All Forum Posts by: Kim Heretick

I price shop for just about everything!  75% of the time, Home Depot has the best deal plus I love that I can order online, drive up to my local store and they'll load it up for me.  Menards is best for studs and trim work.  Lowes is almost always more expensive and the 5% discount doesn't make up for it.  You can get discounts on already discounted prices at other stores.

Hi Clarence,

I live and invest in the Toledo area. You won't find a Real Estate Agent in Toledo that will get you good investment properties. It's just not worth their time. Most good deals get snatched up right away... they don't need agents to get them done. Andrew is one of the few in the area that specializes in this and he has built great connections (that's key, not an MLS reader). He's a hustler and can also help manage your properties. I would highly recommend him. Engelo/Ohio Cash Flow also seem to have a lot of experience.

I have a great Real Estate Agent for selling but I've found I need to find my own fix & flip properties.  Buying at the right price is half the battle.

Best of luck!

Kim

I have been wishing that we all used some kind of escrow method, to protect both the contractor & customer.  Why don't we do this... have a 3rd party (bank, organization, title agency) hold money in escrow until agreed upon work has been completed?!

Thank you for all of the help & suggestions.  I'm reaching out to a couple other contractors to see if they have any other opinion on mudjacking, but I'm not hopeful.

In the mean time, I planned to do a deck over (possibly demo existing because I worry it may still be settling).

The good news... my roof is $1k under my estimated budget.  I could find other things are that way too.  I tried to overestimate, but really failed on this porch.

Mock up of budgeted changes...

I really love @Jeff Berg's idea of adding a pergola too.  I might save in other areas of the house that could be put to that.

Do not pre-pay.  I did it with someone who I had experience with and on this 3rd job that I prepaid him for, he did not finish it.  I had to do it myself.

Also, this sounds extremely expensive for tile and cabinets.  Does the estimate include the cost of supplies?  You might want to get a couple of other estimates.  

@Lynette E.  I did contact one who did mud jacking.  They said this was too far gone to do it.  Have you seen it done on a raised porch this bad?

I'm set to close on this REO on in 2 weeks & need an budget friendly solution to fix the sagging, cracked concrete front porch!

I only budgeted $1k but it looks like my estimate was too low to repair what it is.  It would cost $4k, or more, to demo & rebuild new.  I need cheaper, good looking options!

Deck over existing & repoint bricks?  Demo & build deck?

Looking for ideas and ballpark estimates!

I agree with Matt, remove the reference to "foundation work".  It just sounds scary.  Don't worry about the price you bought it for.

I would suggest doing a little staging so people can visualize themselves in the house.  With large rooms, people have a hard time thinking of how they would place their living and eating areas.  You don't have to stage every room, but the main living areas and master bedroom are important.  Buy 2nd hand furniture or rent it.  Then have new pic's taken.

It's a beautiful home!

I'm not sure if these have already been suggested to you, but I would:

- Setup Zillow saved searches & notifications for homes in the zip codes your interested in that are "FSBO" or have the keywords "as is", "as-is", and "cash only". If a good deal comes through from these, you'll have to jump on them that day, view them, and be ready to offer cash without inspection (bid appropriately for the risk).

- Research your county's foreclosure process.  If they require "judicial foreclosure" by banks you might have a great avenue.  Many clear all liens through the foreclosure process (except for IRS, who gets 90 days to buy the property for what it was auctioned for but usually don't).  See if your county has "sheriff sales" or "sheriff auctions" and attend some and learn about them.

- On the realtor sites, search for homes that have been empty and on the market for a long time.  They may be open to very low bids.  It's a game of numbers here.  Even a house that has been empty and on market for 45+ days may be willing to accept a substantially low offer.  You pay nothing to your realtors to have them make an offer for you if the sale doesn't go through.

Hope one of these helps.  I have to say, I do all of this and more and it's a dry time for me right now.  All I need is one though.  They always come eventually so long as I am diligent.  Don't get desperate and pay too much though!

Hi Lynnette,

Wow, this took a lot of digging to figure out!  TN does not make it easy to find.

I looked & looked and finally found online resources for you!

I looked up a foreclosure address on Zillow in your county to test these on:

1. ONLINE SEARCH OF TN TREASURER:  View residential info (current owner name, past transfers, residential attributes, etc.).  WARNING: The search address must be exact.  I had to use "Justin Ln 21" in Property Address field to get results.
https://www.assessment.cot.tn.gov/RE_Assessment/Se...

2. ONLINE SEARCH OF TN TRUSTEE:  View they're real estate tax payment status (overdue will probably be payable by you).  Search only by the street number and name.  I used "21 Justin" without St/Rd or City)
https://secure.tennesseetrustee.org/search.php

3. ONLINE PROPERTY DETAIL REPORT:  It will cost you $3.50 to view the report.  Register for an account as a "Financial Investor".  Choose the County then "Property Detail Report".  I paid $3.50 just to see the report on this property address.  It provided all of the information found for free in Step 1 above but also gave me this original mortgage information:
https://publicrecords.netronline.com/state/TN/coun...

4. PHYSICALLY VISIT YOUR COUNTY "REGISTER OF DEEDS" OFFICE:  That's what they call it in TN.  They will provide you information on all Mortgages, Liens, and Releases of them plus more (what I really wanted from the last step).   Ask for the "Deed Index" for a specific property address & owner name.  This is what those Title Companies do for you.  All liens are reported to your county here, including IRS & State.  This is what you need!

Judy Graham Swallows
CUMBERLAND County Register of Deeds
2 N. Main St, Suite 204 Crossville, TN 38555
CLICK THIS LINK FOR PHONE #: https://publicrecords.netronline.com/state/TN/coun...

I am so sorry it's not all online for you now.  You might want to ask the Register of Deeds if they plan to make it publicly available online anytime soon.  It looks like their website is under construction right now.

Once you have the Deed Index, you should be able to see all of the mortgages & liens and look to see if they've been released (i.e. taken care of).  The only things that don't show are the back-due real estate taxes (step #2 above), back due utilities, and any possible lien that hasn't been filed but there is a statute of limitations on those (think mechanics lien).

I hope this helps.  I think once you have the Deed Index on a property, if you have questions on how to read it you could share here for help.  Hopefully, it's easy (the mortgage #'s and the release #'s match).