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All Forum Posts by: Jim Wineinger

Jim Wineinger has started 22 posts and replied 1256 times.

Post: Good Idea: R.E License???

Jim WineingerPosted
  • Real Estate Investor
  • ten mile, TN
  • Posts 1,491
  • Votes 374
Originally posted by nationwidepi:
I remembered more disadvantages:
If you happen to make an offer to a motivated seller that is below fair market value, as an agent, you MUST disclose this fact to the seller. Even if you do dislcose this fact, the seller could get angry for whatever reason known to man and come back to sue you. You may not lose, but if the court happens to feel your disclosure was not enough or feels you "took advantage" of the seller, you could also LOSE! I am not under these regulations and therefore do not have to worry about them.

As an investor I can door knock potential sellers and tell them "I am not an agent" giving them a more warm and fuzzy feeling rather than their usual feeling of "just another shark agent looking for a listing" - You can not.

There is also one other thing to realize.

Most Real Estate Commissions (not talking about the ones set up by the laws of the state) are there to protect their members. When you go there with questions you will get answers that are not necessarily based upon the laws of that state but based upon how the laws should be interpreted for the benefit of their members.

They are a powerful lobbing group that attempts to get laws passed that requires you to use their services. Such is the case in CA where a part of the law states that you are required to have an RE liscense if you do 8 or more deals per year because you are considered "in the business". But the actual interpretation of some of their courts of law state that any deal that was transacted through or with a RE broker involved is not considered toward that count of 8 or more deals. And I believe I read that a Real estate lawyer also qualifies in this area. This is a paraphrase of the laws as I remember them and things may now have changed.

This, of course, almost effectively almost requires that an re agent be involved in some phase of the deal even if you are not required to have a liscense.

All such liscensing questions should be verified by a qualified attorney in the area in question as those laws vary so widely from state to state.

All that being said I also agree that the monies spent on the RE liscense is some of the best education that you will ever pay for. And should probably be done by those who are starting out as it will help you in developing your actual business plan and or changing that business plan to what is going to work for your needs and desires.

Post: Title seasoning

Jim WineingerPosted
  • Real Estate Investor
  • ten mile, TN
  • Posts 1,491
  • Votes 374

Richard: I have run into similar problems in this arena. I can not help with your lender and broker question, but to explain the other reason for the title seasoning you only have to think to many court cases that you might pursue that require that you advertise in a local paper(s) for a period of time before the case is allowed to proceed.

This is done to allow anyone who may have a contrary claim to declare such claim or forgo it.

I deal mainly with tax sale deeds and because the taxing authority only sends their bills out once a year, it is reasonable to realize that it could take a year before someone realizes that they are missing their bill and check into it only to find they do not any longer own the property.

For this reason several title companies will not insure their title searches on tax deeds until 2 years seasoning in my case since the transfer of ownership using a tax deed.

There can be many other such reasons for the seasoning requirement and the amount of seasoning time required may vary. This is done to protect everyone from anyone doing things legally but so fast that you do not have an opportunity to protect your claim.

Post: What exactly is a quit claim deed?

Jim WineingerPosted
  • Real Estate Investor
  • ten mile, TN
  • Posts 1,491
  • Votes 374

From what I have been able to learn. The quit claim deed is just that,

You are declaring that you quit any and all claims that you may have against said deed.

If you had no claims (or interest) in said than the quit claim deed is worthless. But if you do have any valid claim against said deed, with proof that will be upheld in any court, then you are transferring that interest to the recieving party.

This would even apply in Texas, but as I said it would have to be backed up with absolute proof of that interest which would hold up in a court of law.

Post: Is this a good buy?

Jim WineingerPosted
  • Real Estate Investor
  • ten mile, TN
  • Posts 1,491
  • Votes 374

Judging from where mike was from (colorado) might I suggest that the cash flow was for the winter months only, which is now past and he is into the vacancy cash flow now.

High rents, high season, vacancy rest of year.

Post: Tax Sale Questions

Jim WineingerPosted
  • Real Estate Investor
  • ten mile, TN
  • Posts 1,491
  • Votes 374

1. You must be prepared to outbid them. How much will that be depends upon the due diligenge that someone does and what they feel that property is worth. I am an individual and have bought at least one property at every sale that I have attended minus one. How much you will need is anyone's guess and cant be ansered directly but yes it can be done.

2.As part of your due diligence I would most definately go see the property or have a "drive-by" appraisal done. Especially when you first get into it. As you do more you will develop a feeling for things and can use other things in liu of driving by.

3. If you do not bring the taxes current it will be sold at the next sale and you will lose your position and can not forclose in most areas.

4. The issuance of a tax deed to you after forclosure by the county is supposed to clear the title of all previous liens (except any governmental liens). Some counties actually do this for you and some tell you that you should have a title search done as part of your due diligence before you invest.

There are two real potential problems here. If someone files bankrupcy during the redemption period they may be able to stop you from getting back even your investment. And even if you recieve a free and clear title from the county a lot of title companies will not guarantee their title search like the normal deed search would be and therefore some insurance companies will not underwrite the mortgage because of a possible "clouded title". This seems to be the case for about 2 years.

I have solved this by having my brother purchase the lien with my money and sell the tax deed to me a month after getting it and therefore I recieved the full clear deed with which I was immeadiatly able to get a HELOC which I used to fix up the property.

Post: Tax lien education

Jim WineingerPosted
  • Real Estate Investor
  • ten mile, TN
  • Posts 1,491
  • Votes 374

Hi, Roger. County is definately the way to go. Each county does do things a little bit differently from the next. And dont forget that each taxing authority within the county can also do the same. This would be each city. A lot of cities turn over their "collections" to the county, but they can hold their own sales if they choose to. This is the area that most new investors forget to look at. They purchase at a county sale and forget to check for any city taxes and loose their investment because someone buys the lien for the city taxes that are due.

The whole process gets started when the taxes are so far behind, usually about 2 years, and the county has to have their tax attorney sue the property owner in (usually) Chancery Court. Those that do not respond have their "properties" orderd sold by the Chancery court judge at the next deliquent tax sale. It is the responsibility of the Clerk and Master to collect any and all fines or penalties ordered by this court. Therefore the Clerk and Master will also be a very good source of information for you.

All properties that are not bought at the deliquent tax sale are actually purchased by the county. They may include these in a future sale or if unpurchased enough times they may become listed as "surplus lands" on the counties books and it is possible to purchase these for less than even the taxes that were owed. Dont forget that county owned lands do not accrue property taxes!
A lot of times the Mayor's office handles these surplus lands.