All Forum Posts by: Michael Finkelshteyn

@Neil Henderson What do you have in College Station? I am very familiar with the town.

@Account Closed What is your goal with the Katy investment? A $250k will not cash flow well and your property taxes will be higher than 2.5%. Katy property taxes range from 2.7%-3.8%. There are also two segments of Katy: North of Interstate Highway 10 and South of Interstate Highway 10 (aka Katy Freeway and I-10). You'll have homes better fit as rentals on the north side as they range from 100k-180k. Homes in the south will range from the 150k to Millions. 

North Katy will typically have more renters and more blue collar workers. South Katy will be your professionals. 

I second Jerry's recommendation, they do a lot of investor friendly closings. 

Fidelity National Title in the Heights may be able to do Subject to's as well, speak with Linda.

Wow, @David Hines thanks! Seems like you have a pretty good insurance policy set up. I am assuming you have an SFR and they're newer homes.

My duplex is close to downtown and it's not in a floodplain nor is it in a floodway.

Perhaps I am being taken for a ride, or perhaps that's reality. Did you use an agent to get these policies? I have UPC on my personal residence, but it's still higher than yours. And if I am not mistaken I think rentals carry a higher risk so I really need to re-evaluate these policies. 

@Jacob Passmore, thanks for the clarification!  How do you recommend that investors determine the value of the replacement cost?

It's time for me to renew my insurance policy and I wanted to know what some of you guys are paying in the Houston area. 

I know there are many variables, so I expect a variety of rates. However, as a general rule of thumb, I assume policies to cost 1% of the ARV.

My property (duplex) was built in 1948. It has a new roof and upgraded electrical+plumbing.

The current policy is a commercial policy

• 1% Standard Deductible
• 2% Wind/Hail
• 127k Replacement cost (Property ARV 85k-90k)
• 100k Liability Limit
• 80% Coinsurance (This is new, so if someone can clarify for this for me, much appreciated!)
• Quoted at $1650

@Jonathan Bonck, I used Texas General Insurance when I was rehabbing my duplex. 

http://www.texasgeneralinsurance.com/company.html

The policy had coverage for 6 months and if I recall, it was somewhere around $500.

Let me know who you go with and if you were able to beat the price.

@Rick H.

Thanks for the advice!

If you don't mind, could you provide an example of how you would bulletproof a deal in CA for yourself? Am I on the right track of thinking about ways to bulletproof the issues below?

• Brother in law to seller
  • Solution: Get written release of interest in property
• Grandchildren (minors) to seller
  • Solution: Get their guardian to release their interest in property 
• Current occupants
  
  • Ensure they cannot begin adverse possession claim
    • If so, put them on notice 
  • Leave as-is until clear title and sign lease/evict upon conveyance of title to me.
• File a memorandum of contract to stake my claim on title

@Ralph R. Thanks for chiming in. It sounds like your family was dealing with an adverse possession claim which I was able to find some information about, in this link: http://www.lonestarlandlaw.com/Adverse.html

You mentioned the gain. There is still a significant amount of gain to be enjoyed should we  produce quiet title. But the big risk is the uncertainty of attorney's result. In which case I could be out money for nothing. 

Like @Joel Owens mentioned, it may not be worth my time given the risk of legal costs and opportunity cost. But, I am still going to speak with another attorney and see if they can come up with something new. I want to make sure that I upturn every rock before making a final commitment.

When I first started marketing, I used this website to convert my handwritten font 

http://www.myscriptfont.com/ into a font that can be used in Word. Then I used the mail merge feature in Word. Unfortunately, my handwriting is pretty much chicken scratch so I stuck with "hand written" font either through word or the print shop.

If you're sending 100-200 letters then you  might get away with using your printer, but I think beyond that you're better off outsourcing to a printshop.

As mentioned, yellowletters.com will do it, you can look into Click2Mail. I used a local shop but they're not quite in tune with real estate marketing.

@Joel Owens That makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

@Rick H. thanks for the compliment! I was hoping you'd chime in, I couldn't tag you for some reason when I originally posted. 

As far as the risk goes, we're only a few thousand dollars away from seller having to come out of pocket if we can close. If I push all the attorney fees onto seller then he'll be coming out of pocket significantly and I don't think he'll be able to afford that.

Is there a risk of the attorney failing to produce quiet title and charging me for their failed attempt?

I've been working on a deal in Texas that seems to have reached a dead end and I don't know what else to do. 

I was contacted by the seller who did not know if he had equitable interest in the house due to the situation below.

Situation:

• Mom and Dad place house into revocable trust via quit claim deed (recorded). Mom and dad are trustees.
• They had two children; son and daughter (wife to seller).
• Dad passes away. No record of probate or recorded will.
• Some time later, mom deeds property to daughter (seller's wife). This was recorded
• Mother passes away. No probate
• Daughter passes away. No probate, there is a signed will, however it was not notarized or recorded.
• Daughter and seller had a daughter. She married and had two kids (currently minors).
• This daughter passes away and is survived by husband and her two kids.
• No probate nor will.

Issue

• Original trust document is missing, no one seems to have a copy
• I've spoken with two title companies and they will not close without the trust document

Secondary Issue

• Current occupants may need to be evicted
• Many years of back taxes owed
• The seller has received some communication with the attorneys dealing with tax foreclosures, but I do not have enough information about that.

What I've Done so Far

• I have spoken with two title companies and received title commitment stating that they cannot move forward without the trust document
• I have spoken with a real estate attorney about doing a quiet title and they seemed a bit apprehensive due to the amount of time this could take
• I have spoken with the son to Mom and Dad (deceased trustees) 
• I have spoken with the husband to the seller's deceased daughter
• I reached out to the attorney who wrote up the trust and the notary. I found them through the quit claim deed.
• Attorney did not have a copy of the trust and could not provide any more information.
• Notary did not have a copy of any documentation from that transaction. 

There is significant amount of equity in this deal. Performing quiet title is still doable, provided that attorney fees do not escalate beyond 20k-25k

I am at a dead end and not sure what I should do at this point.