All Forum Posts by: Mark Elliott

all great advice. the numbers sound good. of course there is always the hidden things that seem to add up in the end. but you have some wiggle room. i would go with the contractors estimate and then do as much as you can yourself. that way you can cover the hidden items in the end. i would go for it

have you ever heard of someone laying on their death bed and saying " i wish i would have spent more time at my job"? NO. everyone wishes they spent more time with their family. well guess what???? REI is a family type job. a " regular job", isn't. JOB stands for just over broke. thats what employers do. they give you just enough money to keep coming back; because you have to. then, after they have sucked almost all the life out of you, they throw you away. it doesn't matter how much effort you put into that job over the years, or what you gave up on a daily basis, or how many times you have gone the extra mile for them. in the end, when you are used up, they are done with you. i would rather earn less money and be free than to make more money and be a slave to someone or some company. there is always a price for freedom.

i agree with pamela. the casino itself is a nice structure. both in niagara falls and buffalo. but, neither of these were built in what i would call nice neighborhoods, and neither has improved any of the neighborhoods they sit in. the plight of these cities is not due to the casinos, but it hasn't done anything to improve the situations either. i am no against gambling or casinos, but they aren't the answers either

sounds like a lot of issues there, but nothing that would scare me away. the gas issue wouldn't bother me. if they had gas leaks, you would be replacing every pipe anyway, so who cares how it would test out now? same thing with the water, if it leaks, you are replacing it anyway. the asbestos, that could be an issue. here in new york, you can remove it yourself and throw it away yourself, as long as you are the owner. if you hire it done, the people that do it have to be licensed and follow strict guidelines as to how to do it. check with your state and see what the laws are there. as long as the numbers crunch well, i say its a go, but i would still play with the bank to see how low they will go. no one else wants the place anyway

hi luis. i do a lot of the same thing you do. i find a lot of abandoned properties, or, rather, they find me. basically, i base the offer on the " story" of the house. how interested are the tenants in the value of the house? how long has it been vacant? all of these come into play. if you have a house that the owners have not been in for years, you have an owner who couldn't care less about the place. if it is really in bad shape, of course the value is far less. how much is it worth when completed? are there any back taxes? all of that has to come into play. i would investigate all of this and price accordingly. 

sounds like a good deal but yes, you can get by with a much smaller a/c unit. a 1-1/2 ton unit would do you just fine

hi peter. i am a home inspector and real estate investor in the buffalo area. let me know when you are in town and we can meet up. 

i hear ya, ron. i bought on house from hubzu, never again. we ended up not buying the place from them after all. even my attorney here clearly stated to me that if i buy another house from hubzu, that, in his words, " find another attorney to handle it for you". i will never deal with them again

hi bob. here is what i see going on. banks are in the market to make money, simple as that. when you open an account at a bank, they are federal regulated to keep only 3% of that account balance in cash actually at the bank. the other 97%, they can loan out at rates higher than what they are paying you on your savings account. hence, they are making money from you. so, that being said, what they have here is a producing loan at a rate 3% higher than the average lending rate right now. they are guaranteed payment, based on the fact that she has never missed a payment, and they are collecting more in interest than they would if they refinanced for her. from their point of view, why would they want to refinance for her????

here is my advice, try another bank, go into every open door and ask what they can do for her. just because one bank says no, doesn't mean all of them will

hi jake. first, if the taxes are being paid and no one is living in the house, it is probably under foreclosure by a bank. the assessor or county clerk should be able to tell you who is sending in the checks on the taxes. second, look up the name of the owners again. check the historical obituaries. they may have died which means their heirs own the house now. they may be paying the taxes. 

next, go visit the local county clerks office and look up all the mortgage records on the house. if it is bank owned, they have to file paperwork stating their lien on the place. this will list the bank. if they sold their lien to another bank, if the second bank places a lien on it, there is going to be paperwork showing that too. if they are in any state of foreclosure, then they have to  file paperwork on that too, which will be in the records at the county clerks office too. this will list the bank that has the foreclosure going. that is who you will want to call. trust me, i have done this several time. let me know what you find and let me know if you run into any more blocks