All Forum Posts by: Christopher Leon

Luis Montanez I wait atleast six months or until I really need it. Doesn't matter if there is a balance. I am not an expert it's just what I have done and have been both denied and approved.

Kathy Lu wrote my previous comment before reading the updated comments. Good job on sticking to your guns. That sucks about the hold up. That is something I learned to do when bidding on these properties, is to check the county records. Be prepared to not close if they can't rightfully sell it. Who knows what else they may pull out of their hat? Ugh... Good luck Kathy!

Kathy Lu I'm currently purchasing a property on Homesearch. I experienced the same thing with "straw bids" as you called them on auction.com as well as Homesearch. I do believe there is a fishy thing going on with that "getting you to click once more". The best way to counteract this, is by knowing your market well enough to understand what's too much. These properties are typically sold as is, where is so in my opinion, as an investor, I'm willing to pay the price I got to pay for the property I want, but wont pay retail if I must purchase through this avenue. It's an art, not a science I guess. Anyways, about your current dilemma, purchasing property in this manner is not for everyone. You should do what your comfortable with. If you know your market and it's a good price, stick to it. My thought is this is exactly what they want you to do, they want to get in your head by asking if it's your best offer cause they want to get you to pay more. Besides, if this unit did not meet reserve, they do not have to sell the property. On one property I bought, the property went to auction four times before I won it and the reserve was never met on any of the auctions. I bid the first three times, stuck to my top number and stopped, I then watched the bid get raised right before the auction ended. Surprisingly enough, like clockwork, there was a bid every 2 second mark before the auction would end. Ridiculous bids by the way, was not worth what people thought it was worth. I watched this happen three times until I did the same thing on the fourth auction and won it although it did not meet reserve. Auction company must of got tired of watching people bow out cause they couldn't perform. Don't get emotionally attached, if it's meant to be, then it's meant to be. Also, sometimes the brokers who gives these BPOs are totally wrong! So don't let the auction house push you around. Hopefully you know your market. Good luck!

This is a great question Kris Taylor personally, I would reject them as well because of no track record. I don't care how much money you make; I know plenty of people that make a lot of money that don't pay their bills. Extra sec deposit? Forget it! The people that ask for that never really experienced a turnover then. An extra months rent just covers the commish to pay the realtor; you still need to account for wear and tear, down time, possible repairs if any, etc. and we're not even considering the cost of eviction yet... Good luck to your friend.

Patrick Hepner congrats on being top bidder/winner/whatever. My initial thought in this, without reading anyone else's opinion is that you should be only purchasing property in this manor if you have some inside knowledge of this particular area. What I mean by that is, hopefully you have either purchased property in this very exact area, know people that have, are familiar with the quality of construction, perhaps the association if it applies, etc. because of the whole as-is scenario. When we buy property, we don't care what they look like or anything because we know what we're getting into because we shop for all the same property and know what to expect. Of course, there is always something that comes up we didn't anticipate, but that's why we pay so dirt cheap for the properties because their sold as is, where is. My point is, hopefully your bid is cheap enough that whatever comes your way you can handle and the numbers still make sense. It sounds like you've seen it before and your familiar, so just pull the trigger. What is the worst that can happen do you think? Is there room in the budget to handle some unexpected stuff?

I love what your doing. This is precisely what everyone needs to do or learn prior to actually investing their money in anything. I learned things this way and started a small business cutting grass that didn't work out but it taught me a lot about checks and balances, marketing, and just overall understanding how to operate a business and all those small things you only learn by doing. Encourage your nephew to start a small business and learn sales. Just my thought. Great job and good luck.

Yes, take Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and get control of your money since it sounds like your money may control you. Levity aside, I would recommend you pay off any high interest debt first. Buying more property is great but what happens when you have those unexpected expenses? Some people do not have reserves set aside or an emergency fund as Dave would call it, so having your credit cards with no running balance is a great shock absorber to those unexpected repairs or costs. Just my thoughts.. Good luck.

Jake Szaraz Joliet is a depressed town. Some of the surrounding towns can be ok depending on how you want to run your business; what kind of tenants you want to manage, and what kind of product you produce will determine your success. This area doesn't work for me because I have a specific target individual in mind that I supply housing too and these people do not CHOOSE to reside in Joliet. Now, there is a large market for working class folks, who make around $30-45k gross household income that have decent stable jobs that have around 550-640 credit scores that need housing just the same. Then you got a lot of section 8... The product you produce and area you choose will render your target tenants in my experience. Don't just follow the numbers, there is so much cheap housing down there but it doesn't mean its a good deal cause the unit cash flows whatever arbitrary number you desire. It's all about the net, meaning, what it costs you to manage, repair, maintain, turnover, etc. cheap housing and poor tenant quality is a bad business plan. Good luck to you.

Awesome job. Just based on reading this I can tell your on your way to reach your objectives. Good luck

I forgot to mention, both condos I bought online at auction said they were occupied and they were not.