All Forum Posts by: Leeann Aubuchon

Hello, My husband and I were swindled by a general contractor and received a favorable judgement against him. We executed a levy on the contractor’s office building in Jacksonville, FL, and gained possession of the property through a sheriff’s sale. Unfortunately, the contractor stopped paying the mortgage right after we won our judgement as he likely anticipated the levy. Then he raised several objections to the sale which tied things up further. Ultimately, the building ended up in foreclosure 19 days ago. The principal balance of the loan is $68k. Upon receiving the payoff statement we were floored to see attorney fees amounting to $24,302.32. The legal services included drafting the complaint, defendant fees and summons fees (with actual court costs amounting to $1,700). Our attorney also raised a brow at that fee and said she would reach out for clarification. That fee coupled with interest, late fees, and protective advances total $98,774.98! I believe Fannie Mae imposes a ceiling on judicial foreclosures in FL, but I don’t think such a limit exists outside of this. I’m just wondering if this amount seems high to anyone else or if it’s on par with typical atty fees associated with commercial foreclosures.

Sorry for the long post and thank you for taking the time to read it!

@Cecilia Arnulphi Thank you! Best to you as well!

@Caroline C. I'm so ready to trade in the snowy, frigid, chilled to the bone, what feels like never-ending (Nov.-April) MA winters for oppressively hot summers! You can probably tell I'm not much of a winter person! Lol I will miss New England autumns but I can always come back to visit. I see you're invested in Costa Rica. That must be amazing. Costa Rica is a beautiful place with awesome people. I hope to get back there again. Pura Vida!

@Mark Fries If I need a contractor, I'll certainly reach out. Thank you! The properties I have my eye on are in the 25-40k price range. Needless to say, there is going to be a little rehabbing involved. I think my biggest challenge is going to be finding a property that can be renovated enough to make it refinanceable. If the ARV isn't good, I'll be dead in the water for a while.

@Andre Crabb Yes, working remotely is a beautiful thing! Tampa piqued my interest as well. I also considered Orlando. And, for a very brief moment, I considered Cape Coral. Ultimately, I decided on Jacksonville because my primary objective is cash flow. If the properties happen to appreciate, even better! Are you looking to invest in SFH or multi?

Hi Matt, Yes, my goal is to eventually generate enough passive income to regularly travel to places like beautiful Thailand! I am very cognizant of the fact, that building wealth through real estate takes quite a bit of time and hard work. I’m looking forward to the journey! Mark Fries! I’ve been lurking on Bigger Pockets for a year now, often searching for “Jacksonville” and your posts frequently come up. The information in your posts have been extremely insightful! I actually keep a running list of zip codes based on the feedback you’ve given to others. The cat’s out of the bag; you’ve got a BP creeper! Lol

Hi Aaron, I currently also have an online teaching job which will be my primary source of income when I make my move to JAX. I do eventually plan on starting another practice but I’m just taking it one step at a time. Having already built one, I know all too well about Initial start up costs, time and the blood, sweat and tears of building a business from the ground up.

Hi! I’m a Massachusetts native getting ready to move to Jacksonville, Florida within the next 6 months or so to start my investment venture! My plan is to use a conventional 20% down loan to purchase a house for myself (in a decent area) and use the proceeds from selling my practice (which hasn’t happened yet) to put down on a relatively inexpensive fixer-upper. My priority is cash flow and I’m not afraid of being leveraged, although perhaps, I should. I plan on using the BRRRR strategy for this fixer-upper investment property. I’ve been planning this move for over a year now and have been doing a significant amount of research. I couldn’t be more ready to take this leap! I’m very interesting in connecting with others from the Jacksonville area. Thanks for reading!