All Forum Posts by: Sam Leon

I am not trying to get go after him for money at this point.

I just don't want these utility companies to come after me for the unpaid bills, or worse yet, file a lien against the property.

OK, I went and cleaned up the property, changed the locks and yet, the mailbox is continuing to fill with mail going to him. So obviously he did not leave a forwarding address.

So what do I do with his mail without knowing where he is?

I have not been able to find him, no idea if he is even still in town.

Worst yet, amongst the mail going to him are bills from Florida Power and Light, Directv, BellSouth, may be another one from internet services? I don't know.

I can switch the FPL services to my own account, no problem. Could do that online.

Now can I open his bills to see what they look like? If I am going to call these company to terminate services I need his account number etc...yet those are HIS mail. I have no place to forward these bills to...and I don't want to pay his bills.

John,

You are absolutely right, this may be way over my head...that's why I picked a cheaper property, if I mess up I can just call it "tuition" LOL.

The property is assessed by the county for tax purposes 27K. The short sale was originally listed at 50K. The current owner bought it for 210K in 2005, and has an unpaid balance of 172K. Looking at similar properties in same complex I would put the property value at 45K-65K. So yes the owner owes a LOT more than what it's worth and may be the lender is not likely to let it go at or below market. I don't know.

But how can I wait on the title work? All that has to be done prior so you know what you are dealing with right? It's going to cost a couple of hundreds to me it seems well worth it considering the risk.

I know I am totally inexperienced that's why I picked this particular property I have already visited it but missed out on the SS. For me the worse case scenerio is let's say I bid 55K and got this property and took possession the occupant burns it down out of rage and I lose 55K that is the maximum exposure then I lose 55K which I am willing to set aside for a valuable lesson.

Jeff, thank you for the detailed explanation. Obviously I have a lot to learn. The property is in Broward County Florida, and they have online foreclosure auction so I was just going to do that instead.

I am ready a lot of interesting threads on the subject on BP, we shall see what happens.

As I have posted previously, I typical look for properties to buy and hold (rent). Seems the South Florida market is so heated I either face a bidding war the first day a property goes on the MLS, or I end up getting the short end of a stick making bids on properties where the listing agent already has an inside buyer.

I need to look for other ways to find properties, so I am going to give foreclosure auction a try.

There is one property, which was a short sale, one I was interested in, but went under contract while I was doing my home work...and now apparently the SS fell through as I noticed it's off the market and there is an auction for it on 9/18. So the good news is I already have a target property.

Now, I need to figure out what home work I need to do.

First, I need to find all the parties the current owner owes that could lay claim on the property right? I can do some of that via online record searches at the county. I can also hire a company to do a title search, which might be worth it as an exercise.

Now, how would I know the search is complete? In a standard transaction I don't worry about it as I buy title insurance at closing. This is just a title search service. They could miss something or there may be judgement not yet recorded officially? How is that handled?

Second, I noticed in some of the foreclosure threads someone warned against bidding on the second loan. I assume if the owner has two loans on the mortgage one of the lenders can put the property up for auction and the remaining portion to another lender is still in effect? How exactly do I check for that?

I would also like to see the balance sheets of the HOA. I don't know if they have 50 million dollars in reserved funds to deal with a cat 5 hurricane or if they actually have no money in the bank and there is a huge assessment coming. How do I as an outsider get access to these documents?

Any advice and comments, as well as links to useful threads would be greatly appreciated.

If there was a leak, and assuming the leak is due to a corroded or damaged hose bib and not the piping, it's a simple job to replace with a new one, a new quarter turn cost $8 and it's a 5 minute job to take off and put back on if it's a compression or threaded connection, of course assuming it's not corroded to the point you need Hulk to unthread it. If it's soldered on then it's a bigger job, 20 minutes or hire a plumber to do it either way it's $100 or so.

The previous owner patching in concrete CAUSED more problem for you then he solved. The leak is still there, inside the concrete, just lodged there and will cause moisture buildup inside. I would chip it all out and start over. No need to tap into an existing line as there is already a termination there.

I always note all the repairs and figure out an estimate and ask for a credit to the price so I know it gets fixed right.

OK I just want to ask those who are agents, is the TV show MILLION DOLLAR LISTINGS on Bravo a "reality" show?

It just seems a bit far fetched.

These guys drive their 150K Lamboginis or RR around, selling houses 15, 25 million dollars, buyers from overseas sight unseen, sending a rep to make a cash offer of 18 millions, and the two agents meet at a fancy restaurant sipping margaritas, getting up and calling their buyers, using what seems trivial and rudimentary negotiation tactics, and make 400K of commission with a snap of their fingers.

Really?

@William thank you for the explanation.

I just see this term used a lot more frequency and can't help being curious.

I speculated what could have prompted that too and the only scenerios I could come up with is a trailer home being hauled out, or something like erosion, where a landslide eliminated a significant portion of the land, or a hurricane hitting the beach and took out some parts of beach front land...something crazy like that.

In the case you mentioned, someone actually moved a house? Like using a crane and lifted the whole house? Incredible.

You can suggest to the current owner to try and do at least something minimal to stop the leak.

Tell her about the mold issues that could arise and affect his/her health if left unattended.

Write into your short sale contract a special clause that requires a secondary inspection to verify that conditions of the property has not deteriorated since the original contract may serve as a motivation for the owner to do something to have you not back out, of course, the flip side is you may scare them off with such contingency.

Jose I am a cash buyer but not having much luck this year.

Last June I closed on three properties within a week, this year none.