All Forum Posts by: Bob Baldwin

Adrian : I checked with the wife this morning her thinking was Paradise Lakes rings a bell . !! Not sure on your comment on " We have a lot of Nude Communities in the Tampa area " I guess to each his own . I had found out about the place from an ad in the Tampa Sunday Paper Mobile homes for sale . We were originally thinking about the Dade City / Bushnell Area From the perspective of becoming a SEMI SNOW BIRD . Ultimately I ended up buying a SFH on a Canal Lot in Port Charlotte . The older I get the Less I like the cold weather , Dont ever want to live in either Tampa or Orlando Though while we were in the Tampa area my timing was right as I had called a few Brokers and one had invited me to a SREIA meeting down there . Seems as though they have a very active following and I even learned a few things at the meeting . I am NOT knocking the group BUT there seemed to be a goodly amount of sincere people there as well as what I perceive to be a certain amount of " Hucksters "

I noticed you are in Plant City AH Yes !! the strawberry festival 

joe : I should have added that in my Conservative Investing Philosophy If I can't see the property WHY would I ever think to invest in something sight unseen ? Perhaps I am wrong but to me the newbies need to remember : You make your money going into the deal , However even with a Buy and Hold you absolutely have to have an exit strategy . Who is to say WHAT your buyer is going to have inspected upon resale 

thanks Joe . Been there Done That . Just part of knowing the business Hate to see Newbies get in a bad situation 

You mentioned you Might be living in the basement apt . ? water / Moisture on back wall can lead to more problems Flooring / Carpet problems Possible Mold . I am guessing the back wall you referenced had Not been treated with a Tar type foundation sealer ?

Also guessing that when they built the place the Grading of the Property was Not done very well. When the time comes to sell the property in all likelyhood YOU will be faced with Needed repairs for the next buyer Just hate to see you get stuck with a Lemon of a house 

for me those numbers just don't work . What about repairs ? What about Taxes and Insurance Where does that leave you ? Worth about 120K whose opinion ? What about Comps ? The way I see it you are purchasing at about 83% of ARV . Sorry Not interested

Immediate Appreciation ? 2.5- 3.0 % annual ? unless you are in a really hot market still NO .

a couple of things stand out to me .

Bottom picture : It looks like Slab walls under the Blocks has cracks and shifted . This would cause the Block joints to seperate and shift . also at top of blocks the Sill looks rotted and worn out 

middle picture : shows more Footing damage and Block seperation . Not sure on the Black pipe sticking out Not a dryer vent Possibly at one time Vent for a wood stove ?

top picture : looks like the continuation of the side 

guessing this caused by water and frost . also guessing there is just a crawl space and no full basement underneath ? If that is the case you are going to have to find either a structural engineer or a Foundation company that jacks up slabs and walls replacing the cracked blocks . If that is the case someone will have to have access to underneath the house to verify and foundation and check the sills 

realisticlly it ain't going to get any better . Might be a $3,000.00 job or a $20,000.00 job . What is the gutter situation on the house ? Not sure what part of PA. you are in but you want to make sure any Footings / new walls are at least 4 feet into the ground .

Natalie : this actually did happen 3 years ago . Now it is considered a Family Joke . I can't remember the name of the Park but perhaps someone from the Tampa area could chime in with the info ? I suppose these type of places exist in southern states like Fla , Tex , Ariz. etc; BUT it is NOT the LIFESTYLE my wife and I care to invest in .

Honestly how would you Market such a Place either for sale or Buy and Hold Purposes ? To me that would be like putting a Million dollar house in a Hundred Thousand neighborhood . Where do you find the end users ?

I could make a joke here BUT I don't want Brandon BANNING me for posting about Optional Lifestyles !!

   There certainly is in Tampa Fla. !! i had called this lady reguarding her selling a 4 year old double wide .The price seemed very good So the wife and I decided to meet her and take a look at it 

  She had said there was an entry gate and an exit gate pull up to the entry phone dial my lot number and I will open the gate for you . I'm thinking this is unusual for security in a mobile home park . She had also told me this is for 55 + owners / tenants . No problem I'm thinking so we drove in the unit was like the 4 th one in on the right . I am debating with myself if I should take my brief case in at this point or Not . 

 All of a sudden I hear " You must be the Baldwins Come on out of the car " instantly the wife says close your eyes and stay in the car .Not knowing what was going on I looked at the wife then looked at the lady 70+ years old standing BUCK NAKED !!! While my wife is NOT PRUDISH she has her Limitations !! Sensing that perhaps something was NOT right she gets out of the car tells the lady she forgot to get dressed . Oh no Deary didn't you know this is a Clothing Optional Park ? well I 'm sitting in the car Somewhat covering my eyes I responded back You never told me that and I never asked " ??!! She thought everybody knew .

 The wife said to her Let me walk you back inside and I will take a look at it also turning her head to me and saying " YOU !! STAY IN THE CAR ." So the wife takes the grand tour comes back out to the car telling me it is in great shape and the lady told her she is willing to negotiate on pricing . Probably a good investment . So I start to drive away go around the corner and there was 2 couples taking a walk Very Friendly people so they ask " Are you looking for someone ?" No I said we had just stopped to look at MS Carols Home and I was checking out the Volleyball / Badmitton Courts " LOL The wife saw NO Humor in that We drove out of there and she never said a word for about an hour . Finally saying " I don't care if you can buy it for one dollar This deal Ain't happening Deary !!

Maybe I should consider starting a new list with various OPTIONS !! LOL

Personally as described I would not put 10 cents into redoing a 40 year old unit . not sure what scrap value it has . Perhaps to save on Demo or removal costs strip it out and Give it away to someone for storage space / Shed etc; Possibly if depending on length it might be useful to someone in the construction business. 

I would like to know what you mean about  "Title Issues "?