All Forum Posts by: Tony S.

I've got a property that I purchased for $30k cash over a year ago, and it has been performing great. I am now ready to acquire another property in the same price range, and I would like to borrow against the first. 

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience lately if banks/credit unions will even touch anything like this?

Thanks for the input. That sounds like a valid idea. I assume that If I was able to do that, I'd still be on the hook for dealing with the bank and getting them to release the lien? That seems like the hardest part of this.

So I have known about a particular property for a while now. It is located about 100 miles away from me in another city, and I've been driving by it about once a week. 

All of my research goes to show that this property is a "Zombie foreclosure". It is a nice property and I'm dying to make a deal on it. 

I actually found the previous owner's phone number online and spoke to him a while back. He mentioned that he walked away from the house when the foreclosure started about two years ago. According to the county's records, I see his mortgages and the deed when he purchased the house, but there is nothing indicating a foreclosure ever started. 

The taxes are still in the previous owner's name, and haven't been paid in a few years. In September, the town came out to the property and did some work and proceeded to put a lien on the property, which is also showing the owner's name, not a bank. 

The only thing I'm not seeing is any sort of "release of lien" from a bank or financial institution. At the same time, if the property hasn't been maintained and taxes haven't been paid, did the bank already release it? 

I'm lost and have no idea how to go about this at all?

salary to start while in training, then hourly after training is completed in about 6 months.  I've gotten a better idea of whats required and it think this will just be a minor setback, and not as bad as I thought. Everything else such as credit, income, savings etc.. Is well above what will be needed.

I've owned a SF rental for 11 months now. I am definitely interested in purchasing more properties but I am sort of stuck at the moment. My plan was to cash out refinance, HELOC or whatever type of loan would make the most sense at 6 months or 12 months (depending on the lender), but all of those plans stopped immediately when I lost my full time job 4 months ago.

Obviously no one was going to even look at me being unemployed. In the mean time, I've been lucky to be very secure financially and there have been no further issues. I will be starting work again in a month, and for the first 5 months or so I will be earning about what I was earning at my previous job. After that initial period, My pay will double.

I would like to get the equity out of this first property I own, and take that + a bit more cash out of pocket to purchase another. I'm wondering what the current situation with the banks is. The rates have slowly been going up, and this economy has improved a little. Does anyone see any possibility of a bank lending me the $$?

I appreciate the responses! I've gotten a better idea of how to go about it.

@Account Closed I do have the cash to buy, and have been thinking about what to do with it in the end, if it came down to it of course. I'll have to wait until I walk through the place to get an idea.

I've been making some cold calls these past few days, and have had a pretty good response. I am going to view a vacant house this saturday at noon. I drove by this house a few times and decided to give the owner a call. He seems motivated to sell.

My question is, how do I go about bringing up the money portion of it when I am there with the owner checking the place out?

I will most likely be bringing a more experienced accomplice with me to help estimate the remaining rehab costs (house is about 40% done at the moment).

What have your experiences been with negotiating prices in a situation like this? Should I ask him how much he wants and go from there? Should I go right out and make an offer (I'll give you $X,XXX for the house)?

My other question is, I should have a contract with me at that time ready to go and complete with the seller (assuming we come to an agreement)?

This is all sounding like it could end up being something great, I've been thinking about this all day.

Something to note: As I drove by it today, the overgrown grass was mowed. Now there was a notice from the town taped to the front door so it could just have been past the due date and the town came and mowed it today.

An idea that came to my head, though I didn't want it to, is that the owner still owns the house and came and mowed it today. It could just be a coincidence. He sounded honest on the phone and even went through the trouble of getting me the name and contact # for the lender so maybe this is not the case.

Anyway, I am going to give the lender a call and go from there, I am still 100% interested in pursuing this.

@Wayne Brooks The county identifies the gentleman I spoke to today as the owner still, it shows no "Notice of pendency" or Foreclosure. This is where I got a bit confused.

Update:

So today I was able to give the "owner" a phone call. He was an extremely nice guy, and after explaining why I was calling he stated that he was surprised the property is still in it's current condition, as he walked away from it in a foreclosure almost three years ago.

Because of this I have determined the people I saw tearing the roof off this past summer (then just tarping it and leaving it like that since) must have been with the bank. It must have been listed for sale by the bank as well a year ago.

I have a phone number for the lender which I am going to call tomorrow to pursue this, but I am not sure where I should go from here.

Is it still possible for me to put a deal together with this property being bank owned?