All Forum Posts by: Jesse Sumner

No legal advice and seek your own legal opinion before acting. Also, take this with a grain of sale because It has been awhile since I have look at contract law. If I remember right, a person under majority can enter in to a contract but he/she cannot be held to its terms and can void the contract it he/she chooses. The minor can hold the other party to the contract but the other party cannot hold a minor to a contract. So, if you can find someone to enter into a contract with you theoretically you could enter into a contract. All that being said, I highly recommend that you have an adult involved in any transaction: 1) to protect yourself; 2) others may feel more comfortable dealing with an adult.

Good luck!

No legal advice and I am not familiar with Texas law.

I assume by your post that they are to make the deposit into an account and this is not an automatic withdrawal setup by you. If so, he may be getting the two processes confused. If it was an automatic withdrawal from his account and the transfer occurred on the date that it was to happen then I would speculate that this is the date you agreed to accept the monthly payment, regardless of whether it is before or after your cutoff, and you cannot charge late fee. Although, if the transfer did not occur on the proper date because of an NSF account, then I would think a late fee and any NSF would be proper.

However, if they are to the party responsible for making the deposit/payment into the account on the date of their choosing and they fail to do so, then I would think a late fee is proper.

I would suggest that you reply that you cannot find any authority that states your late fees are voided or invalid and if he has some authority then you would be happy to review it. Otherwise, you feel the late fees are valid and enforceable and if you don't receive full payment including late fees on or before [date] you will be forced to ________________ i.e. use any legal action your are entitled up to an including giving him notice, eviction, send it to collections. Then see what he responds with.

Good Luck

I do not buy or sell notes, but I deal with a lot of foreclosures. You assume that the loan will be paid off eventually. Unless, there is some huge appreciation it does not look like the loan can be refinanced. I live in a judicial foreclosure state also and I view second mortgages as the first looser. Should a foreclosure happen, rarely does anyone bid enough to pay anything on your second mortgage. Therefore, you have to pay off the first mortgage, plus cost, fees and interest to protect your second. You don't say who is selling, but I assume it is an owner carry back. So the buyer does not appear to be financially strong.

The best way I have found to put pressure on a seller, banks or individuals, is to put a deadline on your offer. "If this offer is not accepted on or before 5:00 pm February 4th, 2014, then it will be withdrawn with no further notice from the buyer." If the seller is worried about losing your offer, they will respond. However, banks move slowly and so this may not work for you.

Good Luck!

No legal advice but a few thoughts. There are several ways you can proceed. However, I would recommend that you speak with someone that is well versed in succession laws of your state, like an attorney. Just like any deal, the more risk you are assuming the cheaper the purchase price needs to be.

An heir can deed away his/her interest, whatever it may be, in the property before a probate occurs. In this situation, you would want to give them next to nothing because you are taking all the risk and expense of cleaning up the title. However, a word of caution, you must be very sure that you have all the heirs and that there is not a will that names an unknown beneficiary.

You can approach them and offer to buy the house if they complete a probate and clean the title. However, the executor of the probate is the only person that can contract to sell the property and the contract is generally subject to Court approval. In this situation, the purchase price will be a little more and you run the risk of another buyer showing up.

Another thing to consider, if the property is abandoned, then most likely the property taxes have not been paid for some time. You may want to research and see if you can by the tax certificates on the property.

Be very careful with these types of deal.

Good luck

It has been awhile since I have read his book. However, if I am remembering it correctly, the take away I had was that you should strive to operate like a business.

A business pays all of its bills first, including salaries, expenses and costs and then pays taxes on the funds that are left. Rather than as a W-9 employee that pays taxes on their income first and then pays their bills on what is left.

Paying yourself a salary is one option, but not necessarily the only option. The key is to reduce your taxable income by paying "business expenses" i.e. your expenses.

Good Luck

You have several other deductions you may be overlooking. Look at the Schedule E on the IRS tax return and it essential gives you the formula to walk through.

Rents received - expenses (i.e. ad, auto, cleaning, management fees, mortgage int., repairs, supplies, taxes, utilities, depreciation, etc.) = net income or loss. This net income or loss is carried forward to your total income or Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) on the first page of your tax return as income or loss.

Hope this helps.

Jesse

You can't compel a person to complete the contract or sell you the house. You are only entitled to the damages you incurred as a result of the seller's failure to close. The damages are usually set out in the purchase contract. Review your contract and see what damages you are entitled to as a result of a seller's breach of contract. Many times the damages are limited to a percentage of the contract price. i.e. 10%. However, it will most likely take a lawsuit to recover anything from the seller. My suggestion would be to move on to the next deal.

Good luck!

Check your state lien and storgage statues. In Oklahoma, we have a statue that provides for a sale, with proper notice, of MH's for unpaid lot rent.

A deed is a document that is the actual conveyance of real estate from one party to another.

I am from Oklahoma and we are still an abstracting state (one of our state congressmen owned a lot of title companies). This means that each property that is bought or sold comes with its own abstract of title which, like Bill stated, is a large 3-4 inch book (usually stored with the title companies). The abstract contains each document that has ever been filed with the County Clerk that pertains to that particular piece of property. i.e. deeds, mortgages, liens, releases, court documents, etc. Therefore, in order to obtain ownership of the property a deed would have to be signed by the current owner of record transferring that ownership to the buyer.

However, the title and title insurance discussion is a little murkier. Generally a title to property can be traced back to the original owner through the title documents filed in the County records, whether in an abstract or electronic filing. These documents are called the chain of title. Like a chain, the documents must link together from each owner to buyer and owner to buyer through time. Each deed must be signed by the owner of record and filed in accordance with the state standards and mortgages must be released by the proper parties, etc.

In Oklahoma, the requirement is that we transfer “marketable title.” This means that when a person has marketable title, they not only have a deed that proves current ownership but that the title is clean and that no other person can claim an interest in the property. In my experience, title insurance does not replace a deed. Title insurance is a title insurance company’s opinion, after reviewing the title documents, that “marketable title” is vested in a particular individual and if another party makes a claim on the property they will defend the title of that individual against that claim. Title insurance is an insurance policy that covers the owner against claims of interest in his property.

I hope this helps.