All Forum Posts by: Joel Owens

On reading books or courses NOTHING is ever FREE.There is always an intent behind it to get you to purchase something or take a specific action.

As for reading books for fun I go to Books a Million or Barnes and Noble and go to the real estate section.

I will go through books really fast while I am there.

Most books are a little bit of fluff with very little meat.Every blue moon I will start reading a book where every page is chocked full of great information.

I buy that book and add to my collection as I feel a book I can't blow through fast is worth the money spent.

Why do all these people sell courses??

It's much easier for them to do seminars and speaking engagements and sell books and tapes then it is to procure a deal !

Sure they have did it before and it's taken a lot of work. Many also send investors out like ants to do their dirty work to find that 1 in 1,000 deal they will partner with them on.

So just be cautious and learn as much as you can.

What about you purchasing a quad from Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac?Those are going for great rates in my area and you can live in one unit and rent out the other three.

With the FDIC they could let another bank take over Indy Macs assets or they could have sold all the notes off in a bulk sale.

You will have to dig at the FDIC site to see what happened.

If the owner is contemplating filing BK the property can be tied up for a very long time.Once they file BK they breathe a sigh of relief.It's when the BK is about to get a relief from stay that they want to play ball again.

Watch this property but don't get to invested in it.You can never control what happens to a property or what the seller will do so you have to line up many targets for acquisition.

Some you will blow off right away,others you will follow and possibly put under contract but won't work out,and then others you will buy.

Hey John,

In addition to what you said I have also found this to be true.

Just like you said the tenants talk and know which buildings pay late on the GOOD tenants also here about the great landlords who run their buildings right.

I sell apartment buildings for my sellers all the time. When a landlord has great occupancy and slightly above market rents it's because they screen properly.They also have good tenants lined up at the door to rent even though rent is slightly higher.

The reason is the landlord builds a rep for taking care of their buildings and when a problem arises the landlord fixes it quick.

Just like bad tenants you get slumlord landlords out there who don't want to fix anything and pack people in like sardines which is against city code health and fire ordinances.

So it all comes down to if you run your properties right and have bought them right to begin with then good tenants will find you.

If you have a run down piece of crap you will invite gangs,drugs,no pays,high turnover and everything else under the sun.

I believe at their core most tenants want a nice,clean place to live for an affordable rate.

If she is going to go that route another question is do you have the capability NOW to purchase another property before the credit takes a hit??

If based on income you can purchase another property before short selling that one to take advantage of the down market.

Then just put the title into a new company that you control so they can't lien it in the future.

If the seller doesn't want to buy anything and just wants out a short sale is probably best or if there is just one mortgage on the property a "Deed in Lieu" of foreclosure would be quicker.

Usually takes about 60 to 90 days for the lender to make sure title is clean before accepting.

DIL is especially favored by lenders in states with long redemption periods for the owner.The banks would much rather save damage to the property,foreclosing and court costs,and the market eroding further and get the property back today.

That might be a much better route for the seller than going through the nightmare of a short sale depending on who the lender is on the loan.

Also sometimes on a short sale if you submit financials and they deny the short sale you have given ammo to come after your assets.This is why many investors won't disclose all assets to the bank on a short and would rather let it foreclose.

If you have cash then you don't care about credit much. Traditional banks will look at credit but most commercial financing and other investments is project or LTV based.

I know many investors shedding properties as they have plenty of cash and don't want the headache of pumping negative money into and underwater property. Especially if the analysis shows even if they hold a few years they won't even break even.

Great topic

Yeah if the insurance company is going to pay the bank then try to fight the loss value to get the insurance check as high as possible.

This way you payoff as much of the mortgage as possible.

I am not saying fraud or anything of the like.What I am saying is insurance companies always low-ball the first claim payout. Think if nobody fights the value how much money they are saving to offset fraudsters out there that got one over on them.

So usually the first offer by insurance isn't their best offer.

You might find you don't even want this house and take the check proceeds.

Many in New Orleans took the check proceeds and told the bank they could have the properties.

You have the law which is mostly black and white with a little of a gray area and then you have ethics and integrity which is subjective and open to individual interpretation.

So look at your options but law and make a choice.I would check the contractors work and references before handing any money over but that is a whole other topic.

As for you to hold or short sale there are a ton of variables to consider. You need to run an analysis of possible exit strategies,the time lines,and the damage caused and emotional toll it will take on you.

First was this a rental you rented out simply because you couldn't sell??

In other words you didn't plan to get into investing and have no plans in the future to do more.

Right now every area is local in how the market is performing.Because of the foreclosure robo signing and lawsuits some banks have frozen putting property on the market.

This has built up a shadow inventory that once the banks checks come up clean that no problems occured many properties will hit the market REO.

So you need to analyze first what is your mortgage payoff?? This is different than your monthly payment stubs.Call your lender and order it to get the amount.Next do you have any other liens on the property??

Check title to make sure.

Next get a market snapshot from a local broker/agent.You want to know how much the market is depreciating per month,flat,or increasing and inventory levels.Average selling time and how many properties are being absorbed every month and how many are hitting the market.

When selling how much is the average concessions given?

If there has been a recent spike in values going up in the last 30 to 60 days most likely do not count it.It is most likely from a freeze on the foreclosures and a false spike in the market with supply and demand.

Once other properties are released the values will go down most likely further with a flooding of the market just like what happened with the home buyer tax credit when it expired.

Now that you have your payoff amount and data have the agent run market values for the bottom 50% of solds.

Then have the agent take away average concession,commissions,closing costs,etc. to give you your net number which is the payoff to the bank.Subtract that from your payoff amount to get an estimate of cash to close.

If it's a small number maybe you just get a promissory note.If It's a huge amount you could do promissory and than file BK afterwords.If you have a ton of other debt you need to wipe out a ch 7 might be best for you anyways.

Short sales impact your credit scores but you can get back up after about 1 year.

Hope this helps.

Man Mike that is some serious damage and expense.

It is true that if you get a judgment they are very hard to collect.Once you obtain judgment you can use collection companies that only make money on a percentage of what they collect for you and their is no upfront cost.

After the judgment in most states you can go for wage garnishment or a bank levy but only up to a certain percentage of income or funds.

With tenants you want to look at stable trends.If they pay late every month but pay the full amount plus the 100 fee and they stay there 3 years you have just made an extra 3,600 !

I would be more concerned with them being unstable and up and down and up and down (volatile).In many cases not having the rent is BS.They just decided to pay other things before you.

Just like people saying they don't have time to exercise but when you dissect their schedule and allocation of time there is plenty of time there. It's an excuse to not be responsible by overlooking time management and prioritizing your schedule.

At least with owning apartments sometimes you land more stable tenants if you screen right. If you are renting at a single house sometimes tenants see easy prey to get one over on a homeowner desperate to rent their house.

I think the whole point is that BOTH sides want to get the best representation possible.

Many new investors want to buy certain commercial properties but do not have the backing or liquid funds to do so. Instead they want to BORROW from someone else or use TRANSACTIONAL FUNDING and the funder wants a massive amount of points like 10 to 12.The buyer can't pay so wants it rolled into the loan which the lender laughs at.

You can suggest all these crazy deal structures out there and most of the time the deal won't fly.

So when I work with someone I look at probability of a project funding and closing.If they meet x,y,z criteria then chances are high of success.If they fall into other categories the chances of success are very low.

There are exceptions but you run a profitable business by sticking to what works the most.Everything you do needs to bring a quantifiable return on time equaling money.

I personally like to run my business working with serious individuals and creating a lasting lifelong relationship.You learn their expectations and vice versa and create a team with great results.

I do not work residential. If you are selling residential REO's you are better off on the buyer broker side as you get more money on the co-op. There are houses in Atlanta right now for say 6,000 to 7,000.The commission listing these is maybe a couple hundred bucks to 800. I can't justify the time involved to do that.Now If I was flipping it myself then I can justify the return.

The residential REO side many investors do not know how the banks suck the brokers/agents dry on fees.

They make you get certifications which costs hundreds of dollars.Then they pay a crappy commission of say 2 percent on the listing side.Then for submission of offers they make you use an electronic platform system that you get hit with monthly fees or a per transaction fee in the hundreds.

This does not include the other costs as mentioned above.

I think both sides will work together better once they understand each other more.

If you can at all avoid hard money.The interest rate and points most charge these days are crazy.

There is financing out there on much better terms.Hard money tends to eat away at your profit margins.Maybe you could locate private investors for a certain guaranteed return. Much better paying a 9 to 10 percent quick return on money than 15 percent and 4 to 8 points.

Private individuals tend to be lawyers,doctors,etc. basically professional that want to invest in real estate but don't have time to be hands on.

In many situations hard money and the low ltv,high rates,and high points make the deals not work.

If you exhaust all else then look at hard money.

Targeted marketing ALWAYS out pulls BLANKET marketing. It has been scientifically proven again and again over the years.

With any marketing you have the CONTROL which is your current piece you are using.You start off small and track the numbers of calls,appointments,contracts,and closings.

You will get hard data from this.Then tweak your offer some more.Once you are getting amazing returns you can scale this up to a larger level.

The biggest mistake investors make is trying a marketing message and a medium on a massive scale without even knowing it it performs yet. You need to keep testing and tracking the numbers all the time as you will get calls,e-mails,texts etc. right away and then you will get residual contacts weeks to months later.

As far as wholesaling you need to define who you are wholesaling to?? Investor for quick cash,whole tailing it just making small improvements like carpet and paint and selling,or a full rehab to sell at the retail level.

Each will have their own margins of profit and expected time lines for making that profit.

If you buy correctly you can move any property.They key is buying at the correct price.A great source is local and regional banks,national banks,and the FDIC.

Remember that anything pre-1978 you will get hit with the new EPA renovation rules regarding lead based paint and it can get very expensive.Never deviate from your low pricing.You don't want a bad decision to end up being a rental that will haunt you for years to come.

I would rather have my money sitting on the sidelines then to buy into a bad or marginal deal.