All Forum Posts by: Michael B.

One other thought (wife reminded me of this):

This is a strategy used by some less than ethical purchasers and was once done in our condo complex. Get control of the house fairly cheaply by this method, then strip it. Take the appliances if present, take the AC, take the copper pipes and wires, plumbing fixtures and counters. In a fairly up to date house with good appliances it's pretty easy to take $30,000 worth of stuff pretty quickly. And reduce the value by six figures.

There's a thread referenced above that got into the ethics of this type of purchase. This could be part of the reason that people to bid these, especially the investors that aren't burdened by ethical considerations. And the fact is that a bank holding a mortgage probably doesn't have a good idea of what's supposed to be in the house makes it pretty easy to do.

Maybe.

This girl has been on several TV/Radio shows (I heard her interviewed on an NPR show a few months ago). My first guess is that somebody is in the background helping her and promoting her to the media. When somebody has been on several shows it usually means that somebody is planning her career and sculpting the story the media tells.

But my cynicism may be misplaced. But it usually isn't.

Hi,

I'm a new member from Orlando, FL. I bought my first rental house in 1986, and have had at least one most of the time since then. I've owned a total of 15 rentals, over these 26 years but never more than 4 at once.

I'm a statistician by training. My day job is as a consultant to retail chains. I work with companies to get inventory levels right to maximize profit. So if you go any of about 5 national clothing chains I've worked with in the past few years and complain that they're always out of something, there's a decent chance you're griping at me.

I sold out in Kentucky a few years ago and moved to Florida. I now own my residence and 2 other properties (with a closing scheduled for # 3).

I'm a very conservative investor. I don't borrow if I can keep from it. I wait until I find a deal I can swing. I haven't always held to that, but am trying to once more. Having no mortgage gives the freedom of being able to hold a place empty until I get a tenant I want. Looking over the boards it seems that my conservatism is out of step with much of the clientele. Such is life.

Note to Moderator: Is there a way to change my name here? I really didn't intend to use my full real name on the board, but it just sorta happened. Is there a way to change that? I'm not seeing a way easily.

I'm in Florida and I've been tempted to try this, but not brave enough.

Back during the worst of the recession my condo complex had about a 30% HOA nonpayment rate. Our HOA repossessed 4 or 5 condos and rented them out until they were repossessed. We usually got 12-15 months rent before we lost the property. Things have gotten better and we only own 1 now.

One thing to make sure of. When we looked into this the HOA lawyer said that the HOA has special status in FL foreclosure law.

The fear was that there are circumstances where the bank can foreclose and come after you for the deficit (between judgement and auction price). I don't know that this is true, and what the circumstances would be, but the warning was given. Find that out before you get your name involved.