All Forum Posts by: John Waterhouse

I got into the whole tax sale thing and went to the lawyers in charge of it to ask what i could legally do with the property should i decide to buy it. I've also been reading a lot about people writing letters and offering deals to homeowners, which was my idea with a couple properties. When i asked the lawyer whether i could do that, he was very serious when he told me no. On the other hand, he said many of the homes aren't up for auction when the auction comes around because they came up with the money. Hmmm... All of a sudden?

How easy is it to get around these laws? Technically the title is still under they current owners name until the auction, so isn't it their choice? Does anyone else know anything about this? Thanks

I'd like to find out how to start up a small, independent club in my local community. But i have no ice-breakers, no nothing. Does anyone have any suggestions, templates, powerpoints, etc... anything? that might help me start a local group up that would be attractive to oter investors? Thanks![/i]

I just found a huge pipe with an access point (if that makes sense) sticking out of the ground outside behind the kitchen. I'm going to turn the water off, get in there, and see what i can do. If that doesn't do it, i'll have to resort to a plumber.

thanks for the warm welcome; and yes i am still in Active duty. I just passed my 4 year mark and am in it for the long haul.

Looking forward to all the great information there is to absorb

I moved to Abilene about 3 years ago for the Air Force, and started investing about one year ago with a duplex near the base, then another property w/ a garage apartment near a college. I'm told that in our area, $600 cash flow is tremendous. All of that money is going toward repairs and improvements on those homes. I'm going to also use the cash flow, once built up, to continue buying properties. There is so much to learn, so many questions to ask, and so much to read here. Best site i've found yet! Thanks for the tremendous site!

WOW!!!
One more reason to hate California. This boggles my mind that they would be so difficult.

First, and most importantly, get YOURSELF a lawyer. They are going to say whatever they want to in order to prevent you from coming on to the property for whatever reason. My guess is you aren't going to be too happy with how your place looks when you finally DO gain access.

Second, who are they to redefine words like "necessary"? It is necessary that you finish a project that is visible to other homeowners so as to not be an eyesore; it is necessary to ensure they aren't doing drugs, harboring terrorists, keeping children sex-slaves, etc. Obviously i'm going to great extremes, but from what i gather, they wouldn't let you know if there WAS an emergency in the first place. Get yourself a good lawyer, and don't take "there's nothing we can do" for an answer.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Nope, it's a brand-new, 1/4-turn valve and it's having the same problem as the valve it replaced yesterday. :badwords: LOL

a little ways from you, but sharing the same goals, I'm in Abilene, and recently bought my second investment property. My first was a duplex near Dyess AFB (where i work); one side, in which, i was supposed to live. When i saw the kind of money i could make, i decided to buy a nicer home for my then soon-to-be-wife and i to live in. Then i just said, "what the hell?" and bought one near ACU. Here in Abilene, you can't go wrong with a cheap housing market (30K - 70K for rental properties), 3 1/2 (the half being a junior college) colleges and an air force base.

Thanks for your tips. I'm not sure what my 3rd connection goes to. It's run through a copper pipe into the drywall, and i have no interest in busting out the wall just to see where it goes. The sprayer comes from the faucet itself, so that isn't it either.

There were a few beautification projects i did to make the kitchen a little less of an eyesore, and replacing the faucet and sink was one of them. So i know the faucet isn't the problem. Just a few minutes ago, i disconnected all of the connections off of the valve, and opened it up. Well, the pressure problem seems to be occuring before the water gets to the valve as there was very little pressure coming out of the valve with no hookups. I hope this helps narrow some solutions down, because i am baffled, and its starting to look uglier.

At Age 21, I was ready to get married to my wife, so i thought i should buy a place for us to live. What better than a duplex?!?! Many banks offered me 100% financing for my first home purchase. My thought was the rent could pay the mortgage and i could bank the extra money that the military paid me for housing. Well, after fixing it up and realizing this was not the kind of place in which i wanted to start a family, so i found a place in a GREAT neighborhood and used my VA loan to get 100% financing on IT. Then it just got addicting. Especially when my grandfather turned a good bit of money over to me that he had saved for college. Since the military will provide 100% tuition while active and i had my GI bill for when i get out, I couldn't imagine i would use much of that money for college, so i used a small portion of it for a down payment on another rental property w/ a garage apartment. With 4 different renters, i'm getting $650 cash flow AFTER mortgages (not including the one for MY house)