All Forum Posts by: Mathew A.

@Loretta: I'd like to know where you got your information, because the textbook I'm reading, California Real Estate Law (7th edition, Page 398), says, "The buyer's responsibility begins on the closing date– that is, the buyer pays the costs for that day."

So for question #1, the seller is responsible for Jan (31), Feb (28), Mar (31), April (30), May (31), June (30), July (31), and the first 11 days in Aug, which total 223 days, and the buyer is responsible for 142 days.

Taxes per day = $1654.35 / 365 = $4.5325

Seller's responsibility = 223 x $4.5325 = $1010.74
Buyer's responsibility = 142 x $4.5325 = $643.61

Since the seller paid the taxes for the year, the buyer owes the seller for his portion at closing. Therefore, the settlement statement shows:

seller credit: $643.61
buyer debit: $643.61

I really don't like the 360-day proration, but is that the industry norm? If so, do you always have to count the days from January and subtract from 360, or do you just start counting the days from the COE date?

Because I'm not sure about the above, I'll assume you just count the days from COE, and, because I thought the buyer pays for the COE day, I'll assume that as well. Therefore, the buyer has to reimburse the seller for 142 days, not 141. Same as Loretta's answer, but include the day of COE. That equates to 142 x 4.59542 = 652.55.

Buyer debit: 652.55
Seller credit: 652.55

@Nick: Because the seller has already paid the taxes for the year and the buyer will be paying the seller some amount, the seller is credited the same amount as the buyer is debited. Depending on my assumptions, I'm not sure about the numbers, but I think Loretta and I can agree that the seller credit and buyer debit are equal values.

I'm also curious: why are you getting your RE license?

Good info, Zane. So you input the contact info from the online records into Excel and then a program transfers the name and addresses into your letter template? I'd really appreciate it if you could send me the letter template you use. How many mailings do you get from your hour or two of work? Thanks.

Zane,
Where do you get your leads? Do you manually search the online recorder's website? If so, what do you put in the search? "Probate deeds" from the last 7 days? 30 days? 90 days?
Is it necessary to read a book on probates to do direct mail? Finally, what are the costs in terms of time and dollars for your direct mailing? Thanks.

Curtis, I'm not understanding the connection between a real estate license and wholesaling. Why should people get their real estate license instead of wholesaling? Thanks.

Congrats, Dave. I wish you the best in your future deals.

Hi Travis,

I'm curious to how your deals panned out. Do you have the latest for us?

Yeah, I did that on my second property. However, he understated the repairs and gave me an overpriced bid. Needless to say, I didn't go with him. I believe I now found a good contractor, so having a contractor assess repairs may work better in the future.

I would like to hear your guys' thoughts on whether or not to get inspections on cheaper homes. Since the price of inspections are pretty much tied to the size of houses, inspections for expensive houses represent a smaller percentage than for cheaper houses. For example, a $300 inspection for a $20,000 house represents 1.5%, while a $400 inspection on a $200,000 house is only .2%. Is it still worth it to get an inspection on the $20,000 house?

1.5% of the purchase price is huge. After 67 inspections, I will have paid for an entire property! When dealing with $200,000 houses, I will have had 500 inspections before totaling the cost of one property.

However, the costs to replace/repair things shouldn't depend on the price of the house. For example, the cost to replace the water heater is going to be about the same in the $20,000 house as in the $200,000 house. A $20,000 house can have $30,000 in repairs like any other house, and may even be more likely to have those repairs.

Then again, you hear more about a $10,000 foundation problem on a $200,000 house than you do on a $20,000 house. Why do you think that is?

So, would you (assuming you're a novice investor) get an inspection on a $20,000 house?

Thanks, Aaron.

That's exactly 24; nice one, Kenneth. This was driving me crazy that I resorted to finding the answer on Google. :|