All Forum Posts by: Kurt P.

Interesting read. I'm one of those people moving in from out of town and pushing rents up! Luckily our new home is found.  I was hoping to also start investing in rental property, and while the easy fish might all be caught I'm sure I'll try none the less. Curious what a local thinks of the development pattern, the push to West Asheville etc. As an outsider it seems the residential near south of the city (not near the river) will move soon, housing project or not, I know the commercial already has. What's the local take?

Larry,

thanks for the perspective. since we live in the house and pay almost the entire rent roll we've got incentive to try, but yes it's certainly not a sure thing.

kurt

thanks Cory, yea that's next step. Green Tree LLC has told me just now that the home is not in 'REO status yet'. but apparently they don't do direct sales only go to auction anyway.

so update, I found the quarterly NYC tax bill! but it's under the property address, not his actual, so no luck there.  I do have the last foreclosure filing, but no current address in the doc, just his name.

through people finders (paid) I think I have a phone number for what I assume is his sister, maybe daughter. but calls have not been responded to.

I wish I could compel the rental agency but I've been round that road a few times.

I'm considering getting a local RE lawyer on retainer as perhaps he can dig him up, since I know he was in ny court here recently over this. Apparently the final court decision that will compel the sale has not happened, he's trying to keep it of course, so perhaps I need to wait on that. it seems the average foreclosure in NYS is 3 years! He's probably few into this one but it could still be a slow boat.

thanks for everyone's ideas, I'm very grateful and keep thinking there must be a way to make this happen if it's going to be sold!

anyone ever do a short sale with Green Tree LLC?

- kurt

for anyone who can use it, you can do a lot on form here: http://a836-acris.nyc.gov/CP/ or tax info only from here: http://nycprop.nyc.gov/nycproperty/nynav/jsp/selec...

Bob,   thanks for the idea, will see if I can do that in Kings County.  

Kevin, yes motivation is an issue I'm sure as he's clearly taking the rent from the agency and ignoring the bank for years.

Tom, the rental agency has made it clear they will not put me in touch with him, esp once a secretary let slip they are making their own bid!  They offered to forward a letter, but slim chance that got through.

thanks, kurt 

hi, I know this is not the typical post but imagine my surprise when it turns out the home I rent is in pre-foreclosure! finding a lead never got this easy..

I am ready and willing to make a offer to the owner, but he's out of state and I can't find him. Rental agency is a stonewall, paid peoplefinders report was close, but no current address or working number.

The foreclosure documents, which of course a copy of came to 'my' home, list the mortgage servicer - Green Tree - but not his lawyer or info. If I had to guess I'd say he's got  some equity left in the home, but it's close. I know the rental's now are plenty to pay this note, but he's been skipping the bill I guess.

Any ideas of how to track an owner down, can I search recent court records? I'm in NY state and here this kind of thing can take a long time, but I'd like to at least make a bid to him if I can.

thoughts welcome.

Kurt

Jon thanks for that. I have heard that 'tax logic' is used to make something lukewarm seem hot, I'm sure thats worth considering. Our first offer has just been given a pass, so now I can step back and consider the great points you've brought up. We're still thinking about this idea, but I'm going to also look into your advice to research what keeping things separate might mean. There is a red hot flipping market right now in the Bed-Stuy area of brooklyn that I might also dig into. I like the concept of applying investor math to our purchase, but it clearly means buying wholesale and as you mentioned that is no simple thing.

Jon,

Thinking about this overnight - and at the risk of wearing out my welcome - here is another way to look at the return on that 400k, and what it buys.

First it gets a 430k loan at 4.78% being paid off by the property. even at the NOI you corrected, the $27k year payments are covered by the property. ( esp. as we are 37% of gross rents in this equation, and that shifts down the expense ratio somewhat I think. the bank will use 75% of gross but I guess that's high. )

Second the rental savings of $25k in reduced expenses is real. penny saved = earned.

so from this perspective it's a very tax advantaged 50k return on 400k in year one with no appreciation of rents or equity. that's a 12.5% return that will grow in time. I know this is only napkin math, but as wealth building doesn't it actually represent more than a 1.3% return? I certainly respect that you have experience and knowledge that I don't yet!

Jon sorry didn't mean to paraphrase you incorrectly, just to think about where capital should go was my point.

Your take on birddogs and wholesalers is interesting, and I'll keep that in mind. I though that they might be a resource, but if I have a few specific areas I am looking in that I can personally cover it sounds like I might want to consider also trying to work them myself for leads via a combination of small mailings, and in person networking. Thats a whole thing to learn but then I've done a lot of the same actions in my professions.

the driving distance idea is also worth some research, there is a whole lot of density in my area that's for sure.

thanks again.

Jayme,

well perhaps buying 3 in Fresno is a better idea, I think long term that's kind of what Jon is trying to say to me.

as for living with your tenants, I certainly do understand its not ideal. but I am looking to start, which is always hard. however this is an area generally a bit more up market than the best cap rate zones in brooklyn, so frankly our renters would not be so different than us for the most part.

as for rents well a 2 bedroom in the Sunset Park area of brooklyn can be $1600 - $1900 mo. $3400 a month gets you 2bdr in manhattan just maybe. it's just a different market. we used to have a 450 sq ft studio apt co-op in chelsea that we could sublet for $2100 a month easy when we were out of town, which sounds great until you know the maint was 1k.

all that aside I take your warning to heart. and yes my plans would include $15,000 for reserves.
Jon will be relieved to know we missed the bullet on this one and our offer was turned down, they are going to get over 700k and not look back. I think I might need to become my own bird dog to get a decent deal. Probably not the first homeowner to flyer a zone looking to get lucky.