All Forum Posts by: Katharine Chartrand

buy the simplest version.  upgrade only if you are missing someting

Thanks.  

I am warming up to electric.

I looked at some cost comparisons.  Electric is close to natural gas and much cheaper than either oil or propane. 

I am still prejudiced against electric stoves.  Let me know if i need to revisit that. I am old and some of my views are outdated.

>KNC<

I bought a mining cabin turned methlab/earth ship with the intention of fixing it up selling it to a normal person. 

It had a wood stove and some randomly distributed electric heaters, but they are all gone. 

I would never buy a house with an electric stove and heating system so I can't see selling someone an all electric house.

This is in NM where the winters are mild.

The town has no natural gas distribution system.  

I noticed the neighbor has a propane tank. I am wondering about people's experience with propane. Is that a good option for running the heating system and the stove?

How close to the house can you put the propane tank?

Thanks. 

Sounds like it could have been birds or it could have been intentional as they can survive without a lot of care. 

Probably coy.

The algae is winning but there sure aren't many bugs.

Former meth lab with indestructible coy fish!  Should sell in a heartbeat.

>KNC<

I spent the last two days cleaning out my latest REO purchase with the help of my children. This is a former meth lab/earthship/mining cabin that has been abandoned since the owner died 5 years ago.

My 8 year old peered into the murky depths of a home made barrel full of algal infested water sitting where the rain flows off the roof and said she saw fish.  I looked in. I didn't see anything but a thick algal goop and my daughter's incredible imagination made me smile.

My very grounded 10 year old walked over, glanced in and said "oh there are two!".

?

After poking at the water with a stick for a bit, I confirmed there are are at least two four inch long orange fish in this tank. 

This house has been bank owned since the owner died 5 years ago.  The bank hasn't paid LOA fees in 4 years.  They haven't been feeding the fish.

Anyone know anything about fish?  How can this be?

Is this some kind of indestructible coy fish. Given their resilience to weather, foreclosure and inadequate nutrients, do I have a shot of keeping them alive in a different environment?  This tank catches rain off a gutter. But it is in a greenhouse like structure with rock walls which probably stayed pretty warm year round in NM.

I bought a rehab property in NM and I want to put an addition on the home.  The neighbor's power lines currently cross my property above ground. Specifically, they cross the area where I want to build the addition and they need to be rerouted. 

On my side of the property, it's easiest to reroute the utilities underground because I am already digging a lot of trenches.

On the neighbor's side it's pretty much impossible to underground the utilities and the only way to run the cable is above ground, where it has run historically.

The easiest thing to do is to underground the utilities across my property to the point where the cable has been leaving property.  I proposed to put up a pole where the cable leaves my property, run the utilities up the pole and over to the neighbor's existing service.  

PNM is the electrical provider for most of NM.  The engineer who visited the property actually suggested my preferred solution, and then was told by his boss that it would not be possible.   

Has anyone had experience negotiating with power companies?  I am hoping that since they are a public utilities there is some appeals process.

First of all, tsk tsk to everyone who suggests Kris should not allow people to visit his rentals unattended. 

Real estate is all about risk management - taking the right risks and not assuming the wrong risks.  It's not about avoiding risk entirely. In many areas, allowing people unescorted access to a house works most of the time, in other areas it is stupid.  But escorting in areas with a low probability of trouble is a waste of time.  How do you know what the situation is?

I would point out that Kris was vigilant in monitoring his property and caught this situation and was not hurt.  I would say he gets an A+ for risk management and risk mitigation and will probably, therefore, do very well with his business.

As far as lockboxes go, I'm leaning towards figuring out how to make these remote controlled lock systems go.  This way you can change the lock for every visitor.

http://www.wired.com/2013/06/smart-locks/

You can buy one or two and then move it from house to house.

>KNC<

Assessments for property taxes are going to be highly local, varying not just by state, but by county. So, if you want a relevant response, you need to indicate the location of the property. There is a strong new jersey contingent on BP that may be able to help you.

That said, where I am, the county assessor goes by appraised value and not the purchase price. If there isn't a formal appraisal for a bank loan, you need a pretty strong case based on market comps.  I suspect my realtor would help.

I bought an REO property for cash once and then subsequently went to get a bank loan on it. It was ASSESSED at less than the purchase price, which was less than half its actual value. The bank loan was denied, but I took the assessment to the county and had my taxes lowered by 70%.

A year later I went for a bank loan again, the house got assessed at the property's actual value and i was able to borrow against the full value of the home.  Now I can say that I have my cake and I am eating it too.

@Mike H. 

In an odd twist, while negotiating the water bill with the local water system, I learned that the water system tested positive for e. coli last week.  I don't know how easy it is to sell a house that comes with parasites on tap.  So that is making me lean against closing.

@Account Closed 

My lawyer finds the banks position problematic for these reasons

• in the main contract the bank is responsible for the water bill
• in two places in the same addendum the contract clearly assumes the bank is going to pay the water bill.
• the purpose of the addendum is to make me responsible for costs incurred by an illegal occupant, but they want me to pay for costs that are clearly the responsibility of the bank.
  • the previous owner died 5 years ago, so selling this thing as an owner occupied home is a bit of a stretch in the first place
  • the bank has actually paid 1400 to the water company in the first two years they owned the house... and then stopped paying the water the last two years.  they've owned this house for 4 years now.  

Auction.com does seem to want to change the model, at least in NM, and at least for their occupied home sales, to make the buyer responsible for pretty much everything. My sense from this transaction and the way the dialogue is going that I am not the only one pushing back.  They are irrationally testy on this topic. 

@John Truong 

This mostly comes up when you choose to enter into a very peculiar type of purchase agreement through Auction.com.  These are houses the bank wants to sell as "occupied".  It also comes up when I buy direct from distressed owners.  This is not standard.  If you are just starting to flip, don't do these deals.

The class of houses i am looking at on auction.com are labeled occupied but they are not occupied. The "occupied" label allows auction.com to use a purchase agreement that is highly unfavorable to the buyer.  These are higher risk deals that require you to do a lot of homework.  Some of them, if you do your homework, are reasonable.  

The contracts can be read to make the buyer responsible for all outstanding utilities, property taxes, etc.  The idea behind the contract is that the bank foreclosed but was not able to evict the owner.  They are selling the property as is, possibly with an illegal occupant and all of the issues and liabilities that the occupant might have caused will living there.  

Although I agree the contract is ambiguous on water, I chose to push the water issue on this deal because I have always doubted it could hold up.  However, my question, as i hope is clear, is not about the water bill. The forum is obsessed with the water bill and whether house is worth it with the water bill (maybe it is  if the water doesn't have e-coli in it). I was wondering how to serve them if my little experiment in brinksmanship does not move the bank and i want my deposit back.

@Mike H. 

At your suggestion, and the suggestion of others, I started negotiating with with the water company.  They are considering reducing the bill from $1500 to $750. It's run by a realtor.  When I explained the situation with BofA she was most sympathetic.  The whole town is tired of this abandoned eye sore the bank has created. At $750 we're below anyone's threshold for arguing.   I hope we get there.

There is a $60 a month water assessment in this village whether or not your water is on. That is pretty ridiculous. Thank you for making that point as I used it in negotiation.

@Account Closed 

If this 50+ thread does one thing, it should be to make this point.  Know what the utilities are and who is going to pay them when coming into a deal. In many states, the water and other utilities follow the owner, not the house.  So if you buy a house with an outstanding water bill, it is not your problem.  In new mexico, the water company doesn't put lien on the house, but the law allows them to refuse to turn on the water until the new owner (you) settles the water bill. 

Since there is no lien, the foreclosure doesn't clear the lien. But if you want water, you have to pay the bill. I would say the water companies in NM are clever in this regard.

I've been through this a few times and so I check the water bill every time.  The title company will often miss it because there is no recorded lien.  Then you buy the house and you can have a big surprise.  One of my houses had a $7000 water bill. I can assure you that the water bill was addressed in the purchase contract on that house. However,  in that case, the seller an addict not a bank and therefore relatively reasonable.

So, know what the deal is with water, gas and electric bills in your state.  Don't expect it to be disclosed up front.  Learn the rules about utility assessments and where needed, how to figure out the balance.  

Homeowners association fees, in my experience, have been more straightforward and the bank has paid those. I think their may be some national law governing HOA/LOA fees that forces the seller to take care of it, but find out for yourself the situation in your hunting area.