All Forum Posts by: Brad Gabriel

Several schools offer Real Estate degrees, but they are likey geared toward brokerage. I don't know that for a fact so check it out.

My advice: get yourself a degree in construction management. Oregon State has an excellent program. Also minor in business while accomplishing the CM.

After that, several schools offer a Master's in RE Development, often cleverly hidden in an MBA program.

All the while, soak up every single piece of information you can get your hands on relating to real estate. Books, websites, local clubs, everything.

I have been lurking here on BP for some time now and recently started posting. Something I am trying to wrap my mind around is the apparent near-hatred for the dreaded wholesalers. 

Back in the day, (early 90s) when I first started out investing, wholesaling was just buying cheap and skimming a bit off the top. Maybe you assigned the contract, maybe you took title. Either way, no biggie. Somewhere along the way that the idea of assigning a contract has become evil in the eyes of some.

If I purchase a house for cash, take title, then turn around and immediately sell it for a 75% profit, is that unethical? Do I need to disclose my intentions to the seller? As long as there is no coercion involved and you have two willing parties, then I don't see any problem. It's no different than finding anything of value that is underpriced. 

Now, I understand that if one makes a lot of unsolicited offers, there is a slightly higher probability that one could hook a less sophisticated seller. I'm not sure that changes anything though. Maybe it does, but maybe it doesn't. The operative word is still seller. Assuming no one is FORCED to sell, then as long as I actually close, then I am not a wholesaler and therefore good.

That takes us back to the assignment being the problem. I guess I'm slow, but I don't see how the act of assigning the contract makes one evil. Just can't find the nexus. Maybe some of the brighter minds on here can help me see clearly. 

Actually, you have a beneficial interest as opposed to an equitable interest. It is still an interest and does have value. It isn't an ownership interest per se, however it could be or will be once you complete the requisite steps.

I'm just a recovering professional surveyor turned investor/developer who always was trying to learn as much as I could. Attorneys, please feel free to jump in and correct me as necessary. 

Gonna have to disagree with you, Jay. You can do anything you want with it AS LONG AS you have the owner's signature on the applications, etc. It's actually quite common to begin the subd process prior to taking title.

No, you wouldn't be able to compete the entire process and if you never exercised the option you will have gifted a lot of the entitlement process to the owner.

I personally was able to begin the annexation process during the due diligence period on a deal and actually did a double close the day after the city approved it. Owners signed off on the whole thing and I pocketed a huge profit. 

Excellent points, Tom. The trick, at least around these parts, with a property line adjustment is that the parcels generally need to stay the same size, or Big Brother gets highly upset. The idea being that it would be easy to use (or misuse) the adjustment rules to circumvent other rules. Also, a 7,500 sf parcel prior to adjustment that becomes 5,500 sf after, may not be conforming to the current zoning, etc.

Agreed that the neighbor needs to write the check(s) to resolve rhe problem. 

I have been involved in tons of these throughout the years, seeing neighbors resolve the problem over a bottle of Glenlivet. I have also watched shotguns come out and fully expecting to not live to tell the tale. 

You are in a great position here. Tell him to make you an offer and see what he says. You likely have some room to push this a bit since he is surely after a contiguous group of properties to develop.

IMHO, if you can pull a quick 20-25k out of this deal, it would be great! Especially considering the amount of work you have done {presumably zero}.

Ask the neighbor/realtor for a copy of the survey and make sure it is an actual boundary survey performed by a licensed Professional Land Surveyor in your state. The ball is in their court since it sounds like this is holding up their closing, likely because that creates a title issue.

Assuming that you found this out thanks to a survey being performed....

Very first thing is to give your neighbors a letter granting them temporary permission to use your property (aka a revocable license). This effectively kills any chance of an adverse possession claim. After that, take the time to work out an amicable solution such as selling them the area in question.

How did you find out?