All Forum Posts by: Chris Pizzulo

Hi Michele, thanks for your suggestions. I believe I've found a good address with Joes help but these are all great ideas if I need to track someone down again.

Thank you both for the quick reply and your suggestions. I'm going to try the skip trace approach. Looks like you can get a report for $1.95 from Intelius. If it works, that's a bargain.

...anybody?

A quick (and late) update just in case anyone was wondering... I ended up lowering my offer to create a bigger safety net but the bank accepted another offer. It ended up selling for $57k which is $6k more than I might have had it for. It went from pending to sold very quickly on MLS so I'm guessing it was a cash transaction. I'm anxious to see what the buyer does with it. Thanks again for your opinions. On to the next opportunity...

Hi guys, I'm in need of some help. My girlfriends parents have a vacant house next door which could be very nice but it's been vacant for quite some time and it's showing the signs. I located the owners name via tax records and tried sending a yellow letter to the property address hoping it would get forwarded but it can back marked "Return to Sender - Vacant - Unable to Forward". Does anyone have any suggestions on how I might locate an address for the owner or get in touch with them? Thanks in advance.

Sounds like everything is going smoothly which is great. Looking forward to seeing some more pics!

Yeah, it's frustrating. Everything else about the property seems good but the train is such a big X factor. My own personal opinion is that it isnt that big a deal. It's loud but lasts less than a minute when it goes by, at least the few times I've heard it. But for families with kids they might be worried about safety too. I took Sharons advice and tried coming up with an average time on the market for properties next to the tracks to sell but the sample size is just too small to be meaningful. I'd like to either move the house or re-route the train :)

Thanks again guys

Thank you all for your input. I did figure in closing costs to purchase the property, repairs, the realtor commission when selling the property, 12 months carrying costs (mortgage, taxes, insurance) and even a home warranty for myself and the buyer. I allowed for an add'l $1k in repairs to cover the "oops" and Murphy's Law expenses as Shawn pointed out. With everything considered that would leave me netting about $13k.

I relied more on the recent sales data on Zillow rather than the Zestimate but thanks for pointing that out.

The train tracks are still my big concern but I like Sharon's idea of taking the average time on the market of the other properties that have sold. I'm going to take a look at that tomorrow to try and get an idea.

Thanks again for your comments and suggestions. If anyone else has any input on the train track issue I'd be interested in hearing from you too. My gut says it's worth a shot but

And good luck with your deal Jacob!

Hi, I'm new to real estate investing (and Biggerpockets...pic & profile coming soon...) and I have a potential deal that I'm looking at that I believe is a good opportunity but would love to get the opinions of some of you more experienced investors.

I'm in Greensboro, NC and looking at a foreclosure which is a single family 3 bed 1.5 bath unit. The property was listed on MLS for $71,900 and based on comps found on Zillow, and the opinion of a real estate agent I'm working with, I believe the ARV is $90-95k. I estimate it will require ~$12k in repairs. I made an offer of $51k which was initially not accepted because the bank accepted another buyers offer. After a few weeks we were told the orig. buyer was unwilling to sign the required bank addendums and the bank is asking if I am still interested in buying the property.

I feel pretty confident in my repair estimate and even with a few surprises I have a healthy enough margin to still make a few bucks. My concern which is causing me to second guess the deal is that directly behind the property, ~150ft from the house at the bottom of a hill, there is a busy train track. Because it's down a hill and there is foliage at the back of the lot you can't see the train but after 3 visits I've heard it each time and it's fairly loud. Other houses in the same neighborhood, the same distance from the tracks, have sold for as much or more than the comps I've looked at but I'm afraid it could sit on the market for too long or I'd need to come down on price too much to sell as quickly as I'd like. How concerned should I be about this? Is it a deal killer or worth a shot? Any advice, comments, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.