All Forum Posts by: James Harkness

Steve, I just realized that you are from Audubon. I used to live in Norristown. What kind of investing do you do in the area?

Buying a bank owned property is much different than purchasing a property and obtaining financing through a bank. You have to remember that the bank is trying to get this property off of their books. In my experience, as long as they get paid, they aren't going to care where the money is coming from.

However, lenders do look at the CLTV and in this environment, the max CLTV is often the same as the max LTV. Also, as far as the lender is concerned, the value of the home is what it appraises for, so CLTV will be calculated off of that value. This deal will hinge completely on how much cash the buyer has to bring as a down payment.

To me, there is a gut instinct that goes along with interviewing/meeting with anyone. How did you feel about the couple? Personally, if I felt good about the couple, I would factor in the unemployment benefits. Unemployment is supposed to be a temporary state. Suppose that the husband is not able to find a full time job though... do you think he will be able to make an extra 100 bucks a month working part time? I think so. If you are still unsure, do a credit check to see what their payment history has been like in the past, or ask for a rental payment history.

Iman - Thank you for the advice. I appreciate it, and I definitely have the intention of closing all deals that I get involved with.

Curt - I am looking to buy both from private owners and from banks. I work for a lender right now, and it surprises me to see what they sell the REO's for. I am really starting from scratch here, so I will likely start by doing private deals. Thank you for the advice as well.

Hi everyone. I am new to this website, and new to real estate investing. I am looking to build some capital by doing some wholesale deals, and I totally understand the process and concept of what a wholesale is... almost.

My question is, once you sign a sales contract, what happens if you cannot find an investor to buy the contract from you? Is this where the risk comes in? Is there a clause or something that you can write into the contract to help protect yourself against being forced to purchase the property if you cannot find an investor to buy the contract?

Thank you for the help, I appreciate it!

Its tough when there are a lot of foreclosures in the area that the appraiser is using as the comps. If you are trying to sell it, a mortgage company is going to require their own appraisal. Hide yours, and don't let a potential buyer know that you had one done. Maybe you will get lucky and a new appraisal will come back higher (if the lender uses a different company, or if they pull different comps).

There is nothing you can do to change the appraisal value. Especially since the new HVCC regulations. I don't know what you are trying to accomplish with this deal, but for most situations, the deal is dead when the property underappraises.

When you buy MBSs at 30 cents on the dollar, they barely have to perform. You have to remember that these securities have a pass through rate and account for foreclosures and prepays. So what if foreclosures are happening at a higher rate. I bet there are less prepays. And are there really so many foreclosures that the securities would not still be profitable at a steep discount? I don't think so.