All Forum Posts by: Mike G.

@Melissa Searing The only real way to know how much is left on the mortgage would be to contact the lender, which you can't do without legal permission from the borrower.  The borrower could have paid most of the mortgage off, or be years delinquent on payments.

However, if they are paying according to schedule, the simple answer is that they likely haven't paid much off in 5 years, maybe $10-15k depending on their interest rate, which I would guess would have been around 5.0% in 2010.

@Account Closed above.

I plan on being there tomorrow, too, along with my business partner.

For us, it is really just a style choice, it has nothing to do with the cost.  For a more modern sleek cabinet design, you might choose not to have any handles or knobs.

I wouldn't do it.  It is hard for people to look past the mess and envision a final product.  And even if they can, they will always see that mess in their mind when looking the house.

I also don't recommend letting a potential buyer choose finishes for the house unless you get a nonrefundable deposit that will cover the cost of replacing their finishes with something that won't be their specific taste.  Otherwise, if they back out of the purchase or can't close, you are stuck with whatever finishing materials/colors they chose.

In other words, keep it simple.  Renovate the house to a nice, neutral style that matches the area, then market it.

One thing to keep in mind is that Canary (or Piper, which provides a similar product) requires WIFI/Internet, whereas Simplisafe uses a cellular connection.  Simplisafe seems to be a popular choice among rehabbers.

Get an alarm system.

Also, consider installing dummy video cameras (unless you want to spring for an actual video surveillance system).  And put up security system signs and stickers, along with video surveillance signs.

@Scott Williams, yes, we are still using Podio.  It has been working fine so far, though we haven't been sending any mailings recently.  Unless we run into some major problems in the future, we will probably stick with it.

I would create a short outline for your presentation - the process and some challenges and how you dealt with those challenges.  Leave plenty of time for people to ask questions, because you can expand more on things when topics come up.

Be careful before handing over your financials.  Make sure you are working with a reputable lender, hopefully one referred to you by someone who has used them before.  Make sure you meet with someone from their company in person at their offices.  Do sanity checks online also.  You will be giving out a lot of important personal and financial information to them.

It makes sense to gather all the information you need and fill out their required forms, but you might want to hold off on handing it off to them until you have a deal lined up.  That way, if you don't get a deal soon or if you change your mind about which lender to use, you haven't put any of your personal info out there unnecessarily.