All Forum Posts by: Martin M.

@Keith Cuddeback

In addition to the methods already mentioned for finding the outstanding loan balance of the primary mortgage, you'll also likely want to determine if there are any other loans/liens attached to the property that the seller will need to cover/pay off before they could transfer title to you.

A HELOC for example is a common example of this. This will also be recorded with the county recorder. Good luck!

Hi Colton, congrats on the equity! You may already be listening to the BP podcasts, but if not, that’s a great place to start. Install the phone app and you can scroll by title to find various episodes for areas of real estate that may interest you. I noticed you may be in AZ. BP podcast 568 has an interesting take on the national housing market and does mention AZ specifically. The podcast is one person’s perspective, keep that in mind. However, she does see cautionary signs in AZ’s housing markets.

You mentioned potentially buying an 8 plex. The recent Brandon Turner multi family book may be worth reading for you if you have an interest in multi family. There’s quite a lot of real world useful knowledge in there. Some of the highlights include, explaining the financing types available (more than 4 units is commercial loan for example), which types of financing factor in your W2 and personal debt, accurately projecting cash flow for a property (very important), appreciation vs. cash flow and how these two differ between areas and property class types, i.e. Indiana vs. California, “A class property” “B class property” Congrats again on the equity. Educate yourself as much as possible and Good luck!

@Batool Haider

AirDNA gives each market an investability score and that's free to look up... outside of AirDNA you could construct a list of solid markets for STRs that you like, then within that list cross reference the AirDNA scores for each.

If you haven't read the Avery Carl book I'd recommend it. One thing she really drives home is to check and recheck the local regulations on STRs... what's considered an STR, what's allowed. The criteria for both of these can be changed fairly quickly by a municipality. This is much less likely to be the case in well established geteway locations.

I don't own a MHP but have researched it heavily, podcasts, reading etc.. I'd attended the Frank and Dave MHU course and it was brilliant. Worth every penny. For your idea around targeting MHPs nobody wants, in my opinion always good to be thinking outside the box, like you are with that question - but the question may be more, what's your MHP criteria? The second question would then be, can the MHP make money once you've got it to where you envision?

Bigger investors love turnaround MHPs like you're describing, minus the private utilities part. So seeking a turnaround MHP wouldn't be going against the grain or eliminating big investors as competition. If you target MHPs that are smaller in size, i.e. less than maybe 70 Lots, you're eliminating a lot of that competition from larger investors as they typically want 100 Lots or more. Some will work with 80 Lots or more etc but once you get in around 50 Lots and under you get farther away from what the bigger investors are seeking. That said, if you have too few Lots, you won't be able to cover the costs of an onsite manager. One last thing, just because you can find a turnarund MHP, that doesn't necessarily mean that it'll be profitable if turned around. There are many other metric to consider, which you may already be aware of, location etc. if those all check out, tie up the MHP. To sum it up, Lot count seems to be the differentiator between what bigger investors want and smaller investors. Hope this helps

The county recorder of deeds will have a deed registered with it showing who the owner is. I'd start with that and then work outwards from there. For some of these you might get lucky and you may see the person's name who actually owns the property, listed on the deed. For others, the actual owner may be shielded. For example if the property's in a land trust or an LLC. In the case of an LLC, you could check the state website to see if you can identify the owner of the LLC. Outside of that, there are paid services also that have record of the actual owner for many investment properties such as these, duplexes, 3 plexes e.t.c Good hunting!

Equally as important as your entity, or maybe more important, is having solid liability insurance. I had a long conversation with an attorney who sometimes represents plaintiffs in suits against property owners. Their target in these suits, right or wrong, is the property owner's insurance company (not really the owner) in order to receive a settlement payout. This is why insurance is so important.

Bigger Pockets podcast 568 is a fascinating discussion which may be relevant to some of the topics in this thread. I learned a lot from it. The podcast's a discussion around the housing market demand in general, but also touches on the abundance of new construction being built in states such as AZ, TX and GA

I believe this is going to vary by state. Irrespective of whether or not the HOA has a lien on the property or not, they still may be able to pursue the auction buyer (new property owner) for a limited amount of HOA back fees.

In IL for example, the HOA can pursue up to 6 months of outstanding fees. Best to ask an HOA atty in the state where the property resides to know for sure, as they're the ones that would represent HOAs in pursuing back fees.

Also consider, the foreclosing lender may have been keeping the fees up to date. If they were, that may be indicated in the judgment.

There are quite a lot of risks with purchasing properties at auction, from the condition of the property, to liens that may not become detached from the property when you buy it at auction and many others. This forum has a lot of great information around those risks. Also the 'Bidding to Buy' book is a great resource around foreclosures that breaks down the complexities of the foreclosure process into easy to understand concepts.

Regarding seeking out a resource to guide you through purchasing at auction (and navigating the risks that go with that), you might want to consider investing with an experienced auction buyer instead. One who's well versed in purchasing foreclosed properties.

Hi Connie,

I’ve been researching LLCs as well. I’m not an expert but can share a few things that I’ve learned.

Generally, the LLC is registered in the state where the property resides. Also as Jason points out, look into an umbrella insurance policy. These are very affordable. They're typically hundreds of dollars per year, not thousands, and all of the large insurance providers offer them. Your auto insurance provider may be the place to start there. They offer a second layer of protection in addition to the LLC.

To help you understand LLCs further, It may be worth searching on google for "asset protection attorneys" or maybe "tax attorneys" in the state that the property is in, so that you ask them questions about LLCs and maybe have them register the LLC for you in that state.

Generally speaking think of an LLC as a legal entity structure that shields your personal assets, car, home etc. from a law suit against the property inside the LLC. Think of the tax piece separately. Your accountant can probably detail the tax implications of an LLC for you. It'll depend on various factors around your finances and so on.

I’d check out the ‘Financial, Tax and Legal’ forum on the BP site here too. Lots of great posts in there.

Good luck!