All Forum Posts by: Kent Johnson

Ditto to Bryan's comment.  Blake at Southern Oak is great.

I'm a fan of painted brick.  Several years ago my dad had an older brick house remodeled and a young couple looked at it but decided it wasn't for them.  The house didn't have ugly brick but it just kind of blended in with its surroundings.  A couple of days later he decided to have the brick painted to make it stand out.  The same couple happened to be driving by later in the day and said they couldn't believe it was the same house.  They made an offer that day and bought it.  I don't always paint brick but I don't hesitate IF I know it will make a positive difference.  Sometimes I do it to cover ugly 70's brick, sometimes it's just to give a house a newer look and shine among the neighboring houses.  A lot of bang for the buck.

Good luck Sack! I work in Huntsville but have never owned property there, only in Morgan County. But I believe it's a good market. Keep us posted!

Thanks all for the replies!  I should have been clearer that I'm actually not considering buying it but just helping the seller be familiar with his options.  If he sells the mortgage I'm almost certain that a buyer will want to foreclose due to a pattern of non-payment over a few years and I was curious as to how quickly they could foreclose.  I will search the laws in Alabama.

Thanks again! 

An older gentleman I know owns a mortgage and wants to sell it. The occupant has become a problem and is way behind on payments. If he sells the mortgage will the buyer be able to foreclose immediately? The gentleman does not want to foreclose himself for various reasons. The house is in Alabama. Thx, Kent

When I started renting someone advised to avoid carpet and go with laminate. It was great advice. One house is on it's third renter and the laminate is holding up. Carpet would probably be trashed by now. I installed cheap laminate, less than $1 a foot but you could step up the quality and still be reasonable. No, laminate can't be refinished like hardwood. Good luck!

Hi Marquell, in Alabama the right of redemption is 3 years and the tax sale in my county is once a year in May (this may be true in all Alabama counties).  So if you buy one next May for $2k, the former owner could come up with the $2k plus interest and redeem it so your profit would only be the interest.  During the redemption period you can't sell it and of course you wouldn't want to put any money into the property.  I'm not sure if you can rent it or not but if so the renters would have to agree to vacate at any time in case the property was redeemed.

A state representative told me a while back they're trying to get the redemption period changed from 3 years to 6 months in AL but I haven't seen where that has happened yet.

Bottom line - if you can afford to bid and win a property and sit and wait for three years it can be a good deal.

I don't know the answer to your mortgage question but I'm curious to see the answer.