All Forum Posts by: Gail W.

I play music in a bluegrass group, and bluegrass/gospel with another. I am also a beekeeper. Split my computer time between BP and a beekeeping forum.

I bought a foreclosure in July, however I don't think I would be comfortable buying unless the numbers are very good. We are almost done with the rehab, and I think I will be all in at about 55% of ARV. If the numbers aren't close to that I think I will stay out for awhile.

In Illinois you need a "Dealer License" to buy and sell a certain quantity of "titled" personal property per year. It may be 4 I don't know. To find out about a Dealers License go to your local DMV office. They can give you the requirements. I do know that there are insurance and bonding requirements. 

In summary the OP contracted for this course, didn't like the content, requested a refund and received it. Then proceeded to proclaim on a public forum that the course was a scam, and led people to believe that he had paid $1500 for the course and didn't get his money back. No matter how you feel about about the guru model it it looks as if Mr. McCall acted in good faith. In my opinion Mr McCall is not the scammer in this case.

It seems to me the longer the cycle continues beyond the normal 7-10 year time line, the farther prices have to fall before they reach a true corrected value. This is not taking Covid into account. That makes what is happening now truly scary, but I am a very conservative investor.

Just my opinion, that a a couple of bucks will get you a cup of coffee about anywhere.

Be very careful. Be wary of anyone offering advise who has something to sell, real estate agents, pm's contractors etc. Keep a very close eye on every aspect of the deal. Stay in close communication with everyone. There is nothing "passive" about this type of investment. I inherited an OOS rental when my Dad passed, and it ate me up with fees and maintenance. It soured me on residential REI for a very long time and as a consequence it cost me a lot of money in lost opportunity.

I have a daughter that lives in the Bloomington-Normal area. There seems to be high demand for rentals  there.  Its a college town and real estate seems to appreciate well and also cash flow. 

@Juan Pardo I live in a rural area The town I live in is population 600, the towns we go to for all our business are 12 miles away pop. 5000,and 25 miles pop. 12500. I say this to tell you I have looked into investing in properties in bigger cities, St Louis for example is 2 hours away. I have a hard time seeing how I can make the numbers work in a city even that close. I can't imagine how it could work if I had to get on a plane to even see my investment. Now my model is to do everything I can as far as management, repairs, appealing taxes, checking on insurance, cutting grass, meeting with code enforcement, etc... I could not make much money in this business if I did not do all this myself. It seems to me the only way long distance investing can work is if you buy B class properties to keep the maintenance issues down for 70% of market value or less, and make sure all of the major issues are taken care of like; roofs, and HVAC, and find a very good honest PM. This seems like a fairly tall order, but I have read threads here on BP that say it can be done. I may branch out and try myself one day.

I retired at 59 4 years ago, but then found a job where I only put in 32-35 hours a week. I have since stopped working for them back in April and concentrate on a small farm and real estate. I have no plans to ever stop working, but I do things I enjoy now.

An update on this property: I took the advice of all of you here and ordered a title search on my own. I also checked with the city on water bills etc. We closed today. I have learned quite a bit on this first REO purchase. I hope what I have learned will be profitable with this purchase and in the future.

I just want to thank you all again for the education.