All Forum Posts by: Brandon M.

@Jimmy S. - Even though you are trying to be nice and give them a few days, you still want to take action sooner rather than later. You want to give the impression you will take no #@%#% from them and you mean business. Otherwise you are just setting the precedence that late rent is acceptable. 

I say this out of experience, there are people who we call "professional tenants". They know all of the loopholes they have as tenants, they know how long they can get away without paying rent, and don't really care about their credit. If evicted they will just go apply for another place owned by an individual in hopes that person does not pull credit, etc. If they ask for leniency and agree to pay by certain days, they can sometimes get away with 2-3 months of free rent before having to move. Unfortunately too many states still have rules that favor the tenants and scumbags know how to use these rules to their advantage. 

And don't ever waive late fees, you do it once to be nice they will ask for it again and again when they are late. It might be tough sometimes but you have to treat this like a business and stick to your guns. 

What you are probably seeing is that the lis pendens (aka foreclosure notice) has been filed. The foreclosure process has been started, but that can take months to work its way through the system. If you took the client's name and went to the official records website from your county, you would likely see the lender has filed lis pendens. 

That being said, your original questions: yes, most likely still live there and aren't paying their mortgage anymore. And of course you could contact them, it will depend on how much they owe vs how much the property is worth. You tend to think if the house is worth more than they owe they would just sell and pay off the bank, but you never know. It could be hardship, loss of job, death, etc. 

You might want to look at some comps and get an idea of what you think the property could be worth, and then you can reach out to the owner. You will need to figure out what they owe so you know what you are working with. And of course the condition of the property comes into account as well. It could be a wholesale deal, something you buy and rehab, something you do a subject to (essentially paying them to take on their existing mortgage terms if you think you can rent for more than their PITI payment is), or other structures.

Long story short yes you can contact them and see what their intentions/needs are. 

Hope that helps. 

@Stephan K. - I actually had the same thing done in my primary residence but we paid someone to do it. For 2 bathtubs and the tile around one of those bathtubs as well we paid $500, which wasn't too bad of a price. I probably wouldn't recommend this company specifically because they were not the most polite, but I will definitely be doing this again with my next flip. 

We are approximately a year into the use of the bathtubs and haven't experienced any issues yet. I will caution you the newly painted tub is a bit slippery, even for an adult, so you might want to think about a rubber mat or something to keep from any embarrassing moments! 

@Mark Forest - You can get by without paying for MLS, but it can hinder you as well. More and more listing agents are using the electronic lock boxes because you can track WHO came and when they came, vs the old manual lock box. My experience is that you need to be a member of the local board (which also gives you MLS access) to get your electronic lock box key.

If most houses in your area are the manual lockbox you could find someone with MLS access and pay them a little something to give you the combos to these houses.

So i don't think paying for MLS is 100% mandatory, but it can certainly hinder you depending on the situation.

Darvin, 

Craigslist seems to be inundated with investors/brokers posting all of their properties on there, mainly because it is easiest and cheapest (Free!). I did locate one deal on there, you could tell it was a homeowner because it was POORLY written. As in it was hard to even make out from the post what she was even talking about. After meeting the seller she likely posted while on some illegal substance. We jumped on it as soon as we saw it and were lucky to be the first ones to contact her. 

That being said i think GOOD deals on CL are few and far between. Too many people looking and posting. CL seems to be one of the easy/lazy ways to find a deal, the best luck with deals seem to be found by the people who are out hustling. Mailing letters, postcards, driving for dollars, knocking on doors, getting out and talking to people. 

I have generally found CL has not been the best return for my time searching on there. 

Lisa, 

If you Google "Florida as is real estate contract" you will find multiple links with the standard form. I don't want to copy and paste any links in here because most of them are directly from a company's website and I don't want to seem like I am promoting any of them. They all use the standard form. This is the easiest form to use that lays out all of the things you need to negotiate between yourself and the seller, and will come up in Adobe Acrobat so you could fill it out online instead of hand-writing it. Technically you could really just use your own format, offer price, time to close, etc, handwritten or typed up in Word and that could be accepted as an official contract, but the standard as-is is the easiest way to make sure all i's are dottted and t's are crossed. 

In terms of title company you can either add in a title company you have used in the past or ask if the seller has someone specific they would like to use. Because the property isn't listed it is possible the seller has not picked out a title company to use yet, but it would be a good thing to ask them before submitting the offer. 

I second what everyone else has said, lose the bedroom but lose it to make a second BATHROOM! 3/2 >4/1 for sure. Master bath would be ideal but at least get that 2nd bathroom. Bigger closets would take a back seat to the bathroom for me. 

Isaac, 

How did the walk-through go? When you make your lower offer, make sure to provide the comps you used to determine the offer as well as your estimate of repairs needed. This will help the seller understand you aren't just trying to lowball them and get a steal of a deal. 

And to address another part of your original comment, i would never assume something about the seller (about not considering your offer). You never know their situation, they could be willing to drop the price or take your offer because they are tired of holding out for the higher price. I have learned to not make assumptions or make decisions for someone else, the worst they can do is decline your low offer. 

If you haven't made the offer i would first make it WITHOUT the free rent offer. If they indicate a need to stay after the deal closes then you can counter by offering free rent. That would be a good way to counter without countering with a lower price. 

Daniel I will send you one via PM, I am not sure how they feel about me posting company names on here. 

I am not affiliated with this company personally, it is owned by my friend. He is an investor who owns a title company on the side, not the other way around. So he is WELL versed in the investment side.