All Forum Posts by: Deadrick Colbert

I'm curious as to whether anyone has experienced anything similar to this. My bid on a hud house was approved. In the contract I have 15 days to have an inspection completed. My realtor asked me to have the power turned on for the inspection. I called the utility company and they agreed to do so. However, several hours later the utility company called me back saying there was a note on the hud property account saying they could not turn on the utilities until a complaint was fixed. They gave me a phone number to call. It was to the city. There I was told that the city had to come out several times in 2015 ( 2 years ago) to mow the lawn several times and that there was a lien of over $1000 on the account that had to be paid before they would turn on the utilities for an inspection. She actually rudely demanded that I pay it right then over the phone.

I called my mortgage lender and was told that they won't have title inspection back for another week. That will be past the 15 day inspection window (but I will still have one done no matter what). He recommended that I have my buyers agent talk to the listing agent and have them either pay the lien or have the utilities turned on. The listing agent ended up calling the city and asking them to send an invoice to hud, and the listing agent is supposed to let me know next week if hud agrees or denies to pay. I have never had this happen before. Has anyone else experienced anything like this with hud?

Are you referring to a Sleep Number dealer or a carpet installer? I asked Sleep Number and they didn't really know. I haven't asked carpet installers yet. I'm still trying to find someone to do it.

When you've got a house that's in great shape and only has to have cosmetic fixes, do you all just go with the basic cosmetic fixes or go all out and put in granite counter tops in kitchen and remodel bathrooms to make it top notch? This house I'm doing now is currently valued at 225k and I'm trying to decide if it will increase the resell value much over that by going ahead and doing some bells and whistle upgrades.

I'm a financial analyst for a hospital.

@Joseph Gallant the low down payment is for owner occupant only, so you would have to move into it otherwise if you are buying as an investment property you would have to put down 20%. I just purchased a hud property for 35k  below what it's worth and I did it using conventional financing with 5% down payment. 

It depends on what you are wanting the agent for. If you are buying property off of the mls, then I would definitely recommend getting a good buyers agent. You can tell them what you are looking for and they can send you properties that meet your criteria as they hit the market. A good agent will also be helpful in accessing the market and can give you tips on what repairs need to be made for ultimate sales price/or rent rate.

If you are wholesaling, that is a whole different ball game. Most agents don't understand wholesaling and won't bother with it. However, some agents that are used to working with investors, not only understand wholesaling but are willing to work with them. I've even had agents that knew of properties that would not be able to get financed if listed on the mls offer them to me because they knew I could close it quickly and they'd rather do that then bother listing it on the mls.

I'm going to have to have carpet replaced in a house that has a Sleep Number bed set up in it. Do I need to disassemble it for the carpet replacement and then reassemble it? Do carpet installers ever take care of this? I've never set one of these up before and not sure how to do it and want the carpet replaced asap.

@JR Connor, technically this will be my second. I bought the house that we live in now about 6 years and fixed it up. I got married 2 years after I bought it but most of the work had already been completed by then. My intention at that time was to keep the house but I found a good deal and bought a hud house last week. This will be my first attempt while having a family with me. Thank you for sharing your experiences and information.

@Larry Turowski, We actually went over this last night. I had mapped everything out for the next 6 years and went over everything. I also promised to buy her a newer vehicle within the next year, so that helped to. lol She is going along with it but she really seems to have gotten attached to this house that we just purchased.

@Mary Dancy I'll have to remember the shopping tip. That may come in handy with my daughter.

@Brianne H. That's awesome that you have already completed 3. Maybe my wife will be happier about it after we sell and she sees a check.

Any other folks here who's spouse does not love the idea of a live in flip?