All Forum Posts by: Chris Vasquez

Google search: Foreclosures drive down prices in Monroe county. An article in the Pocono Record that has a lot to do with your dilemma. The article is from early 2015. High prop taxes, many foreclosures and less commuters to Ny/NJ. Be careful! Good luck.

Hey BP! I just got back from FT. Worth. I went to visit friends who just moved there. I really liked the area. I am probably going to make a move hopefully by spring.
My question to you guys. I noticed a lot of properties for sale. Foreclosures, by owners and normal listings. How flexable are the banks down there with low ball offers on the foreclosures. Many are listed close to market value. At least "zillow value" which I take with a grain of salt.
Is anyone making money or do most of you buy and hold?
I'm not in the position to b/h, yet.
Me; Cash buyer, single fams, most work done myself, following BP buying rules.
Thanks for your help.

I read a great article from the Condo Vultures website about AM's. The AM doesn't accept the first offer that comes in. They try to get as much money possible for the bank. When low offers come in, they have to get approval. Keep something in mind. They work for the bank. The bank has shareholders to answer to. The banks also know they are losing money by the time it becomes an REO. The AM may have guide lines to what he is allowed to accept before going back to the bank. It's just like buying a car. The old Track System. Never accept the first offer. Get the buyer to keep making offers until the bank gets what they want. The banks don't have to sell you anything. It's just a matter of how much loss they want to write off for the year. Even though the gov has already propped them up. To answer your question. It doesn't really matter how he gets paid. It all depends on what power he is given to make a price decision. Besides, if the AM was given free reign without the banks minimum, the AM would give away the houses just to get paid on a volume sold basis. Remember at the beginning of the crisis they were selling properties at 30 cents on the dollar. Just to get bad assets off there books. Now the gov stepped in and you barely see REO's going for less than 70 cents on the dollar. Unless your buying in bulk. I hope that helps. Try thinking like the bank. Would you give away your most valuable assets if you didn't really have to?

5k for the Dovetail,
20k for their Mentor Program,
3 emails a day telling me "Time is running out"
It's been running out since Feb when I first viewed one their promo pages. This answer can also apply to Joshua's recent post, How many Guru emails do you get per day.

Thanks Guys,
I didn't do any research on the properties other than a quick Zillow. I just happen to be at the courthouse last week and saw the flyers of the upcoming sale.
Thought I'd check it out. I went to one in Miami years ago. What a nightmare. This one was like entering a Poker Tournament. Everyone sizing each other up. You had, from my read, the pros grouped together, the husband and wife teams, a couple of guys who looked like they just left the dog track and a few onlookers like me. Thanks again for answering my questions.

I went to my first Courthouse Sheriff sale today. Interesting to say the least. Not much action. 3/4 of the properties either received a stay or were postponed to a later date. Maybe some of BP's pros could answer a few questions for me.

1. Why was there only 1 attorney representing most of the properties for the banks? Is it he is the most well known in the area and is funneled the business? There was a couple others but they only dealt with one case. Then they left.

2. When a property came up for auction. They would call out the actual money owed to the bank. Then bidding started at $1.00. The attorney for the bank accepted the opening bid and nobody else bid. "Sold to the bank for $1.00". Will someone please explain why the bank has to bid in the first place. They hold the mortgage already. Wouldn't it be easier if the bank could just file with the courts, take possesion of the property, proceed to REO status, and take the loss on there books for a discounted price. Is the attorney there just to make sure an investor doesn't come in and buy that property for a $1.00? Wiping out the complete amount of the loan?
Kind of like the cop who doesn't show up for his own court date. All his ticketed offenders are now innocent.

3. I wasn't able to stay for the whole auction. Not one property, at least while I was there, had a counter offer. 40 people in the room an no bidders. The question here is, if someone countered. At what point would the banks attorney bid the price up to?
Is he required to bid up to the amount owed or does he have a stopping point at which the bank is willing to let it go at?

Am I making this more complicated than it really is?
Thanks in advance.

Keep the HM and sell it ASAP. Price it right.
You should factor in the cost of HM before you even purchase the property. Good luck trying to get a refi loan nowadays.
Search out the 70% rule here in BP.

What timing. As I'm reading your post Ali. I've got Jim Cramer on in the background. Caller asks him about Silver. His comment "With silver being an Industrial Metal used around the world mainly for that purpose and with indicators of slowing growth around the world would cause silver to take a bigger hit % wise compared to gold. Matty and Josh make good points in their posts. If you are worried about that end of the world scenerio, buy the physical. If you just want to play the market assuming silver could hit 50 and above? The SLV ETF might be more liquid to get in and out of. Just sell your shares when ever you want.
One point. I read it here but I'm not sure the title of the post. The Obama Care health bill had a hiddent tax provision. The new 1099 $600 filing provision said something about, if you buy gold (not sure about silver), and spend over $600. You now have to declare it with the Gov. If this sounds familiar to anyone on BP, they may be able to expand or correct me.

Here's some fun examples for everyone to ponder. Using 50k to invest.

If you got in the market around March of 09. "The bottom", using plain old Call Options on the S&P500 ticker SPY.
1 contract = 100 shares.
cost = approx 10% of stock price per share.

March 09: 1 SPY contract would cost approx $6.00 per share or $600 for one Call Option.

Today, the value is about $13 per share. $7 profit per contract.

If you originally invested your 50K. You would have controlled 82 contracts or 8200 shares.
8200 X $7profit= $57,400 over 2 years. 114% Not bad.

Let's try Apple computers. (AAPL). Same time frame. March 09.
AAPL's low was $80 per share.
Call option cost approx $8 per share X 100 shares= $800 per options contract.
50k would control 62 contracts or 6200 shares.
If you sold your shares at the high. $360 per share.
Are you sitting down?
$280 per share profit. $280 X 6200= $1,736,000.
How many flips does it take to get to the center of an Apple?
Wasn't That Fun?

Real Estate,
Thanks for posting that article. I heard about it from my cousin. Also keep something else in mind about Florida. 50% of the homes are underwater in value. Not only will you have the Shadow Inventory of the banks still looming, throw in S. Florida has the highest in the country for mortgage fraud. Which will add even more properties into the inventory. If you intend to rent a property on a short term basis. Less than six months at a time. You will be responsible to collect and report hospitality tax. I believe is 4.5%. Insurance and taxes could be 2-10x what you pay in another state. Other than that, if they predict another 10% dip just make sure you buy at 40-50% discount to ride the storm out.