All Forum Posts by: Mark Elliott

performing heating and cooling installs, water heater installs, furnace repairs for rental properties and flips. serving the western new york area. contact me via cell phone, 716-220-5207

hi ben. yes, i have some ideas on that house. first, since the owner is deceased, there had to have been an obituary in the local paper for them. find that obit because in there, they always list the people who survive this person. chances are, one of those people are going to be the executor of the deceased's estate. this is who you will need to deal with to buy the property. also, any estates and/or wills will be recorded in the county court house of the county you live in. in that estate, it will be listed who is in charge of the estate and therefore, who you need to contact to buy the property. buying distressed properties that are not listed is a great way to make money flipping houses. having a deceased owner add a special issue to buying the property, but it is not impossible to do so because all estates have to be settle somehow some way, which means someone is going to be in charge. find them, and find your deal. good luck

hello again, vishal. i agree with tom w. 100%. i couldn't have said it better myself. best of luck to you. please contact me if you need further assistance

hi, vishal. i am an hvac technician. i can answer some of the questions for you. first, it seems that you are saying that each unit has its own furnace. is that correct? basically, what you need in btu for each unit can be calculated by multiplying the square footage of each unit by 3.5. i. e., a 1000 sq ft unit would need a 35,000 btu furnace at minumum. then you have to consider the distance from the furnace to the unit is services. if the building is a 3 story with a couple of apartments on the top floor, then those units should have at least 10,000 more btu than the calculation calls for. if each unit has the furnace within the apartment, then the calculation is what you go by. most systems are pretty much the same, but, just like a car, there are some brands that simply cost more to repair based on parts and such. trane seems to be among the most expensive. i recommend goodman. easy to install, easy to work on and parts are reasonable. no one can calculate the timing of repairs on any unit. i have seen 3 year old furnaces need work and i have seen some go for several years without an issue. too many variables to figure that out. if you are talking about having one unit for the entire building, same formula applies to the sq footage, however, i would not recommend this because inevibly, some apartments will not get as much heat as others, and with one furnace, you cannot control the heat going to each apartment. a boiler system could do that but if you don't already have one, it is going to be massively expensive to have one put in. in an inspection, look for the age of the furnace, this can be found in the model number in most furnaces. usually the 1st and second digits are the month it was build, and the 3rd and 4th is the year. however, this is not on all furnaces. basically, get the model number and look it up on line. anything over 15 years old is probably on its last leg and about as fuel efficient as a campfire. also, look for how clean the furnace is. if it is dirty, chances are it hasn't been service often enough. i would have it cleaned out at least once every 3 years at a minimum. change the filter at least once a month, especially in the winter months. a clogged filter not only can lead to premature damage to the heat exchanger, but will also effect the output and efficiency of the unit and could possibly poison your tenants with co2 gas. i hope this helps you, please let me know if you need any further assistance

tanks, sam. unfortunately, on november 17th, i will be out of town. but keep me posted on the next one. i would like to attend

i agree with john, marc. question for john here. what is a quiet title? i have a house in a similar situation here in buffalo, ny. just a piece of advice that may help you, marc. quite a while ago, the banks were instructed by the feds to limit the number of houses they place back on the market after a foreclosure. this was to insure that the market is not flooded and thereby lower overall property values. some banks started just " writing off" these lesser houses. basically, filing either a release of lien or a release of mortgage, and literally just giving the house back to the original owner. i suspect this is what has happened with this house you are dealing with, marc. go to the county clerks office, check for a release of lien or mortgage from the first bank or maybe even the second. chances are, the 2nd bank got the house with the purchase of the 1st bank, and they really don't want it, so, they write it off. at that point, the original owner actually owns the place free and clear, and a quit claim deed is what you want. buying the tax lien is a second great idea. if no one is interested in the mortgage anyway, no one is going to redeem it in a year, and then the place is yours. good luck to you

i would only if they are older than 3 years old. any potential problems could he headed off before they become major problems

hi kevin. just so you know, i find some of my best deals like this. the house has probably been owned by a bank. the previous owners/ tenants have long ago moved out. you need to go to the local clerks office and look up any foreclosure papers on the house. that will show you what bank to deal with. the people listed as the owners will still be listed as the owners until the bank fully forecloses. then, they bank may or may not sign onto the house. if it is in foreclosure, you will have to deal with that bank that foreclosed. if it is not in foreclosure, then you will have to find the owners. it is likely they moved somewhere close by. look up their name in the county clerks office or on line if the clreks office has that kind of website, and see if they own any other houses near by. do a whitepages.com search for them as well. i have found more people this way. also, what you may need to know is that a few years ago, the obama administration was restricting banks on the number of foreclosures that they could remarket per year. hence, this lead to banks marketing only the prime foreclosures they had, leaving the " trash" alone for years. eventually, some banks got tired of holding on to their " trash" and just wrote them off by sending a letter to the owners that they were dropping their leins on the house and the owners literally were given back their houses. if this is the case, you would find in the county clerks records a " release of lein" or a " release of mortgage" on the house. now, just because they " gave the house back" to the owners, doesn't mean the owners know. quite often, the owners have moved on and the letter went to the old address, so the owners do not know. this is your chance to find them and offer to buy the house dirt cheap, i mean dirt cheap. i personally have bought 2 houses this way, and i never paid more that $2250 for either one. thats not a misprint, it was $2250. i had to assume the back taxes which were almost $5000, but thats still cheap for a house that was worth $50,000. keep me posted as to what you find on this one.

thats right geremy. most of the occupied properties on auction.com are occupied with the previous owner who just refused to leave. if you buy the place, you will have to go thru the formal eviction process just asif they were your tenant. in that meantime, they will probably trash the place when they know they are seriously on their way out.

hello to all. i am looking for some information on a private lender listed here on BP. his name is tom woodward and his company is corporate funding group. just wondering if anyone has had any experiences with him and his organization.  thank you in advance