All Forum Posts by: Cara Lonsdale

You are over complicating it.  Contact a hard money lender and get some terms.  You will pay a higher interest rate, and most likely it will be an interest only, but that is a cost of doing business.  A local hard money lender will be your best bet as it will probably not cost you as many points as a national hard money lender.

What's nice about the hard money lender is that they will typically be asset based, and not look at your credit or income. So, that will be good for giving you flexibility to do your HELOC and other things without fear of running into DTI ratio issues, or seasoned funds issues.

Even owning the default tax liens doesn't automatically give you the ability to purchase the home.  Those go for several years, and then, if not redeemed, they are given the ability to foreclose.  But even at the foreclosure, someone could bid on the property and outbid you.

Auction.com is a servicing company that facilitates trustee sales in different markets.  Most of the properties on the site are getting ready to be sold for ALL cash at trustee sale on the steps of the courthouse.  The dates and times are listed by the property along with title reports and property info.

Then, you phisically attend the auction, pay a $10K deposit for your bidding #, and bid on the property or properties that you want to buy.  If you are the winning bidder, they keep the $10K and put it toward your purchase.  Then you have 24 hours to come up with the remaining balance.  Traditionally this is an all cash process unless you can find a hard money lender who can fund in 24 hours.  

There are other properties on the site that already went to trustee sale and reverted back to the lender (usually because they coudn't get anyone to bid high enough to pay off the loan amount owed), so now they are bank owned.  Those go up for auction, and there is an online auction held where people can bid.  This is ALSO a cash process, but SOMETIMES there will be financing offered.  Those properties are CLEARLY marked on their listing page.

The key is to be COMPLETELY CLEAR on what you are bidding on, and make sure you able to pay within the time frame given.  Otherwise, you will lose your $10K deposit.  Ouch.

If you want a crack at a foreclosure, and pay for it with financing, try approaching distressed Sellers who have been given their foreclosure notices, and see if they want to sell.  These are given out 90 days prior to the trustee sale.  You can search recorded docs in your county to find these.

I hope that helps.

Welcome!  It sounds like you have a good plan, so you are in the right place to execute it.  Best of luck to you!

I am a little confused by your post.  You mention the Seller, but I think you mean YOU are the Seller, and the BUYER is out of state.  Is that correct?

My best guess, if I understood your question correctly, is that the Buyer's closing paperwork is being mailed to them for signing.  They will not be able to come to the title company to sign.  Therefore, the pacakge will be mailed back to the title company in order to record.  You, as the Seller can't get your proceeds until the property records.  Therefore, if you have already signed ahead of the Buyer, you will have to wait until all funds and paperwork are received back to the title company and it records.

Wiring your funds is for your convenience.  It sounds like the title company is allowing you to have this option instead of mailing you a check (which would take even longer), or having you come back to the title company to pick up a check.  Wiring funds is a common practice for title companies to do, and it puts those funds immediately in your account instead of having to wait for a check to clear.

I hope that answers your questions.

Where is your capital reserve?  You will need a portion of the income to build into a reserve account to be set aside for capital improvements (re-carpeting, new appliances, repainting, etc).  I know you say that you are doing a 203K (Awesome program BTW), but eventually, you will need to do these things again, so you need to account for a reserve to build from the start.

On that same note, $150 for repairs on 3 units doesn't seem conservative enough.  That is 1 service call per month.  You may want to consider a Home Warranty if you are wanting to keep this number at $150.  The plan itself will probably run you $60 per month or so, but the trade call fee will also only be $65-70 to have a contractor come out, and the warranty company would pay for covered items like plumbing, electrical, HVAC.....major stuff that would break your $150 budget.

Also, where is your vacancy rate?  At some point (at least 3 times per year), you will have an opportunity to renew a lease, but if it doesn't get renewed, it can be vacant while it is being turned over.  You need to account for a 5-10% vacancy rate to be safe.

Other posters are right about utilities.  If the building is master metered, there are ways to divide the portions up, but unfortunately, it does not allow for your unit to be absorbed by the other 3.  Usually a per sq ft unit of measure is used to come up with each unit's portion of the utility bills.

Don't waste 1 night of sleep about it.  This is a business.  You MUST think of it, and treat it like a business.  Once you start sympathizing and relating, next you're taking in strays.

You have a lease because that is your roadmap to the business relationship.  It tells you, and them exactly what will happen if they pay late.  So, don't feel bad in pursuing that road map.

You can still be sypathetic to their situation as a human, and convey your sympathies, but it doesn't have to affect your course of action.  I wouldn't engage in any discussion that seems litigious.  Just stick to the facts, and keep your notices brief and compliant.

Best of luck to you.

 @Nicholas W.  Love it!  Dory is the best.

But seriously, don't feel discouraged @Joe Prenger.  This is going to happen more than once, you just have to push through all of the NOs to get to your ultimate yes.

One suggestion if possible.... shorten the time between the verbal yes, and the signed offer.  Is there any way to BRING the offer with you when you tour so that if she is all set to execute, you can answer any questions and sign the offer then and there?  

Also, maybe ask about their exit strategy.  Have a Realtor referral ready for them in case they need to find a new place to live.  It may be that this woman was ready to sell, but then the reality of her situation set in and she suddenly didn't like the thought of not knowing what was next.

I think you may have your perspective a little skewed.  

Don't feel threatened by the Broker.  They aren't there necessarily to solicit you for business.  You just may have a unit that meets their client's criteria.  And what's it to you?  If the Tenant pays their fee, then all you have on your hands is a gift, wrapped up in a nice, pre-screened, bow.

Why would you fault someone for hiring a Realtor to find them a place to live instead of scouring CL, Zillow and all of the zillion other internet sites?  I don't think this makes a person "too helpless" to hire an agent, and save all of the time searching.

And a Broker that happens to find your listing outside of the MLS for their client doesn't sound like a bottom feeder to me, but rather a go getter that is doing their best to find a place for their client that may not be available through the normal channels.

Just my 2 cents....but then again....I am one of those pesky Realtors.  :)

Best of luck to you.

Have you tried adwerx?  This can be targeted by zip code, or radius.  It is fairly cheap advertising, and can be as small as a week long campaign, although I would suggest a 3-4 week campaign to really see results for the type of property you are trying to get out there.  Ads link to wherever you want them to.  You can send them to a splash page of the property listing, or your website, or wherever.

BTW, I am not affiliated with adwerx in any way.  I just use them to market properties too.  THey have really good reports that show you impressions and click throughs as well.