All Forum Posts by: Colin G Murphy

I mostly flip homes in the West Pasco area near Tampa but just bought a house in Port Charlotte that is in great condition aside from needing a new roof, professional clean and basic lawn care. 

Any local recommendations BP members could provide in these areas would be greatly appreciated. 

Hi @Carla Winnegar

You have the right to access the house with certificate of title and if it is occupied and they refuse to leave you can have them evicted. What´s your plan for this house given the first mortgage holder is in the process of foreclosing it?

Foreclosure auctions in Tampa FL opened for business back in July and there has been a steady trickle of them since then (both vacant and occupied). Volumes are 25-30% of what they were this time last year and competition from bidders is strong. 

Hi @Stephen Scire

I´ve purchased a lot of occupied foreclosures over the years and the vast majority of them worked out well. It isn´t the easiest type of deal to start your journey with, but it´s doable if you have conservative assumptions and some more experienced people to get advice from regarding renovation, title, eviction etc. 

First of all, make sure you do several drive bys of the house. If it is full of junk and badly maintained, chances are the interior is similarly poor. Look up the permit info for roof, AC, furnace etc. Look at recent/old MLS listings to see if you can get an idea of what the interior looked like in the recent past. Regardless, the majority of foreclosures, particularly multi families, need extensive cosmetic rehabs from top to bottom. If you buy a lot of these, you´ll notice that you get "unpleasantly surprised" far more often than "pleasantly surprised".

In terms of getting the previous owner out - cash for keys works best. In Florida, evictions are pretty straight forward and inexpensive. I don´t have any experience in Boston, but I think it is a lot more tenant friendly there, so be aware of how long you might need to hold onto that house before renovation starts. 

Good luck and keep us posted!

Hi @James McGovern

What kind of data and what state? Auction.com has basic free data on a lot of public foreclosures. The county websites themselves also give you all the basics (address, auction date, judgement amount, parcel number, case number etc). 

Hi @Daniel Mich

I´ve bought a lot of properties in foreclosure and have not heard about anybody getting a refund after you´ve paid the money to the County Clerks office. No harm in calling them and asking. How much money are we talking about here? If it is a lot, you should get in touch with a real estate attorney to evaluate your options. 

You obviously realise this now, but existing mortgages (especially ones in pre foreclosure!) are the first thing on your due diligence to check before bidding on a HOA foreclosure. You can look up the original mortgage value in the public records and use an amortisation table to estimate how much is outstanding (you´ll know the exact amount when a judgement follows the lis pendens).

If the value of the home is significantly higher than the value of the mortgage, you still might have a deal on your hands. You might want to consider partnering with a more experienced investor to make it work. If the value of the mortgage judgement is higher than the value of the home, then the HOA lien you´ve purchased is worthless.  

Hi @Janet Perez

Short sales can be a very slow and tedious way of acquiring real estate. I´ve bought a handful in the past and had to wait many months to close the transaction. If you have access to cash, bidding on the courthouse steps (many counties hold them online now) is an excellent way of getting below market value properties. Some education needed before you dive into that arena though as there are more risks.

Other than that, many counties offer access to lis pendens which you can use to build lists (or train a VA to build them) and then target with direct marketing.

Hi @Elliot Ogbemudia

Lots of Irish investors on Biggerpockets (myself included). There are quite a few forums discussing properties in other countries, but the vast majority of tools and information here relates to US property. 

Hi @Aaron Maxwell

When you say "buy a house from a bank that was foreclosed on" do you mean an REO listing? If so, title should be fine as it is basically a normal purchase. If you are referring to foreclosure auctions, that´s a different level of risk and you need to verify that it is a first position mortgage (they usually are) and set aside contingencies for other liens you might find (referenced by @Chad U.). 

Hi @Michael Thrower

You might not have a lot of local REIA action, but that doesn´t mean there aren´t multiple players in your area buying lots of houses. Login to your local foreclosure site and find out who has been buying at the auctions during the past couple of years and use whitepages to give them a call. Or go and attend some REIAs in another town - there must be several within a 45 minute drive (when they stop being virtual). Or if the only REIA in town is some guru idiot, then start your own (you don´t need to be an experienced investor to start a meeting). Might be some pent up demand.