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All Forum Posts by: Jane Elliott

Jane Elliott has started 2 posts and replied 10 times.

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

Hi Jane..you need to explain your requirement properly...what you want and where you want...then we can guide you properly

 I have explained everything in detail more than once already.  Single Family Home, small lot, near shopping, safe, between $80-$135k (I've had to reduce the price as time goes on).  I wanted the Virginia Beach area, but have not found anything within my price range, so now I'm thinkig I need to settle for something in FL I can buy cheap, and then also buy another cheap home and rent that out for income.  It's all been written before, up above. :)

Originally posted by @Elizabeth Colegrove:

Have you thought about Pungo, towards North Carolina? I thought you wanted something for resale or investment. If that's what you are looking for look in the salem area, or right near ocean is cheap. There is also kempsville. The other thing you need to look at is the "noise". The houses near has oceana are cheap but NOISEY.

I personally use good elementary schools as driving whether I want to live some where. Not because I care about the schools right now, because it is a good drive on what the area is like. Elementary schools are small communities, so that's how I help look for areas site unseen. Yes you can find good pocket but Green Run and some of these areas are just scary!

 Thanks Elizabeth :) . At first I thought your were talking about towns, and I kept finding the towns by the names you gave, then realized you are talking about areas within Virginia Beach.

I've checked anything in V.Bch that's in our price range. All detached homes are REO. And there aren't many.

I don't know how you purchase real estate sight unseen for investment purposes.  That's one of the things I want to learn about from this BP.  If I were doing that, I'd probably have similar guidelines as you do.  Since right now I'm looking to occupy whatever I buy, it doesn't matter to me what the school situation is, we just would like something small, nice, safe.  Not having any luck though.

Thank you for trying to help, I really do appreciate you taking out time for that. 

You're probably right about more military living outside Norfolk, after doing some more research.

I couldn't find any homes within my price range in the Ghent area.  

I know exactly what I want, maybe I only stated that in my member introduction post, but thought I had it in my profile too.  

Once we find our "home" then we will be able to fully focus on what this site and its forums has to offer.

I want to be near water again, mainly beaches where we can go swimming, but the beaches don't need to be ocean beaches. 

I'm a deal seeker, so I need retail shopping areas around me, groceries, pharmacies.  I get items for free this way, from finding good deals.

No nightlife for us.  Been there, done that, and we don't drink so our nightlife would be a movie and dinner.

I want pets (cats, maybe a pooch) that can be allowed to spend time outside when the weather is nice.  

A small piece of land, under 1/3rd acre is just fine for us.  We don't like taking care of a yard, so we'd put in a patio and border it with plants, other foliage.

Originally posted by @Elizabeth Colegrove:

You might not need schools but schools drive resell and rentals. In my experience cheap REO's get snatch up.

 Yes, I understand what you say regarding schools.  But not all resells and rentals are to people who care about schools.  The majority, yes, but not all.  So, if we buy in an area that is safe, but the schools are so-so, I don't mind living there.  I'm not in this to do for an investment flip, but to own and occupy.

Originally posted by @Elizabeth Colegrove:

Virginia Beach is a true military town. Some areas appreciate very well and others you would not find me driving through. Personally their is no area that cheap that I would live. The problem is the school matter depending on the area. That are is driven a lot by schools for resale and rental.

Yes, I know there are a lot of military families, and a lot of those people are locate closer to Norfolk than the Atlantic. Schools don't matter to us. I guess you know something about the area. I was hoping that a REO owned or foreclosure, something like that, could run cheaper, if it needs some work. Maybe I'm wrong about this.

Originally posted by @Pete T.:

Figure out what your end goal is first and then work backwards from there.  Virginia Beach is a great place, but comparing places/prices from all over the city will do you no good.  You need to learn the neighborhoods and what makes what areas desirable to get a feel on where a discount is.

 Thanks Pete.  I don't have the time to learn about all the neighborhoods.  I don't live there.  I am hoping a real estate agent will help with that.  I can check crime statistics on my own, and that is an important aspect of whether an area is desired, I'd think...

Thank you @Dmitriy Fomichenko , and thank you @Paul Timmins for that info regarding HUD. If they don't take forever to close, I'll look into that.

Hi @Account Closed .  I'm ready to roll, just worried a bit that I might be too late for any good deals, with the summer buyers having purchased most of the inventory.  I hope I'm wrong, but my online searches for Va.Bch. properties come back with slim results.

Confusing title.  Sorry.  Please forgive me for my initial long post.

I've done a couple of self-owner-occupied flips, a full house rehab (again owner-occupied), have taken R.E. licensing classes just to learn a bit about it all.

My husband and I need to move out of NE PA. Way too rural for us. I want to pay CASH to buy a house and live in Virginia Beach, VA, not in any other surrounding town (because I've watched the pricing trends and VBch is the place to buy/live for better appreciation and safety).

I've been seeing a FEW REO, foreclosures, short sells, pre-foreclosures "somewhat" in our price range, which is pretty low for the area around $125k for a detached SFH. My husband can do light rehab (fixing walls, moving walls, painting, building decks, etc).

I'm not all that familiar with what kinds of offers to make on these types of listings.  

1) I'm wondering how much lower a REO, foreclosure, short sell, pre-foreclosure CASH offer can be as compared to an owner-occupied home?

2) I realize banks aren't in the business of holding onto homes, they must have a lower $ acceptance limit, but is it lower than what an owner would take?  

3)  I keep seeing "weasel clauses" here.  Since I want to occupy what I purchase, wouldn't I want to leave in the inspection clause?  Anything else I'd want to be sure to take care of since I'll live in the house?

And finally, (for now ;) )

5) If we moved to FL we could buy a small SFH with a garage (necessary) for around $80-$100k, no repairs needed, then we could buy a mobile home for cash too, and rent that out, giving us some additional income. I don't want to move to FL though. But I can't think of any other option, if we can't live in Virginia Beach. We are only considering the eastern coastal areas of VA, FL for more warmth.

6) And to throw this into the mix, although it might not be appropriate for this site, we've thought about buying land, having a modular (not manufactured/mobile) home built and delivered to site, which should cost less than purchasing a home, I think.  At least it was a lot less expensive a few years ago to do that.  So--LAND buying, how to handle that?

Sorry for all the questions, my brain is fried with trying to figure all of this out.  We just want a home to live in, in a place we'll enjoy living in, and really want to make V.Bch. work, if at all possible.

Hi all,

I joined BP because when I've read through threads, people are so helpful, kind, and willing to take the time to educate (to an exent).

I've always wanted to invest in R.E. .  I have done three buy, occupy, and re-sell at pretty good profits (1 was a full rehab), but that was back before the economy tanked.  The last house I bought and lived in I made a slim profit, plus there also was some land involved that I ending up selling at a loss.

Since then I've been renting with my husband.

We've come into a small amount of cash, & I want to own again (pay full in cash), and occupy. From there, we can save whatever income that would normally go for rent or mortgage and position ourselves (as we are new and need to learn a lot) for becoming smart investors.

I look forward to reading more and more here, so happy to have found BP!