All Forum Posts by: Mark Elliott

i would have to agree with chris. its an excellent time for you to learn, plumbing, drywall and flooring. get to it

hi eric. all i can say is just do it. in the future, you will have less regrets about doing it than you would have for not doing it. i had 3 kids, all under age 5, a wife, home and a full time job and i went back to school to learn accounting. somehow, i got thru it all and managed to graduate with a 3.74 GPA. just do it. you will find the right way to manage it

hi aaron. quite the dilema. personally, i have never dealt with anything of this sort of deal, but here is what i would do. first, make the offer minus the $80k. my guess is that they would take the deal. then, have that inspection done on the well and septic. you have to know where you stand right now. eventually, the city will enforce hooking up to city water and sewer but they will probably follow the path of requiring it when one or the other fails and they do not issue a permit to put in a new well or septic. in that case, you really need to know where you stand now. if you have a few years left, then start saving. take some of that cash flow and set it aside knowing whats coming up and possibly when. by that time, you should be able to refinance and make the necessary ( required) repairs. 

thats a damn good question that i have asked many times. everyone of these shows, they run into something they " did not see at first". guess why they didn't see it at first???? because they did not hire a trained eye to see the items that they wouldn't. my guess is that they figure that they have done so many flips that they are trained enough to catch it all. well, how well does that work out for them??? being a home inspector, i see the value in hiring a home inspection done. its cheap enough and may save you thousands in the future, might steer you away from a flip that would be a flop, and gives you a lot of information to make a lowball offer on a house. kind of like a cheap insurance policy i would say. most inspectors, like myself, would do a simple inspection for you on a flip house, maybe not a full value inspection, but at least a good look over at a discounted price that gives you a general overview of what you are looking at. its worth the price. 

its a tough choice to make, dori, but here are my thoughts. any furnace that is over 12 to 15 years old is nearing the end of its life cycle. personally, the one i replace in my house 3 years ago was 23 years old. it was still working, but probably about as fuel efficient as a campfire. if these furnaces are older than 12 to 15 years old, then they really aren't worth putting any money into them as next year, they will need something else, then the following year, something else again and so on. sooner or later, they will have a heat exchanger issue and then they are shot and you have wasted time and money on them anyway. as far as the roof, well, if it is not leaking now, it could next year, and then again, it could not for years to come. the roof may not have a pretty look when people drive by, but if it is not leaking, well, then it is still doing its job, right? of course a leak could be just around the corner too. at this point, i think i would go with the furnaces. a leaking roof never killed anyone, but a leaking furnace will. they last a while so you will not have to think about replacing them again for a while. the roof, well, if it is not leaking now, leave well enough alone at least for a while. you might be able to find yourself a handyman that would do the roof a lot cheaper than a licensed roof anyway. good luck

hi rafeal. i have a number of different ways to find the owners, usually they are free  also. first, find the house, then check with the local tax assessors office. they may have a new address for the owner. second, county websites often list the owner. most often, it will list the owner as living in the house, which we know is not the case. then, if you get the owners name, check the website for any other houses he or she may own in the area. chances are they live in one of the other houses. if they do not own any other houses, run their names on whitepages.com. you might be surprised with what you come up with. as a last resort, i knock  on neighbors doors around the house. its amazing what neighbors know. 

hi pilar. seeking out too many banks can be a problem for your credit rating. if you just go into a bank and bring along a copy of your credit report from any of the big 3, and ask about loans, it would be no harm to your credit rating. but if the bank does a hard credit inquiry, too many hard credit inquiries will hurt your credit score. part of the formula they use to establish your credit score does include how many inquiries you have on your credit report. the more people or banks that look into your credit report, the more hard inquiries you will have on that report and the lower your score would be. go to www.annualcreditreport.com and get a copy of the report from all 3 credit bueraus. you can even get your credit score from them but that part will cost money. take these reports into as many banks as possible and talk to them. that way the bank gets to see your credit report in full without actually going into it themselves and lowering your credit score. 

first 2 i got from the city thru  repossession from unpaid property tax. next one, county property tax auction, i was the 2nd highest bidder and the first dropped out. 3rd, another tax sale deal. 4th and 5th, bank dropped the lien on both properties and i tracked down the owners to both properties and bought them for pennies on the dollar. right now, working on 2 " driveby's"

i edward. the deal sounds ok, but i would put the properties in a business name when doing the quit claim deal. that way you, the individual, can go to auction and bid on them. with the banks writing off their liens, thats a good thing. they no longer have a claim to the properties, but go to the county court house and get a copy of the release of lien. just because the bank wrote off the lien, does not mean that they will not be a problem in the future. get a copy. make your deal with the owner and go to the auction and see just how cheap you can get the places for. good luck to you

hi anthony. i would say to get your license. the only issue is when buying a property, you have to disclose that you have your license. no big deal. it would give you an advantage to be able to get into the MLS that other investors do not have. my advice on continuing your flip is to not get excited about every deal that comes along. some will fall out of your reach, some will come and go for no particular reason, and some are not the good deal you thought they were at first. thats the most important thing. you cold easily fall into an "incredible" deal that is exactly NOT that. thats a loser deal. just go about looking for your next deal with an open eye. if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. the right deal will come along again and send you on your way to better success. take your time.