All Forum Posts by: Bryan .

Has anyone tried to get a bank that is marketing a REO property to provide a discounted mortgage for the property? I am currently making a cash offer, but would offer a higher amount if they would provide terms.

You may want to check out "landlording on autopilot" by Mike Butler. He has some pretty good suggestions on how to make the landlording process easier.

Your strategy sounds similar to mine, a couple other good books that were refered to me here in these forums are "Weekend Millionaire" by Mike Sumey (sp) and "Building Wealth one house at a time" by John Schaub.

Some counties offer the information online. Google your county name and "recorder of deeds" to check it out or call their office to see if they have it online. It's a great tool if you know the name of the owner, it's pretty easy to see what the original mortgage amount was and if they have a heloc.

Lender,
How long does a lender typically expect on seasoning? If I pay cash for a property, how long until I could refi and pull out some equity?
Bryan

rdinvestor,
I didn't realize there were tax advantages to an LLC. I was of the understanding that the LLC only protected your personal assets from liability if the LLC got sued.

I have been told by a number of mortgage companies that I cannot get a mortgage in the name of the LLC. I can have the property deeded in the name of the LLC, but I have to personally sign for the mortgage. Can you give me the name of your mortgage broker so I can try to work that deal?

Thanks,
Bryan (also from PA)

Go to the foreclosure resources on the left side of the screen and click on "government foreclosures". It gives you the websites for most of the govt. agencies that hold property. You may be able to find the property on one of those sites. HUD usually lists an inspection report and other test results from their homes. Good luck!

From what you're telling me, it doesn't sound like a HUD home. Not familiar with the process of meeting at the house with 10% down. Does a bank own it now? Is it listed with an agent? Are they having an open house? If it is a REO (Owned by the bank or financial institution) they probably have it listed with an agent. Contact that agent if you do not have one already and introduce yourself as a potential investor. Let her/him help you through the process on your first one. You will need to get your financing lined up soon.

Do you know what different repairs cost? If you are not familiar, you will need to know your costs going in. Otherwise what looks like a small repair make end up breaking you.

Some REOs can be deals, but even in this "buyers market" I have found that many REO's are still asking too much to make a profit.

Unfortunately if it's a HUD home, there is no way to know what others are bidding. Realtors who are "HUD Certified" can submit a bid for their client online. From the way it was described to me, even the listing agent does not know how many bids are being submitted (I tried to get a feel for how many bids were submitted thinking it would be a good indicator of the interest in the property). Look up my posts under the "HUD" forum and you can see what some others had to say about it. I learned a lot from the folks here at BP.

I have a good contrator who was willing to go through a house with me that I was bidding on. It needed a ton of work and he priced out everything for me (I owe him dinner since my bid was not accepted). It gave me a good feel for the typical stuff and many of the unusualy items as well. Price will vary based on quality of materials such as different grades of windows, etc.

I also check Realtor.com for local recent sales and also realstats.net for our area all you do is plug in a street name and a zip code. The local newspaper uses them and they appear to be fairly accurate.