have known personally for a very long time. They don't have a dishonest bone in their body. They just did not understand or pay attention to the letter of the law. It cost them dearly in the long run. Point being, if someone doesn't get this they either need to be taught what they are doing is wrong or find another line of work. I am not trying to be harsh here. I just feel strongly on this point. I used to be on the mortgage side of things for many years and while most of did things the right way, I did see the aftermath of unknowledgeable or unscrupulous mortgage brokers. Things would have been less difficult had the poor ones been weeded from the pack earlier.

Hmmm. Bankruptcies, sign up for PACER so you can look at the filings (although I admit I don't know why the BK is an issue. Either the owners have the right to sell or they don't  but I am probably missing an approach or something there). Other liens etc. I run an O&E report. My title company charges me $5.00 for that. While not title insurance, it is the report on which they will base their title insurance policy. Judgments......call the lien/judgment holder and ask for a payoff. If you don't want to do that yourself, order full title from your title company and ask them to do it. It will cost you but they are quite good at getting the right answer,

I don't know if others will agree with this, but I would call the bank directly at this point. Tell them the realtor was operating without your authorization and then call the realtors broker and tell them what happened. Realtors are not allowed to change your offer. Period. They can advise you and choose to drop you as a client if you fail to take their advice. But they cannot make a contractual offer on your behalf without your consent. I would guess the realtor can potentially lose their license over this. Or worse. Depending on how the laws are written in your state, this could be considered fraud, misrepresentation etc. This is not a small matter. Just my opinion. 

I don't know how easy this is to find, but my  CPA is also my attorney. And yes, he is licensed both ways. For me this is the best of all worlds. I can tell/ask him anything and it is covered under client/attorney privilege. And I don't have to pay additional to ask a CPA tax questions and then pay someone else for advice on legal issues that involve the same property or deal.

I agree with @Bill S.. Snowmass/Aspen would put most areas in the country to shame when it comes to high cost. Do a search on the cost per square foot in Aspen. Haven't done it myself but I bet it comes out comparable or higher than Manhattan.

You really can't do normal due diligence in these circumstances. Either rely on your gut instinct or just pass on the deal. Keep in mind that while politically I may not really be in favor of H-1B workers, they know they are on an incredibly short leash. If you can get income verification from their employer, then they are probably golden. If they lose their employment, they get deported so they are generally not going to cause any problems. Keep in mind that the US government has already done a background check on them prior to allowing them to a) enter the country and b) get a work visa. Not a huge supporter of the government in many ways but if they didn't find a reason to deny them a work visa, do you really think that any amount of research you have the resources to do will come up with a more accurate result? If so, I would think you are totally fooling yourself.

Okay, I hate to pipe in here when I am not really experienced in this arena but .@Mark Ferguson, as a realtor I am somewhat surprised that you think in any way, shape or form that it is okay for an unlicensed individual to act as a realtor and have other, unknown potential "buyers" walk through somebody else's house. There is probably a reason why every state I know of insists on a full, federal background check on anyone who wants to become a real estate agent. I know this will tick off people who are trying to wholesale but seriously, whether enforced or not, unless you have the ability and intent to buy a house based on it being a good deal, then you are illegally functioning as a real estate agent. @Jay Hinrichs nailed it on the head when he was working with an associate and remedied the situation by giving him a line of credit to perform.

The answer(s) to your question are too in depth for me to want to discuss in detail. But I will say, "it depends" is the proper answer. What is the Statute of Limitations on debt in your state. How old is each of the debts you are talking about. Or is it a lack of credit that is the problem. In most cases it is a combination of factors. Medical debt is not factored into the score the same way. I used to be a mortgage broker and a wholesale account executive. I have reviewed 10's of thousands of credit reports over the last 15 years. If you have access to some funds I can tell you how to get through a BK and end up with a 650 credit score in 4-6 months after the BK is discharged. I have seen people with a $75k medical judgment against them who had a 700 credit score. Paying off collections that are more than 2-3 years old will usually hurt your credit rather than help. Don't make small payments on outstanding debts (sorry @Scott Trench ). In most cases that will just stretch things out and make them worse. If you have funds available and the debt went to collections less than 2 years ago, then you might help things by working out a settlement with the collector. The reason to not pay partial payments or to pay on old collections is that the newer a bad debt is, the greater negative effect it has on your credit score. When you make a payment on an old debt (or even pay it off) it actually brings the DLA (date last active) to the current date and can cost you 100 points or more on your credit score. I know debt collectors will hate this response but it's the truth. If you go to a credit scoring tool such as the one that exists on myfico.com and play with the parameters you will see what I am talking about. I will agree that getting a secured card or a line of credit from someone like Fingerhut can help immensely. But only if you have the funds and the ability to make sure you make all future payments on time. Otherwise you are just making it worse. Credit repair is not rocket science but it is kind of an art. Every situation is different and it takes someone with experience to know the right answer. And sometimes what worked with one person or one debtor just won't work with another. Please keep in mind I am NOT an attorney and am not offering either legal advice nor credit counseling advice. The opinions expressed by me above are simply my opinions and observations. Please carefully choose appropriate professionals that are licensed in their fields to help you resolve any questions. 

I used to work Milpay for the USAF. Stuff happens and the military members don't get their pay. If I am in that situation as your renter, I really, really don't want to incur the stupid level of NSF charges from the bank that happens when I assume that the gov't has deposited my earned wages to my bank account and then it doesn't show up. The rent payment I ACH to you is almost certainly my largest bill. And if I send that to you before I know for absolute certain, that the money from my paycheck has hit my account, then I may have set myself up to owe the bank $100's if not $1,000's of dollars in late fees. This is just a personal opinion from someone who has personal experience of the military system (as many others here obviously do also) but I would have a talk with the tenants and see if these issues are part of their problem. If not, then they simply need to be on time with their payment. If these issues are part of their problem then maybe it would make sense to move their due date to the 5th or 6th etc of the month. Or maybe they make an extra half month payment and move their payment date to the middle of the month. Just a thought.

Probably total crud unless he can produce a document saying the principal balance has been reduced.