All Forum Posts by: Lou P.

I have been watching and researching Hubzu for many months and what I found is that Hubzu has a sophisticated calculation to determine reserve and opening bid based on prior bids, BPO as well as a WAG.

Also each property has a local agent/broker associated with it and it looks like the agent/broker can over-ride any number presented by Hubzu.

What I do is determine a fair price (ARV) for the property. Then the price I am willing to pay will determine what I do with the property (Flip, Hold for Rental or no bid).

Bottom line is you have to feel the price you pay is in line with your plans for the property and then bid.

There are good deals to be had on Hubzu, but if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. 

Don't try to figure out Hubzu, because IMHO, I don't think anyone will be able to understand the full logic of Hubzu.

My only suggestion is to have a plan and bid based on your plans and goals and keep emotion out of it. This is a business and should be managed like a business.

Good luck!

So I have this new situation that I have not run into before and was hoping some of the experts on this site can guide me.

I had prospective tenant complete an application and she is from rural PA (north of Pittsburg) and when I ran her background check she came up clean with the exception if showing a lot of prior addresses - 11 different addresses since 1994.

These are all very rural locations and all PO box locations where mail delivery to the house is not available.

Should I be concerned about this many addresses (11) over a 15 year period of time.

She had no evictions or criminal judgements and I really could not find anything that could be considered a major red flag other than the number or different addresses and the fact that they were mostly (6 out of the 11) PO boxes.

Should I be concerned or not worry about it and rent the house to her and her two kids?

Thanks,
Lou

I was reviewing the setup requirements for TENANTALERT.com and was suprised to the amount of information they request to setup an account with them.

There are other background checking companies like e-renter.com and rentalresearch.com that don't require the extensive documentation.

Why does tenantalert.com require that much info and is e-renter or rentalresearch a valid option to use for background checking?

Thanks,
Lou

I have a property that I am ready to put up for rental and would like to identify companies who can provide background checks of potential tenants.

Are there companies out there that I can use to check credit records and backgrounds?

How do other rental property owners perform background checks and what other checks do you perform?

Thanks,
Lou

I put a bid in on a house in mid-December and the bank finally asked for a BPO in Mid-February and I think a loss mitigation analyst has been assigned to this file in late Feb.

Today I was given a contract addendum from the servicing company, I assume representing the bank.

The addendum is the typicaly one sided bank addendum and my agent is suggesting we do a final inspection of the property before we sign the as-is addendum.

My question is when this addendum is given to me, the buyer, does this mean the deal is a done deal with a quick close or can this drag out even longer?

How long after the addendum is provided does the bank typically wait to approve the short sale?

Thanks,
Lou

Thanks Joseph

What do other RE investors use to manage their investments and the management of the REI?

I have some property that I own and have some property that is owned by others, but I manage.

I have been using Excel for management and finally feel I need RE management software and RE analysis software.

I'm a RE investor and like to analyse numbers before I make an offer and purchase.

I found the below site to be a very good resource for number analysis:
http://www.realestatecritic.com/

Any other recommendations for good investment analysis software?

I am looking for free tools :D

another option may be bidmycrib.com

Where would I find this information?

Can someone tell me the time line and process for foreclosed property.

I have been watching a vacant property that I would like to buy for an investment and I see that it is scheduled to be auctioned off at the sheriff sale next week. I assume the bank holding the 1st lien will bid and win the property.

So assuming that the bank will get the property back at the auction, how long will it be before the bank puts the property up for sale?

Should I call the bank and talk to someone in their REO department to see if I can buy the property before they turn it over to the MLS and a real estate agent?

Thanks,
Lou