All Forum Posts by: Gary Fischer

Thanks @William Allen Will be in touch once I close and get back out there...

and Thank you too @Aly W. We'll see how well it actually works out :-). This is my first fix n flip. I've lived down in that part of FL too or South of there... A LONG time ago South of Miami, (Kendall, Cutler, Palmetto Bay area). You might keep an eye out in NW FL. I had my real estate license there 2005-2007 and there are some really good deals it seems to me right now. I was bidding on a 3 bed 3 bath 1800 sq ft Panama City Beach condo in a nice beachfront building, 7th floor. All bedrooms had doors to balconies. All bedrooms had floor to ceiling glass walls on the ocean side. I checked VRBO for other 3/3s in the building and for the most part booked through the season at around $2400-$2700/week. Association fees were $1000 a month though. Pretty high. The only listings in there I saw were $365k and $399k, but, most recent sale at $325k. The one I was bidding on went for $260k and reserve was met. I was out of it way before that.

 Hi Aly, This one is in Pensacola. I'm back in the DFW area now but lived in South Walton County in the Seaside/Seagrove area between Panama City Beach(Bay County) and Destin(Okaloosa County) from 2001 to 2013. I've been looking in a number of areas in FL and TX as well. Looks like will be Pensacola for a few months :-)

 Thanks Greg... I'm here in TX as well. In FL the sales price is disclosed. It seems to be a safe number for the area in fact hopefully(especially with what I will put into it) a low estimate as a comp I pulled up on the same street 200 sq ft less same bed/bath sold 16 days ago for $285k. Several other comps in a small radius supporting similar values

Just a follow up to my post yesterday. Homesearch did accept my offer on that property. The auction actually ended on the 22nd. I was told the 23rd they would review the offer. Got word back today they accepted the offer, so, it took a week for them to review and get back to me. I think I got a pretty good deal. Zestimate is $270k, Nationstar was high bidder at the foreclosure auction and took it back at $158,100 and my bid price on Homesearch was $152,500 to which they will add 5%. 

 Thanks for the feedback. I'm waiting to hear back on one from them right now. It was kind of strange. As you see throughout this thread people being the high bidder but below the reserve and called and asked if they can go higher. In my case, I received an email from a rep there simply stating my offer was below the reserve and being submitted to the bank for approval. I was told usually they have an answer back within 3-5 days and it's been 6 days. Other auctions I would liked to have bid on I can't now though while in limbo. If you read their terms, they say if you are the high bidder but below the reserve they have 15 days to accept or reject your offer. If they come back on the 15th day following the auctions and accept your offer and you do no execute a purchase agreement and purchase the property you are in breach of the terms of the agreement to place a bid in the auction and will forfeit your $2500 deposit to bid. So be careful. I am a little frustrated at the moment having to wait on them but I can't afford to buy 2 properties right now and if I bid on another and won I would also be required to purchase that one. If my bids were accepted on both and I only close on one they can keep my $2500 deposit on the other.  Just keep that in mind when bidding. If you are the high bidder but it doesn't meet the reserve and you can't afford to purchase a couple of properties, you could be held up for 15 days from looking for another deal and have them reject the offer in the end. I guess unless another deal you find is just so good you don't care if they keep their deposit. 

@JPaul Yeah lol it did turn into a short story rather than introduction didn't it.... Love Navarre BTW... even though I was a ways down the beach in the Seaside/Seagrove area, went to several Blue Angel's air shows on Pensacola Beach close to you and the 4th of July Firework display they do on the sound by the bridge in Navarre is the one we usually went to... and yes, it would be great if you would add me. I'd prefer finding deals there so I can move back. Which if this bank does accept my offer I'll be back in that area through the time it takes to renovate and get that one on the market.

Hello everyone my name is Gary Fischer and I'm currently living in Parker, TX, part of the DFW Metroplex. I lived here from the time I was 9 to 37 then relocated to Seagrove Beach, FL for 11 years and now I am back in Parker wanting to return to Northwest Florida. That's why I list the 2 areas. I prefer deals in those markets but will look elsewhere too.

I am so glad to be a part of this site. I have already found so much useful information.  So, hello to everyone and I hope to use Biggerpockets to develop business relationships and learn. I have loved being able to go back and read year to year others experiences, what they have tried, what has worked and what hasn't. 

I am entrepreneurial by nature. At 27 just starting a family I left the world of being employed and started my own business. I have worked in so many different fields throughout my life but for the majority of time have had my own businesses which for the most part did very well. My own businesses have at many times involved only me and at other times grown to as many as 25 employees. The majority of that time in one way or another my they have had to do with the liquidation involving computers and electronics. However, I have always wanted to "do what I do" in the field of computers which is buy distressed inventory and flip it, and do that in real estate. By around 2004/5 I had enough in the bank I felt to get into the real estate market using all cash which was how I wanted to do it. I decided first to get my real estate license to save on fees buying and selling. My first sale, one I did not invest in, was a $1,100,000 property which all of you who have had any time in this business know what a commission check is on that kind of sale and I worked under a small broker who gave me 80% and took only 20% on the commission. Although I had gotten my license basically to save on fees as an investor, that first sale and check had me also looking to acquire listings. Right around that time I also was approached on a large liquidation of commercial WIFI public hot spots from Verizon which I decided to buy. Normally I'd have flipped the inventory and made a lot doing so but I decided instead to start my own Wireless ISP in South Walton county along 30A. Anyway, what ended up happening is I worked 2 years on trying to build that company and burned through my savings. Right about the time I had burned through my savings the real estate market tanked. I lost my home 200 yards from the beach, my cars, the stress on my marriage resulted in separation and divorce. This was at the end of 2007. So, I tied up money I should have used to invest getting into real estate in a business that went under and then real estate crashed so I didn't renew my license. I had excellent credit before all that fell apart and have been rebuilding since. I have had to work in various jobs since then and have been doing online sales of various kinds of inventory via Ebay, Amazon and Craigslist. Usually computer and electronics related but I've even sold things like women's designer jeans. The product doesn't matter as long as I can run pretty accurate numbers on an expected gross return on investment and I can buy at the right price. 

Well, here I am today and I want to do what I have been doing for years with other products but do it with real estate. I am in the DFW area now and love the NW Florida area. The market in DFW right now is pretty hot. My parent's have some long term rentals in this area and have sold a couple off in the last year. I don't think they had either one of them on the market longer than 3 days. I don't have the money right now to pay cash for a property but I do have enough most like to renovate one. My parents have good credit and I am rebuilding mine. I'm right at the tail end now of all the bad things rolling off from when I lost everything. So, to start I've been looking at potential fix and flip deals. I've got an offer in now on an REO with Nationstar that I'm waiting to hear back on. This one is in Pensacola. If I get it, I'll use parents credit and some of their cash for the down to acquire the property, then my cash to renovate and then list it.

I've been trying to read everything I can and figure out the best ways to get my foot in the door to be able to have access to the best REO deals. I've been locating my own vacant homes and finding out what is happening on those. I've emailed lawyers representing people in bankruptcy and trustees of the bankruptcy try to see how quickly I can get an offer in to someone authorized to accept it. There's a property I know of now that the homeowner filed bankruptcy, they aren't in the home and it's not homesteaded and the mortgage company simply hasn't done what they need to do to complete a foreclosure. At one point it was listed in the banks REO inventory and the trustee filed something that threw a wrench in it and now the bank's lawyer has not filed something they need to so the home is stuck. The trustee claims to have the authority to sell me the home but it's at a price that is pretty much market value which I don't understand because I know what the judgement is for on the mortgage and I'd pay that amount. I don't see any tax liens filed but the trustee says there are taxes that would have to be added to the judgement amount of about $80k more which puts it at the market value of the home so no point.

So, right now I'm learning. Reading on here as much as I can. I'm researching. I'm looking into some of the "guru" programs, and tools and found this site by researching iFlip and Cameron Dunlap and also Than Merrill. I've become much more serious about educating myself and actually doing this over the last month. I am looking at taking a number of real estate classes here in TX through the local community college. Not just the ones to get my license but, also on real estate investing, additional real estate law, even classes on staging, rental property management, inspecting and appraisals. But, I am a learn as you go kind of person so I'm out there now putting in offers. I'm learning by trial and error what ways you can and what ways you can't get your foot in the door to make those offers.  Through partnering with my parents I can figure out ways to acquire property on credit but a lot of the best deals seem to need to be cash at a foreclosure auction. Most bank owned properties it seems you can finance. But, are they going to let these go at approximately what they bid for them at the foreclosure sale? Seems a lot of times that's close to where I would need to be. I guess it depends on how long they have tried to get more and I will find out. The current offer I have out to Nationstar is $152,500 on a home they went to $158,100 on in the foreclosure auction. 

So again, hello to the community and please if any of you have any pointers for me where I am in my pursuit to be in this as a full time business, please advise away. I am pretty much in this full time now but full time learning not earning yet lol and just getting started. 

Sorry for the length of the post...not very concise for an introduction.

Gary Fischer