All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Welcome Mark Ferguson! As you can see, I'm not too far from you.

Sounds like you have fantastic experience and great goals! This is a great site, glad you found it.

Thanks Jesse Tsai, I appreciate your information. I am planning on attending the yearly sale on August 1st and want to learn all about this beforehand. What you described sounds like what my county does, according to what I've found on their website. I would definitely like to hear the strategies you have in mind.

I have a question about lottery-type tax lien sales that I'm hoping someone can help me with.

The treasurer's office lists this information on their site:

"A participant of the sale cannot pick and choose properties for purchase. Instead, the treasurer announces each delinquent property by owner name and amount due. After each announcement, a number is drawn. The participant's number which matches the number drawn has the option to purchase the lien or pass. In the case of a pass, another number is drawn until the lien is purchased. This process is repeated until all liens are sold."

So, the way I see this is, I don't have to bid against anyone else? If my number gets picked and I choose to purchase, it's just going to be me? And if that's the case, I would only have to bid the minimum opening bid and I would get it?

Also, if anyone has participated in these types of tax lien sales I'd be grateful to hear about your experience.

Thanks in advance!

This was my strategy when I was looking for my first SFR because I worried about what certain neighborhoods would look like in 20-30 years and I also felt it had to be a house and neighborhood I would live. And as part of what Joel Owens said, I am looking more for appreciation on the back end and strong rent growth as the years go by. I may have spent a little more on my SFR than in the "other" areas in town but I also enjoy about $400-600 more in rent in comparison. I have no regrets and am currently thinking about a 2nd SFR in the same area of town.

George,
I have been a renter many times in my life and there is NO WAY I would fill out an application without a chance to see the inside of the house. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the mitigating factor above any of the negatives you mentioned. I also like the other ideas of an open house and a "deal" of so much off the first months' rent. It's a really cute looking house from the outside and the renovations look wonderful too. Good luck and keep us posted!

Welcome @Jocie Moore! With Ft. Collins being one of your target relocation areas, you might want to explore the multifamily units available in Cheyenne, WY. It's only a 45 minute drive on I-25 and from what I've seen, these units are going for approximately $250-300 and I believe the rents average $500 monthly but don't quote me on that! Ft. Collins is a wonderful town to live in and many Cheyenne residents travel there on the weekends for dining and shopping. Another area is Laramie, WY...it may be lucrative for rent in that it houses the only university in our entire state. I also lived in the NE Kingdom in Vermont but don't know about the market in Burlington...I'm sure someone will comment. Just be ready for a lot of snow! If you want more info on Cheyenne, feel free to PM me.

Welcome Rob and congratulations on your twin daughters! It sounds like you have a great background for the business of RE. I just started on my RE journey last summer. I grew up in a town about 40 miles east of L.A. and left Cali in 1999. Definitely miss the culture from time to time! Good luck to you in your investing goals.

I did finance my first one and will be financing my second as well (thank goodness for low interest rates). I am just being very careful in what mortgage I can afford from my full-time job's salary and also have savings to get me through the vacancies (and am planning for worst-case scenario of several months). But I'm lucky in that my town has a large Air Force base and there are always military looking for decent rentals. In fact, I have a great military family in there now. So, once you get that cash flow, it really helps your savings account grow!

Just looked at two properties yesterday with my RE agent and he said in their weekly meeting they were told the inventory in our town hasn't been this low since 1994! And the two properties he showed me were $162K and $179K and both needed A LOT of work. In addition, my PM told me housing prices are rising.

I just wanted to say welcome also! I felt exactly the same way as you did, that real estate investing was only for the super rich. I also only had experience in buying and selling my own personal home(s) but finally realized maybe I could do this too. So I took the plunge and bought my first investment property last summer. Rented it within two months and was hooked! I am currently looking for a second rental. I think home prices are amazing right now, as you have found, but they are going up in my area and probably many others so now is the time to jump. Sounds like you have a lot of hard-earned experience in business and it sounds like you are definitely committed so I bet you'll do great! As you have found, this site is a fantastic wealth of information and I am so grateful to the seasoned investors for giving their time and posting on here so us newbies can learn from them. Good luck to you!!