Hello all!
First of all, I have to thank all of you so much for the massive amounts of wisdom I have recieved from this forum.
That said, I have set out to truly start my RE investing practice (we do already have one rental property that was our primary residence before moving to a larger house) and have been doing quite a bit of research focused on pre-FC and SS homes.
Then a very strange thing happened to me yesterday. My wife and I went to a foreclosure expo here in Orlando to network and start to build our team of accountants, brokers, prop mgrs, attorneys, etc. We entered in a drawing for a free home and actually WON! The main vendor at the event was giving away an FC home free and clear for entering in the contest and out of several hundreds of people, they pulled my ticket! They are going be transferring the title to me in the coming weeks (actually to the LLC that i am in the process of forming for tax liability and protection purposes) and I have read and signed the contract which assures me of a clean title and title insurance and i have already checked the property records and the taxes are all current and I have copies of the sheriff's dead, quit claim dead and proof of auction where the property was purchased by the REO.
Now here is the catch IF you would call it that. I live in Orlando and the property is a distressed duplex in a not so great part of Detroit, MI. I have very minimal info and only an exterior photo.
My plan for our investing was really to focus on rentals (SF or Multi-unit homes) and this happens to be a duplex. Once i take ownership, my wife and I are planning on going to Detroit to view the property and scheduling a home inspector and several GC's to come take a look at the property to let us know what exactly needs to be rehab'd. From there i'm guessing i will decide whether to A. rent it as is for the positive cash flow and hire a prop mgr B. rehab it (from out of state) and then either rent it for more or sell it to a non-investor/wholesaler or C. dump it to an investor or a handyman and just try to walk away with something.
Now that i'm done spilling, i guess i'm just looking for some feedback on my current situation, if anyone has been in such a position and what all of the brilliant and experienced minds here think the best course of action would be. Any pitfalls to look out for (above and beyond any property purchase) and legalities involved with capital gains from being "given" a property and the possibility of taking out a mortgage on the home to reinvest into rehabbing that property or to reinvest into something locally.
Thanks so much in advance!
JG
