All Forum Posts by: Jessica Gilbert

I am using my local bank for several reasons, so I am not interested in shopping around for a different bank, but I am glad to know others have had trouble and it's not just me. I also want an appraisal because I think the house is being taxed to high, and have had this problem before and I needed an appraisal to help fix the situation, but it was on my country homestead and very expensive. I was not happy with the appraiser in that situation and would not like to use them again. I may decide not to get the money back out of it through a loan, and I had thought I might offer it for rent/sell/possibly owner finance if the numbers were right, but planned on making my decision after I had the information from the appraisal. I don't want to rely on my own opinion or the Zestimate, and I wanted the learning experience of having a professional come in. It was a HUD home, and I bought it for over 30,000 under the taxed value. In my research, I feel like what I paid was much more appropriate than what it is being taxed at. I hate that the conversation is focusing on the lending part and not the I just need a danged appraisal part.

It is a very small local bank. They just want an appraisal. I have to have it done.

I have called 5 different appraisers and left messages (2 each) and the only one who called me back did so to tell me he no longer handled residential appraisals. I do not know what I could be doing wrong. Is this a common problem? I paid cash for a house but want to pull my money back out and buy another and my bank needs an appraisal to do so. I am investing in Abilene TX. If anyone has an appraiser that you know exists and does work, please, help a girl out! I feel like I am missing something!

Thanks David! I am absolutely cramming the podcasts and trolling the forums in each spare moment :) Thanks for the info! 

Thanks Daniel! Another quote could not hurt. I intended to stay away from flood zones but after looking at properties all day this was the one I felt was the best deal so I'm running the numbers. It's also a HUD which is a whole other thing. My day otherwise was filled with flat roofed leaky additions, major settling issues and a well maintained house in a really cruddy north side neighborhood. I'm trying to think of eventual resale, my kid and I being in the neighborhood alone, etc as well as potential cash flow... This is going to be interesting! Do you do all your own work or do you have a contractor you use? I am not handy and am looking for a go to person for fixing things.

Thanks for the heads up Elizabeth! Fortunately (or rather, un) I have had run ins with property tax issues from building my home a county over. I quickly became educated. I also got the alert yesterday about property taxes increasing in Abilene so I know it will be more than currently listed on the county web site for homes I look at. 

Thanks so much for the welcome Andrew!

Hi! I am looking for anyone with knowledge of the rental market in Abilene, TX that would like to help a new person learn the ropes. I am new to all of this and learning as fast as I can and talking to the people I can find, but would like to pick new brains because it seems everyone has something different or new to share! Mostly wondering if there was a sweet spot for the amount of rent you can charge in this area. I fear getting too much house with not enough demand for the rental price that would be required to make it worth buying. I also got a flood insurance quote on a property I was looking at and it more than doubled the amount I would be paying monthly in insurance for the property... is that normal? I've never lived in a flood zone.Thanks!

I have some money I need to invest and have always been interested in land lording. Trying to learn as much as I can. I want to keep my deals mostly cash and build a slow manageable amount of houses.

Jessica