All Forum Posts by: Joseph Tipa

I buy (and) lend on as-is value. If my acquisition can be made at enough of a discount to as-is value and my sale price after improvements + costs is at or above my initial as is value, I'm good to go. Any forecasting with ARV as a component is to me nothing more than speculating. There are too many unknowns that can affect my outcome if I hedge on ARV. I get less deals I look at to pencil out, but the ones that do are not going to hurt me.

Foreclosures aren't going to significantly affect your ARV unless you are holding the property for too long. 3-4 months tops should be the goal for flipping a house. That is why I believe flipping is so much lower risk than rental properties. My outside market isn't going to affect me as much in 3-4 months as the property itself will. Some people can't buy a foreclosure due to the condition. Assuming the condition of yours is turnkey, that represents a higher value than a foreclosure.

 I'm not sure what the county web sites look like where you are. Here, I am able to start with the property appraisers site and then link to the public records. From there I can do searches for lis pen and if I want to further my research I get the case# or just go to the court web site with the case# or name.

In your case you just want to know what homes are in the process of or perhaps just started depending on where you are with your flip.

So for instance, if I was considering a home to flip or buy/hold (probably not so much for this), I would look at the GIS map to see surrounding homes. The appraisers site here allows me to narrow my search to neighborhoods and it lists the owner so when I see Federal Mortgage or a bank name....then I know it's a foreclosure. In some cases though the process has just started, lis pen, so the public records is where I search because lis pen is a document type that I can narrow down a search.

I'm not sure how vested in this you want to go but I would think the web sites in your area for appraisal/court/public records should allow you to search for and get enough info.

Good luck.

@Joseph Tipa

Hi-

Foreclosures don't just pop up. There is a lengthy process, at least in my area.

You could search your public records site for any court cases involving foreclosure. I usually look for the lis pendes in the public record and trace that back to the civil court. 

Yes. Don't make buying decisions based on ARV.