All Forum Posts by: Jesse Morrell

@Jonathan Hasan I don’t follow any particular handyman channels but if I want to learn something, I type “How to ____” into the search and watch 2-3 videos on it.

If you ever have to hire a handyman, watch what they do so you can do it yourself next time.

And if you have any handyman friends, volunteer to help them on some things for free.

YouTube and practice 

@Natisha Phouphayly for example, I just bought a property for 60k cash at auction. The tax appraisal was 171k when I bought it.

It was vacant for eight years but in a nice neighborhood. It actually already had a remodeled kitchen with granite countertops, but it also had roof leaks.

I ended up putting around 30k into the repairs, doing 90% of the work myself except for what I had to hire out to a crew or a professional (roofing, some electrical, some plumbing). I kept the old bathroom vanities but put new cultured marble countertops on them and painted the bases. I also added a fourth bedroom. New windows. New appliances. New floors. New AC. New hot water heater. These were necessary because the old were either missing or broken.

Nice bathrooms and nice kitchens please the buyers.

The goal is to 1) Please a buyer and 2) pass inspection.

So 90k into it and with the increasing prices in the area from the low inventory and low interest rates attracting lots of buyers, the house has gone from market value of 181k-209k all the way from 209k-219k.

Anyways, I wasn’t trying to increase the value by each itemized repair as much as I was just trying to repair everything necessary to get the market value the house already had when I bought it. The appreciation over time was just a bonus.

Key principle is: you make your money when you buy.

You want to buy a property that you could immediately list for more money even if you didn’t do any repairs.

@Natisha Phouphayly I don’t particularly try to increase value in an itemized upgrade fashion. I buy properties well below their market value and repair the house to the standard of the neighborhood. Once the necessary repairs are done and the house is functional and livable and up to the standard of the neighborhood, I can sell it at market value which is higher than my purchase price and repair cost.

However, adding sq ft of living space is one solid way to add value. I just converted a large uninsulated storage room into a livable nice fourth bedroom.

@Jalon Wilson I went to my county clerks office and asked for the foreclosure notices and she gave them to me and also gave me the website and told me how I could access them online.

A friend of mine works his county clerks notice of default lists for pre-foreclosures but I haven’t been able to find those online in my county. I haven’t asked the county clerk yet though.

Just go downtown to the clerks office and ask them.

@Khalid Al-Rasheed I know guys who work the auctions who have foreign investors as partners. They do the work to find, fix, and flip the deals, splitting it 30/70, 70 to the cash investor. Sounds like you need to find a partner.

@Jay Hinrichs yeah my county has the title records on a website so I can do my own free title search online

@Victor Morales in my county some notice of sales say they are suctioning off the “property or a lien” and it’s ambiguous which one.

@Charles Holder Lien investing is a thing, but not mine thing. It’s the same as loaning someone a second mortgage. People buy defaulted notes. It’s a different investment strategy. But those are first liens (mortgages). I don’t know why someone might buy a defaulted second lien. To me, that’s just a pitfall at auction to avoid. They auction them off because that’s the legal process.

Some properties, however, might be worth buying with the liens attached. You win the auction and then pay off the lien and still have good equity for a profit.

@Mike Kirby yes the two year right of redemption is only for the Sherif Sale for taxes, not the Trustee Auctions for the mortgage. Investors like the Tax Sale because of the 25% first year and 50% second year interest if redeemed, and the fact that all liens and mortgages fall off at auction. It’s good for landlords who want to buy it and rent it during the redemption years. The Trustee Auctions have no redemption period and also come with any liens, but they can be flipped right away because there’s no redemption period you have to wait for a clear title.