All Forum Posts by: George Skidis

Above is the location of the meeting.

Below is one of the speakers at our last Super Saturday.

This is an 8 hour Interactive Workshop. Participants will receive 8 credit hours towards earning the Professional Housing Provider Designation sponsored by the National Real Estate Investors Association (NaREIA) www.NaREIA.com For more info on PHP click PHP INFO

Location:       Impact Center for Independent Living

The East Room

2751 East Broadway

Alton, IL 

This event provides       Coffee all day

Donuts at 8:30 AM

                                       Lunch: Jimmy Johns order off of the menu

Comfortable seating and classroom atmosphere

 Distraction free learning environment

FREE Parking

Early Bird Registration until 11:59 PM July 15th.

Member Fee: $59.95 per person     Join IL REIA 

Guest Fee: $69.95 per person

Register before July 15th and receive the 120 page Student Manual at no additional charge.

Register

Open Registration July 16th until 5:00 PM Friday July 21st  2017

Member Fee: $99.95 per person     Join IL REIA

Guest Fee: $ 109.95 per person

Register

Register at Door 5:01 PM July 21st until 10 AM July 22nd

Member Fee: $124.95 per person     Join IL REIA

Guest Fee: $ 134.95 per person

Register

Use the Promo Code "IL REIA RULES" to save $5.00 off the cost of Registration

Register         Join IL REIA

TOPIC: Negotiating the Best Solution. This intensive 8 hour interactive workshop on Power Negotiation covers the following:

1. You Must Play to Win

2. Identify the Best Solution

3. Negotiating is More Than Haggling over Price

4. Keep It Simple for Negotiating Success

5. The Toughest Negotiator You'll Ever Meet

6. When You Can't Afford to Walk Away

7. But They Only Want to Talk Price

8. The Critical But Forgotten Step

9. Negotiating WITH and WITHOUT Attorneys

10. The MOST POWERFUL NEGOTIATING WEAPONS

11. Playing the Trading Game

12. The Power of Round or Square Widgets

13. N.L.P and D.I.S.C as Negotiating Tools

14. Perceived Power is Real Power

15. Fighting Back

16. I Can't Afford It

17. Asking For It

18. Negotiating the Non-Negotiable

19 The Ethics of Negotiation

The "Negotiating the Best Solution" student manual was developed by the National Real Estate Investors Association. Student Manuals should be ordered no later than July 15th. They may not be available at the door.

AGENDA

08:30 AM Registration

09:00 Welcome and Messages

09:15 Power Negotiation

11:30 Lunch included served by Jimmy Johns

12:30 Power Negotiation Continued

17:00 Final Questions

Join IL REIA

Benefits of joining the Illinois Real Estate Investors Association will be introduced at this event. No other products or services will be sold. No Vendor Tables. No Distractions. We promise a 95% content driven environment. There will be one 10 minute break per hour and networking is not only permitted but encouraged during these minutes.

@Mark B. If you use the @ sign plus the persons name that you are responding to they will get a notice that you responded, 

Emotions out of the way is a good start. Since you are not an "Heir" in the will, I don't believe you violate the arms length transaction. If this is in foreclosure the bank might be willing to negotiate a short sale. 

Banks use the term REO or Real Estate Owned to describe this, So at the bank be prepared to use this term.

Once negotiating with the bank stat with a Short Sale pitch then be ready to switch to loan assumption.

Good luck and Great Investing!

There is no way for me to know if this will work out for you. this works out for you. Here are a couple of things to consider.

1. Are you prepared to evict your aunt? Sounds like she will not leave until she has to.

2. Varski Properties rule #1, "Never rent to friends or family." How long will it take to get her out?

3. You will be assuming the loan on a distressed property without a purchase discount. Would you be better off to try for a short sale? Or does lack of financing make that impossible?

4.  Varski Properties rule #2. "Never rent anything you are emotionally attached to". If you want this house for sentimental reasons, be prepared to be emotionally tortured. You would be better off acquiring a similar property with no emotional attachment and zero family baggage.

5. Varski Properties Rule #17, "There is always another deal, be prepared to walk away."

@Joe Kim A lot depends on where you do business.  We work in low income areas and high end deals as well. You could Seller Finance 24 homes in Cahokia, IL and have less than $500,000 on the street. Now these homes would list for $40,000 each but if you had more than $30,000 in them you are doing something wrong. 

However, a house I am getting ready to list for $329,000 might sound small to someone from California.  Now let me tell you it is in a desirable One access neighborhood. Cul-De-Sac.

Second floor has 3 bedrooms and a full bath.

Main floor has Master Bedroom with tray ceiling, a master bath with two sinks, both shower and Jacuzzi, Eat in Kitchen, all appliances, Formal Dining Room, a half bath off the hall, Living Room with Fireplace and 10' ceiling,  Laundry Room with deep sink and two car detached garage.

Basement could be used as an in-law suite. It has a family room with wet bar,  the fifth bedroom, utility room and full bathroom that has a 5' wide senior accessible low threshold   shower. and a utility room with storage area.

Also two new furnaces and AC units, new roof 2017, new gutters 2017 some carpet, some hardwood, some vinyl. Total area about 5,000 square feet.

Now let me step back. Due to the laws in Illinois, I would rather due an eviction than a foreclosure. Lease Options are great for me, Seller financing not my bag. However, I would like the freedom to do either.

The Seller Finance Coalition has the support of both the National Real Estate Investors Association and the National Apartment Owners Association. Those folks know more about it than I do. I trust them both.

For low income rentals check out my blog for today called "Bullet Proof Properties".

Bullet Proof Properties

1. Exterior Siding: Vinyl siding does not stand up well to weed eaters and children bounding a ball off of it. It gets brittle and cracks after a few years. Aluminum and steel siding gets stolen almost as fast as central air units. Consider installing 4 x 8 sheets of T-111 plywood siding. Never paint it. Paint needs scraped off. If available in your area use an oil based stain on both sides and all edges before installation and seal with a water seal. The exterior will need retreated every three to five years, but should last 25 to 30 years with no major maintenance.

2. Exterior Windows: Every Bedroom needs at least one window large enough to serve as an egress opening. Close the extra windows when you install the siding. Extra windows bleed heat in both directions. Save on your resident’s Heating and cooling and turn that into paid rent.

3. Exterior Doors: Steel clad exterior doors with no windows. Install a peep hole. Make sure it has a dead bolt. Use security storm doors with a dead bolt as well.

4. Interior Floors: Never install carpet. On a concrete slab consider either commercial grade floor tile or garage floor paint if local code permits. When ready to rent lay some inexpensive, and when the resident moves out disposable, area rugs in the bedrooms. For wood floors consider “Carpet in a Can”. Not sure who coined that phrase but it works. Paint the floors with enamel deck paint and seal with polyurethane.

5 Kitchen: Install fewer cabinets and use more built in pantries. Cabinets are expensive. Replacing them every few years is a pain. Large spacious pantries are the answer. Cabinets with drawers are high maintenance since they don’t receive much TLC from your residents. Install a high backsplash behind the sink to avoid painting and a stainless steel backsplash behind the stove to contain and reflect cooking fires.

6. Bathrooms: Never install fiberglass tubs and showers. We had a plus size tenant step through the floor of one that came with the house. Consider installing steel enamel tubs that cost about $125.00 or so. Tub refinishing kits are a great racket. They last about a year even if you follow the directions perfectly. If the unit is occupied your resident will not follow the directions. A better choice might be to make the unit ready for special needs clients and have a drain in the floor. Don’t even install a tub.

Tub Surrounds are great. Consider installing Fiberglass Reinforced Panels (FRP) without any soap dishes. Give the resident a shower caddie.

Don’t install toilet paper dispensers. Avoid drywall repairs and maintenance by “Gifting” your resident a free standing one. If they leave it behind when they move out, even better.

Exhaust Fans: Except when required by code they should not be installed. Instead consider installing a horizontal sliding window 35” x 12” as high up on the wall as possible. That is the vent and it makes it a harder window to damage or break in through.

Sinks: Install Pedestal sinks. Residents will not call you when the drain leaks and your wood vanity will be rotted out and need replaced before the next tenant moves in.

Medicine Cabinets: Install a wall mounted mirror and flank on either side with built in shelving.

Floors: No carpet, if you must use seamless vinyl and make sure to seal, glue and caulk the perimeter before renting.

7. Interior Doors: When the interior doors break consider installing steel clad exterior doors. It improves the fire rating of the bedroom and makes the resident more secure. It may even keep grandma’s grandchild from forcing the door and taking her rent money.

8. Attached Garages: Whenever possible turn them into one or two new bedrooms. A garage is where tenants pile the things they do not want. Get extra rent instead of extra headaches.

9. Detached Garages and Storage Buildings: Convert them into a carriage house, rent them separately, use them yourself or tear them down. If you cannot make a profit on them they need to go. Remember to notify the tax assessor if they are removed.

10. Insulation: If doing a total rehab consider paying the difference to have 4 to 6 inches of spray foam insulation installed in the exterior walls and rafters. Help the tenants save on utilities and take away the excuse for not paying you rent.

Landlord Quiz: It is 11:00 AM and there is a moving truck in front of a house. Is the tenant moving in or moving out?

Answer: Moving in. If they were moving out it would have been 11:00 PM

Good Luck and GREAT Investing!

My wife and I manage a mobile home park in southern Illinois.  The big question about the title is was it lost after recording in the seller's name or was it never in their possession. Frequently mobile home titles are kept in the file drawer after purchase and never properly recorded.

Here is what I have found that works in the state of Illinois.

1. CAN YOU LEGALLY MOVE IT. Check with the local authorities. In Saint Clair County, IL you cannot move a mobile home "IN" if it is older than 1980. That could also be a snag where you live. If their are restrictions it means you need to move it to an unincorporated area. Frequently older mobile homes end up as hunting cabins.

 2. As to title. In Illinois the title to a mobile home is the same as that for a motor vehicle.  If the title was never in the sellers name you will need either the title number or the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) to back track ownership. If it was ever in the seller's name that might also work.

3. If you can find the title number, VIN or Owner of records name you can go to the Illinois Secretary of States and run a title search. The search will tell you who is on title and if there are any recorded liens. Recorded liens, even if paid off, can be a problem to clear. With all the bank mergers the bank which holds the recorded lien may have been sold 15 times since 1969. Fun to track but you may never get a clear title without legal filings. We have successfully tracked down closed banks and their successors, so it is possible.

4. If you want to claim the mobile home to obtain title as abandoned you also need to publish a legal notice. The exception is if you can get notarized releases from the lien holder and the owner of record.

Wobbly boxes can be a great investment. Especially since they are subject to personal property taxes and not real estate taxes.

Have you heard the one about how down in Arkansas a divorce and a tornado are related activities? Somebody is losing a mobile home.

Good Luck and Great Investing

As a new investor you may not have an appraiser that you trust. Help yourself by doing some comp research NOW. That way you can cherry pick the comps and present them to the appraiser when they arrive. Choose comps that really are Like, Kind and Quality.

If you cannot find comps that are LKQ in the price range you want to sell for, you might be paying to much for the property in today's market.

You indicate that investors are snatching them up. What are those investors doing after they snatch them? Buy and Hold, Flip, Lease Option? Look for an investor who has a business model that is similar to your end game. See what they are doing.

As a landlord in a low income area since 1993 I have seen the prices of 900 square foot, 3 bedroom, one bath, National Homes on a slab ride the roller coaster. They peaked at $59,000 before the bubble burst and plummeted to $7,000.00 and less afterwards.

I even know a fellow investor who quit paying his real estate taxes and making repairs altogether.  He just wanted to get out from under them with no further expenditures. He walked away from over 100 homes. At $1,500 per year average in real estate taxes he managed to collect almost four years of rents with out paying taxes or fixing anything. In effect he sold his business to the Saint Clair County tax collector for about $6,000.00 per home. He also declared bankruptcy. He was a senior, experienced and savvy investor who got in to deep on another project.

What will you do? You basically have three choices. 

1. Breach the contract and forfeit your earnest money

2. Go through with it and make the best of things and flip at a potential loss.

3. Become a buy and hold landlord, finance the properties and wait for the next market upswing to sell them.

Being a landlord is a long steady road to wealth building. Your tenants pay for your investments over time. Do you have what it takes?

As an insurance agent I can tell answer your question. 

1. Random quotes consume our time and only get us a paid commission 5 to 10 percent of the time. 

2. Most if not all Insurance companies require a CREDIT CHECK to determine your rate and cost.

3. Most of the quoting software we use requires data collection before we get the quote to you. One exception is the Illinois Fair Plan. They insure ALMOST everyone. You will pay a higher premium for that privileged.

Now I am not speaking as an insurance agent but President of Illinois REIA.

As a Chapter of the National Real Estate Investors Association we have access to online quote service that does list billing and invoicing in arrears.  Check with Bill Tan who runs the Los Angeles Real Estate Investors Association (LAREIA) to see if he can help you or check us out as well.

The Seller Finance Coalition is working to alter Dodd Franks to allow smaller investors to up to 24 of their own homes each year and not be subject to the banking regulations of Dodd Frank. Charles Tassel and Jeff Watson of the National Real Estate Investors Association have been working very hard on this and several other anti real estate investor legislation bills. As one of the local leaders of National REIA I went as a representative of Illinois REIA with them in March to Washington DC. Not sure what I can post here about that without violating protocol. We made good inroads and had a great time there as well. We also met with our representatives about renewing the National Flood Insurance Program, giving investors 120 days to cure before an equal access lawsuit could be filed and other important issues as well.