All Forum Posts by: Larry Ashlock

No momentum. McConnell was on the Senate floor within minutes and said it would never get a vote in the Senate. Barring the two Senate seats in Georgia going to the democrats in the January runoff today’s vote doesn’t mean anything.

Not really as what the democratic controlled house passes doesn’t really matter. Keep in mind republicans control everything on those two issues. If McConnell doesn’t want to pass the marijuana bill it won’t happen. If Kentucky republican legislative leaders don’t want to decriminalize marijuana or legalize expanded gaming it won’t happen. 

Rob, not so fast. That is a bill introduced at the federal level to decriminalize marijuana possession and production as a federal crime. It may not even get a vote, especially in a lame duck Congress. Further, this bill has nothing to do with legalization at the Kentucky state legislative level. Even if this bill passed the federal level marijuana possession and production would still be illegal under Kentucky law until a bill is introduced and passed in the Kentucky legislature.

John,

As an attorney who handles real estate litigation you are maybe leaving out some information as to who can actually act in this situation.  You haven't indicated you were an actual owner that transferred any ownership interest.  You talk about "we" but advise your parents are still alive and reference ownership at the cousin level.  Were your parents the actual owners of whatever interest by deed or intestacy?  Did you have an ownership interest by deed or intestacy?  If not, I know you may be trying to help and keep them out of it, but only the owners can act and this would include hiring an attorney, seeking involvement for an investigation, etc.  It is true state agencies can act on information from those without an interest but they really like it when those with an interest make the complaint.  If you do have an ownership interest and received proceeds from the sale, like Jay says, you aren't going to get anywhere on here.  Use some of that money to hire a real estate attorney who can review the entire situation and offer direct legal advise on what avenues to best take to obtain the desired outcome.  I can tell you that people in the real estate business rarely care about the threat of playing the "information will be made public" card.

Rich,

I know the Radcliff and Elizabethtown and Hardin County market pretty well.  In addition, my law office is in a building owned by the areas leading commercial brokerage Rick Baumgardner and Associates.  Rick is also my fiancé's father BTW.  Did I mention my fiancé is senior commercial lender at The Cecilian Bank which is the areas largest community bank.  So I can get you in with the broker and the lender and maybe do the legal for you.  Anything else you need?  Ha! Just trying to liven up a Monday.  In all seriousness, let me know how I can help you in this neck of the woods.  Thanks.  

Blake,

Forgot to mention also this fact:  Since the right to redeem is assignable it can also be waived.  If you can find the party that was foreclosed upon and work out a deal you can buy their right to redeem and have them to waive that.  This certainly has to be in writing and you would want that document drafted by an attorney so it is airtight.  However, you do risk alerting the foreclosed owner that they have this right to redeem which its been my experience most of them just don't know they have anyway.  You would just have to weigh this against either gambling on them not exercising their right while you start your rehab now or waiting the 6 months and then beginning your rehab. 

Blake,

Greetings from a fellow investor and attorney here in Elizabethtown.  Did you pick up the property at the Hardin County master commissioner sale?  If so, I was probably there as a good deal of my practice is real estate tax lien foreclosures and I am there most Wednesday's for the sale.  

As for your question, I am very familiar with how the law views right of redemption in Kentucky as the majority of the properties my client gets at the MC sale is for less than the 2/3 appraisal value.  I advise for the 6 month period to do the bare minimum to keep the city/county off your back on mowing, maintenance, etc., as the court's in Kentucky have interpreted the statute to mean what it says so any improvements beyond how you bought the property cannot be recovered if the owner decides to exercise their right to redeem. 

In your question, let's say you bought the property for $20K and you begin rehab, cleaning it up and getting it into livable condition when it was not in that condition when you bought it and you spend another $20K doing that and/or you sweat equity with your work and one day before six months runs out the original owner decides to redeem they can pay $21K into the court and get the deed immediately back.  You will receive your original purchase price of $20K back.  You will then have a lien against the property for any expenses that you incurred and will have to hire an attorney like me to again foreclose and argue you should get your $20K back you spend on rehab which will likely be a losing argument since improvements have been held not to be expenses under the statute. 

Be aware under (1) that it can be the defendant or "his or her representatives" can redeem.  There are companies working here in Kentucky right now that monitor sales for less than 2/3 appraised value and then if someone like you begins rehab they approach the original owner and offer them $500.00 or so to assign the right of redemption and then the company pays the purchase price into the Court and get's your rehabbed property.  This was recently ruled a valid action by the Kentucky Court of Appeals.  

Be wary of the pitfalls of this and other things that can go wrong at the master commissioner sales.  As I advise everyone who asks if you are going to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a property plus your valuable time getting it rehabbed the cost of getting an attorney on board at the start who knows real estate law and can address such issues is a drop in the bucket compared to making a mistake that costs thousands, tens of thousands or if you ever get into big developments, millions.  I can't leave my contact info here but if you ever have any questions about real estate law or real estate in the area in general give me a call.  My number is online and in the local phone books.  Good luck.  Thanks.

We are rehabbing rental units and are going to be putting in the glue down vinyl plank flooring.  Does anyone have any recommendation as to whether it is better to put down an underlayment over the subfloor before and lay the flooring?  Or, is it OK to place down over top of the existing subfloor?  We took up old carpeting and scraped the staples off the subfloor so it is smooth and clean.  I have seen advice how to do it both ways but wanted to know if anyone out there had any good or bad results either way.  Would want to lay down over subfloor to reduce cost but if this would only cause future issues would rather put down an underlayment now.  Thanks in advance for any advice.

West Point I have heard is good and they lend to investors very well.

I haven't done any VA foreclosure offers but I do know with our proximity to Fort Knox there are a lot of VA loans and therefore a lot of VA foreclosures so if you can get good leads that way and close should be a good amount of deals out there around here. Unless someone else chimes in with better thoughts who has done VA foreclosures before I would say if it is a good buy nothing hurts to wait and if you see a property in the mean time that's better go with that one.

BTW, did you rehab your house by yourself or did you hire a contractor?

If you are wanting to start locally around Elizabethtown and Hardin County I would take these steps:

1) You mentioned an appraisal of your current house. What was that done for? The HELOC? Have you started the process for the HELOC? If with Fort Knox Federal Credit Union they do have some good deals on HELOC's. I would get this process with them hammered down with their application process, appraisal, etc., and be ready to go so you have the money available before you start looking. I would also go ahead and start getting a relationship started with one of the local community banks here. My preference is The Cecilian Bank and I have contacts there if you want a referral. Having a banker ready and wiling to give you some quick cash to close a deal I have found out is gold.

2) If you want to do flips and rentals here you can certainly find some ready SFR's on the MLS that will get you close to 1% rule return that may not need much fixing up. There are some realtors here that will work with investors on those too.

3)  Courthouse sales around here are robust in numbers but attract a lot of flippers and rental folks already in the area.  I handle tax lien foreclosure sales for a company and can tell the numbers of folks at the courthouse sales has increased and some days it is crazy on the bidding that goes on but there are some days when you can get good deals for a flipper.  You might consider going down to the courthouse on Wednesday's at 2:00 and watching a few to get an idea of the prices and process.

4)  I know there are some wholesalers working the area as I get the mailers on some of my client's foreclosed properties.  If you want to buy from them just let me know and I can give you their info.  I am investing in multi-family and when I get their mailers I will call them up and advise to put me on their buyer's list if they get any leads on multi-family.

5)  If mutli-family is something you are looking for that is the area I am investing in here.  I am closing next week on an 8 unit in Radcliff and am working a lead for a 12 unit in Elizabethtown.  Would certainly consider the right partnership on mutli's and commercial going forward. 

Sorry so long was just brainstorming.  Good luck.