All Forum Posts by: No Name

Hello Neighbor,

You’ve been buying and selling real estate since 1985! Your portfolio should be extensive. How long have you been a developer? How did you decide to get into developing? I’m looking forward to communicating with you and all the other real estate experts. Welcome to Bigger Pockets.

Marc

Mario,

Thanks for the mini book. It was helpful.

Marc

Jon,
I'm not sure why they're called short sale; so far, they seem to take a while. I understand every state has its own set of rules. My partner and I have been working on a few out of state short sales and thought there was something at a book store that could be acquired. I will contact a few of my REIA members and find out if there is something available. I will do the same with the out of state transactions. In the mean time, if there is a book that provided general short sale do's and don't, tips and ticks; we'd be happy to review it.

Thanks for your reply.

Marc

I understand that nonrefundable up front money depends on the deal. I know of some individuals who have a standard flat rate and others use a percentage system to decide. What’s the most nonrefundable up front money you’ve required and how did you come up with it?

Marc

Dick,
Thanks for the welcome neighbor. Brandy and I have visited Houston quite a bit. And I’m sure New Orleans has been a topic of discussion since the past two years. ;) As for having two accounts, we currently don’t see a reason. We’re in a joint venture, so credit can be given to either and the egos will still be grounded. Thanks for the suggestion.

James,
Thanks for your support. We find that when we have a reason to succeed that is bigger than ourselves; it is more likely that our goals will be accomplished. Since the profits are the means to an end, we’re not concerned about the monetary goal. As you mentioned, they will at least double.

Marc

Great advice! There were definitely some things I overlooked. I took the advice from another helpful investor who helped me look for comps. Now I am looking for private or hard money at good rates and terms. Private money is preferred because my holding time may exceed 6 months--the subject property is in a buyers market . If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open.

John:

We signed up as our entity so that we both can be able to review all of our questions, answers and so on. I’m sure it may get a bit confusing as to who’s who, so we’ll place our name at the end of a post. This way, you’ll be able to tell us apart.

Calixto:
Thanks for your words. We’ve been reading many forums. There are many questions and answers. I’m sure it can be difficult to not double post, but we’ll try our best.

From our point of view, the possibilities are endless after Katrina. There are so many options; we just have to pick the one with least resistance. As for BP, we’re looking forward to our interactions with others.

From every disaster comes new life.

James:

I posted a brief statement about us in the "To our new members, what got you interested in REI? > Subject: FREEDOM is a REASON"

My partner and I initially thought of real estate investment as a way to make a lot of money and travel.

Since residing in a Post-Katrina New Orleans, our WHY was revisited.

Brandy's background is in education and ended up working through a grant program that focused on preparing middle and high school students for higher education. Through her dealing with the education system, she came to the realization that building her own school with a system that is focused on helping students of poor background to receive quality education. After her research, she realized funding would be a great concern. Real Estate Investing is a route that can be taken to fund her project.

Marc's background is in government logistics and he ended up working for a “The Man” He also worked with various non profit organizations that sponsored cultural education (mainly Haitian culture). Due to the lack of available fuel used to cook, Haitian in general rely on trees as a method of fuel. By cutting trees to cook (as well as other purposes), the lack of trees become problematic when a hurricane hits the island. Marcs wants to work with a non-profit organization that will focus on the reforestation of Haiti. In any big project, there is always a need for funding. Real estate would create a steady stream of funds to assist with this and various other future projects.

We have so many other projects we plan on working on, but for now, the above are on the top of the list.

Katrina was a disaster. What we do after can be a bigger one if we’re not forward thinkers.

Marc

Are there good short sale books anyone can recommend?

Thanks for the reply. Your references are very helpful. If there is anyone out there who wants to give me a rough sketch on running the numbers on this deal, please feel free. I don't know what to put in as a starting offer to the bank. The lowest comps I can find are 133K, the payoff may be in the range of 115K, I have a retail estimate of 32K for repairs. I'm sure there will be holding costs and such but I don't know how to estimate them conservatively to help with my analysis of the deal. I'm open to suggestions from anyone who wants to respond.

I am from New Orleans and I would like to do a short sale in Houston to help save a family member from foreclosure due to a predatory ARMs lender who was sanctioned by the FDIC to stop writing loans. The bank sent her a letter offering to do a short sale. I called and sent the authorization letter and they outlined their short sale package. What are the risks of buying the house, paying the note and selling it back to her when she is able to get a better loan within her budget? I heard something about illegal lease backs or fraudulent lending clauses? Insignts would be very helpful.