All Forum Posts by: Tim Czarkowski

Most of my purchases have been at the low end $20,000 - $50,000 and I generally aim for $10,000 in profit. I find a 25% to 50% discount is reasonable but there is more competition right now. As everyone else has said you need to leave a margin of safety on top of your goal for profit. I find that you can usually get a pretty good idea of the condition of the inside by the way the outside looks. Sometimes you can actually look in through the window and get a very good idea of the shape. The only problem is a lot of the bank's management companies cover up the windows so you can't get a look. Obviously if it is occupied you cannot take a look either. I personally and an additional discount if it is occupied. I am also a realtor and use the MLS, as Donna suggested, for looking at old listings. The MLS is also very convenient for running comps. If your going to do this seriously you will be running comps day in and day out.

I can get into a locked car, lol. It sounds more likely than not that this is going to be a pain with no compensation. Donating it sounds like a pretty good idea. Also now that I think about it I've seen bandit signs saying they scrap cars without title. I am going to have my handyman look at it and on his opinion it will probably get pushed into the street or donated.

That sounds like a pretty good deal. I didn't realize you don't need a title for a scrapper. I'll have my handyman take a look at it and if it's not easily runnable I'd rather just be rid of it. What do they give you for a small truck, $100 - $200?

I recently did a FHA Streamline refinance on my primary residence which also happens to be a four unit building. I was told that we would just need to prove we were still employed. However, when I received the application it asked for our other debt, amount of income, other assets, etc. When I sent it back to the broker he returned it to me and had me leave those portions blank. The process was very smooth from there on and was completed in about 3 weeks. It only dropped my payment about $100 a month because of a change in the way they calculate MI but I had no out of pocket expenses. The amount of escrow returned to me was larger than what I had to put up also.

As I understand it, at this time it is very unlikely to be able to get more than one FHA loan. They have made it much more difficult to assume them also. If I'm wrong on that I would love to know.

A couple days ago I purchased a property at the county foreclosure auction. I went and took a closer look at it after the auction and low and behold there was an old Toyota truck in the garage. The property is vacant with just some garbage left behind elsewhere in the home. My question is how do I go about getting title so I can sell it? There are some engine parts in the garage so I doubt it will run but I'm sure it's worth a couple hundred bucks at least. Has anybody else experienced this?

I have completed five deals so far with another just purchased. It's my first year out so I don't really have anything to compare it to. It's been great but competition certainly seems to have picked up.

Thanks for the links. I didn't know what the proper name of the form was, so I couldn't search for one.

I purchased a HOA lien recently at the county auction and have taken possession and rented the condo, now I would like to at least attempt to negotiate the payoff amount with the bank that owns the first mortgage. The principal amount is only $20,000 but with fees, late payments, etc. is now at $32,000. I understand in order to negotiate at all I need to get the previous owner to sign a release, does anyone have an example of one? My plan was to start out at $10,000 and work from there. I would think that $20,000 would be a pretty decent deal for the bank and me. It would save them the cost of actually foreclosing and taking possession. The condo is only worth about $35,000 and is owned by GMAC. I would really appreciate any advice.

I made a similar mistake recently myself. You could negotiate with the superior lien holder by contacting the previous owner and have them sign a consent form. Just from the amount of the outstanding balance it sounds like it is very unlikely you will be able to negotiate a payoff. Your best bet is going to be to rent it out. Since you are also in Florida you may still have a year or two of rentals time even though the lis pends has been filed. In my situation the outstanding balance was not as high and plan to contact the previous owner in the near future. I have also considered waiting till it comes to auction and bidding. In any case I have had it rented for two months now and by the time the auction actually comes around I will have more than recovered my money. There are actually people who make a business of this. Although they seem to stay below $10,000. I am actually going to dabble it in soon myself. In short don't fret get it rented and you ought to have your money back in 12-18 months. The lesson I learned from my ordeal was make sure your title agent understands what you are doing and has experience with it. The title agent I use now actually handles quite a few of the auction bidders here in Jacksonville. Good Luck!

I have a condo where the next door neighbor's washer is apparently leaking and causing damage to my unit. Both my contractor and the tenant has knocked on their door when we knew for certain they were there and they refuse to answer. I am planning on sending a certified letter to the owner and the HOA. What else can I do to get this taken care of?