All Forum Posts by: Helen Zhang

I currently have an upstairs common area with 3 walls, and I am interested to convert that into a bedroom. I am interested to add a closet, a wall, and a door. Do I need a building permit for it in Texas?  If so how much would that be? 

Numbers looks great, I am curious on the occupancy rate in the area that you are purchasing. The vacancy numbers doesn't look very convincing to me. 

For those of you who has listings on AirBnB,  HomeAway, VRBO...etc. You might want to click here to put your vote in and make sure your voice is being heard. This link has made it easy for you: https://actnow.io/xKhnQLk

To read this Bill a bit more: https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=86R&Bill=HB3778

@William Kwong , sorry to hear your experience. The refinance part doesn't always work out, so I think what you are going through on refinance is just luck. But it really feels like you need to find better contractors, and this is something you have absolute control of. Have you tried thumbtack? 

@Scott Houin The answer is yes you should fire the property manager in your situation. A property manager should behave like someone who provides you the service and respect your decision as he is hired by you. 

This is not to say whether this decision is right or wrong. He may have the best intention for trying to keep tenants for you. But you are ultimately the final decision maker, and your decision should override his decision at any time even if he is 100% right. If he refuses to work with you, he needs to go. 

@Mo Farraj It doesn't really affect my buying decision, but it will affect my offering decision as what it is telling me is this property's listing price is probably too high. 

@Cynthia Bankston Yes please. As my conversation with Auction.com associate has not been very helpful, I would like to learn a little bit more from you. 

@Ronald Rohde This is exactly what I am afraid of... what if it is not a legit foreclosure? If it is a short sale, then what? 

I am interested to bid for a property that is currently listed on auction.com. (I had decent experience with auction.com in the past and it has been pretty good). 

However, this time I am having trouble reading the property deed record. There are two records, both look like they are secured against the property. One of the deeds is a subordinate deed of trust (which I believe it is a mortgage in the second position). 

My question is that if I purchase this property from auction.com, would I now be responsible for that second mortgage? (I believe not all listings from auction.com is a foreclosure, so I am a bit concerned that this is actually a standard sale where the buyer would have to be responsible for the second mortgage). Does anyone have experience with this? 

@Dave Foster @Ivan Zlatev @Jessica Zolotorofe @James P.

Thank you for all the input. 

I come to the realization that this is not possible to do in terms of timing. Within 45 days, I must identify the property that I want to purchase, but with 45 days, the bank may or may not be able to get back to me, and within 45 days, the title might not be cleared through the foreclosure process. Auctions (at least from auction.com) takes forever to close (this is actually fine as we have up to 6 months to close). But the identification period is too short to truly ensure the property that I am going to purchase will complete the foreclosure process.