All Forum Posts by: Marian Smith

Thank you both for your opinions. I know I will never rent it if the owners are out front-- two 40-50 yr. old brothers living at home with their mother. One has long hair and usually doesn't wear a shirt. They tried to interest me in a bike frame for 5 bucks last time I was there.

I have a contract on a house in a master-planned development within walking distance to two schools and parks. Will a cute, updated house in a good school district rent out well if the neighbors across the street look like they are operating a junk yard?

The neighbors across the street are the corner lot with no fence and they are hoarder-types. There is a large log pile out front, lots of scrap metal, and most recently a car on the lawn. I called the county health dept and expressed concern about all the junk and West Nile after the last rain. I saw a constable taking pictures that week. But I doubt much will happen. Deed restrictions are vague and it is outside the city limits.

There is a mix of nice homes and okay homes built in the 80's--and one or two kind of shabby homes. And the one across the street is by far the worst in the whole area. These are the oldest homes--and as the neighborhood built out the homes mainly got bigger and nicer.

A home facing the hoarder sold in 2 weeks for a decent amount. I just want to fix up a house and rent it, but I am worried I will get stuck with the bottom of the barrel tenants. If it is a nice house in a nice area, do prospective tenants overlook ugly neighbors? How much should I discount the rent for the "view."

Thanks in advance.

"I'll be curious to see how do you long term by judging tenant applicants for being sharp and being sold on a shower head."

I rented sight unseen to a teacher moving to the area. She negotiated the rent down and I was pleased, thinking it demonstrated she was good with her money. Wrong! It didn't end in eviction or anything, but even requiring that rent be no more than 30% of income--and a college degree--doesn't keep people from spending too much.

Banks appear to get a BPO before setting the opening bid. It is almost always too high. Recontrust publishes the bid price on their web site prior to auction. There are some big operators who buy 3-8 year old homes at what appears to be 20-5% below market, but I need a bigger discount to be safe.

I'd be interested in hearing how bad the condition of your property was. I am seeing some pretty distressed properties going to owner occupants in HUD bids. 30 years old, battered cabinets, filthy, dated, popcorn, wallpaper, moldy tub tile, the works. They're selling in the 10 day oo period. Used to always go to investors. I guess they're using 203? financing.

Last two months an LLC called AH4R bought 20-35 properties at the courthouse steps in my county. Evidently they're based out of California and they're buying rentals in 4-5 states (American Homes 4 rent). I've never seen them here before.

"Analytical results for very simple auction models suggest that rational bidders in common value sealed bid auctions can generally avoid the winner’s curse if they presume that their estimate of an item’s value is the highest amongst all competitors and then bid some fraction of their original estimate."

I am closing next week on a house that the "winner" backed out of and it was listed BOM on the MLS. I submitted a bid for 2k lower than my original losing bid and got the property--offer accepted same day. Cash, no inspection. VA/Wells Fargo/some asset mgmt firm. 6% over list. Realtor said there were over 15 bids first time around. 2 submitted the day it went BOM. (Second house purchased no inspection.)

My mom went to an auction at the closing of a high-end nursery/gift shop and her friend bought something for higher than the original retail price sticker on the bottom of the item (discovered in the car on the way home).

Why do you have to "sand them down"? I clean cabinets; light sand or wipe on a liquid sander/deglosser; then use a good primer--one that sticks to anything--or you may be able to use one of those combo paint and primer in one if your paint is in good shape and it is latex.
Cleaning is so much cheaper than replacing the shower pan! Is it dirt and soap scum?

Thanks. You've answered more than I could have thought up!
The house I am interested in was refinanced in 2009 for 112k. Other investors will pay around 75k at the courthouse for small homes in the area. It is a Wells Fargo loan owned by Fannie Mae per their site. I just have never pulled up a sample of Fannie Mae listings and checked the foreclosure data to see if there is any chance the property will open lower than 112k. I have seen regular bank owned open 30k lower than what is owed--especially older or rentals.

Thanks to all. Jennifer, if you have a few tips maybe you could post here so everyone can benefit--unless you don't want to educate your local competition (like storage wars).
My county courthouse has records online. The seconds are pretty easy to recognize here because they are either for 20% or home equity loans. We see a few HOA forclosures.
I understand in Texas all liens are wiped out when the 1st forecloses except tax and posssibly mechanics liens. I assume that is true everywhere.
My main fear is that I will miss something like that but I don't see how a mortgage can be filed in 2006 and maybe refinanced in 2009 with an appointment filed a month or more ago and there be a lien I don't see. It would seem any existing lien should be right there with everthing else. The reason I fear this is because everyone says to have a title company do a title search but I don't see how a title company can have anymore info than I find online.
Other fears--slab broken in 3 pieces.