All Forum Posts by: Michael Evans

Thanks for the response from everyone.  I put 6 houses under contract using the same model in Frisco, Texas at $150K each with $9K total ($1,500 earnest money per house) and within 3 months they had appreciated a total of $125K (over $20K each).  I had some personal issues come up (was going through a divorce) so I wasn't able to close on them, but I got my $9K back.  So it's just not in CA.

You have to do your research, develop your investing model, test it using historical data, and then apply it within the criteria of the model.  I spent 6 months researching Texas markets before I settled on the Dallas area.  I then connected with a real estate agent through an agent in CA, told her the criteria of the houses I was looking to buy, and she found them within a week.  I flew out to Texas, met her, saw the properties, signed the purchase agreements and paid my earnest money.

Once you've made money and lost money, it's easy to make it again.  I lost my money because I lost my focus of what's important: God.  I put money and material things ahead of God and he took everything away from me to show me what matters and what's most important: my personal relationship with God.  So now I have the right mindset and I'm ready to get back to making money, because this time I will know how to treat it and what to do with it.  I have a very interesting belief system that is explained on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/believedeclaredo (stands for Believe, Declare, Do).

I would recommend wholesaling it. Most investors are looking to pay no more than 70% of After Repair Value (ARV), so you would need to be able to sell it where the investor is paying no more than $70K (including repairs). How much in repairs do you estimate (what's the square footage, age and condition of the house)? Getting money to close the deal isn't a problem if there's a low Loan-to-Value ratio (LTV) and at $60K, the LTV of 60% is ripe. I can get you financed for the $60K (because the financing would be based on the LTV, not on you). If you're serious about making $5K on this deal without having to actually close the deal, do this:

1. Have your dad enter into a purchase agreement with your that exclusively allows you to purchase the house for $60K for the next 90 days.  Make sure there is an "assignment" clause that allows you to assign the contract to another seller.

2. Create a "Deal Sheet" that has the following information: property address, purchase price (which is the price you want to sell it for and includes your wholesale fee), # of beds, # of baths, square feet, lot size, year built, picture(s), repair estimate, After Repair Value, comps in the area, profit calculation: AVR - selling costs - Purchase price - repairs - closing costs, Cash on Cash Return = Profit calculation / (Purchase price - repairs - closing costs), contact information.

I can help you make this deal a reality if you're serious.  Contact me at 661-524-6674 or at [email protected].

There's an easier way to do this transaction.  Have the seller put title of the property into a Land Trust, with him as the beneficiary and trustee.  Have him record a Trustee's Deed with the County.  No need to inform the mortgage company.  Next, have the seller sell you the beneficial interest of the Land Trust for $80K.  No need to record another deed because the title is still in the name of the Land Trust.  You become the Trustee and hte beneficiary of the Land Trust.

I do agree with having the owner sign a Power of Attorney specifically for this property giving you, as the Land Trust Trustee, power and authority to conduct any and all business as it relates to this property which belongs to Land Trust, but whose loan is guaranteed by the original owner.  No one sees the actual Land Trust (100% private).  All they know is that the original owner transferred title of the property to his Land Trust, which now owns the property.

Read up about Land Trusts for real estate investments and talk to an real estate attorney.  Good luck.

You should definitely create an LLC. The purpose for an LLC is in the name: "Limited Liability". You want to shield yourself and your assets from liability. Especially since you own the property 100% clear, all of your equity is at risk if you get sued. An LLC shields and protects you (to a certain extent). You should also hold each property in a separate Land Trust and the LLC should be the beneficiary of each Land Trust. What this does is ti conceals the true ownership of each property. it also takes the properties out of your name, so if someone were to sue you and perform a title search to see what property you own, there would be no properties associated with your name. A couple of tips:

1. Google "Land Trusts for real estate investments"

2. Don't use your name in titling the trust.  Use something like "123 Apple Way Land Trust".

3. Make the name of your LLC sound like its a big company, like "W. Gates Children Real Estate Investing LLC"

Hope this helps.

It was 1997 and my then wife and I learned she was pregnant. We were both college educated, making good money (I was 25 and she was 23), but we hadn't saved any money. 1997 was the middle of the 1989-2201 real estate crash in the Antelope Valley (Palmdale and Lancaster), CA. I saw an ad in the newspaper for a 4 bed, 2 bath house for $110K, FHA assumable. I called the guy and he explained that he was a bachelor who wanted to move and he owed $130K on the house. He was going to make a final payment of $20K to the bank to bring the balance to $110K, then the new owner who assumed the loan could refinance. I told him I did not have a problem making the $1,100 per month payment, so instead of him paying the bank $20K, give me $15K and he gets to keep $5K.

He of course loved the idea, but I didn't know him (or trust him) and we couldn't include the $15K transaction in the escrow.  So we created a second escrow independent of the assumption escrow, but they closed concurrently.  He funded the $15K and I received the $15K upon closing the first escrow.  I told my them wife that we had to stay in the house for 5 years since it was upside down.  We stayed there exactly 5 years to the month, sold it, took the $10K in equity and purchased our next house in 2002.  Now here comes the fun part.

We purchased our second house in May 2002 for $200K with the $10K cash from the first house.  We then signed a purchase agreement to purchase a third house in March 2003.  At this time our first house was appreciating at $5K per month.  We put $3K down on to purchase a $400K house that they hadn't even broken ground on.  it took them 18 months to construct and close on the house.  When we closed in September 2004, the second house was worth $350K (we had $150K in equity) and the third house was worth $600K ($200K in equity).  So we had $350K in equity from these two house, all of which came from the $15K that I was paid when I bought the first house.

So yes, it is possible to buy houses with no money (or get paid to buy someone's house).

My name is Michael Evans and I was a real estate investor from 1997-2005. I used to enter into pre-construction purchase contracts for SFR by putting $3K down, wait 3-6 months for them to build the house, close the deal with $10K out of pocket cash, turn around and sell the house at the then current retail market place. Houses were appreciating by $30K and I would do Sell By Owner and make a profit of $15K - $40K each house.

I am looking to dust off my real estate investment model, update it and get back into the game.  I also did the same thing with homes in Texas (Frisco).  I'm looking to purchase tax lien certificates in Texas.  I have a degree in Economics from Loyola Marymount University and I believe in building (testing) investing systems based on economic data. I am also very good at managing money (current CFO for Santa Barbara County's Mental Health Department where I manage a $106 million annual budget). 

I had some real estate deals in the Frisco area back in 2005 and I am looking to go back to the area later this year.  I'm looking for a business partner in the area (since I'm in CA).  I'm looking specifically to purchase some tax lien certificates and to purchase some pre-construction homes to flip.  Hit me up if you might be interested.

I had a situation like this in 2003 when I owned a home and was looking to buy another as a real estate investment.  i didn't know what I was going to do with the current house, so I said it was a rental (had a friend sign a lease agreement).  I showed I had just leased it so the rent payments weren't showing on my bank statements yet.  I was able to close the loan on the second house (I closed in 2004 when money was cheap and as long as you could sign your name, you could a mortgage).

On way of handling this in the future is to have the "subject to" buyer send you the mortgage payment each month, you deposit the check, and write another check to the mortgage company.  Claim this property is a rental and your bank accounts will show the "rent" payments.  Make up a lease if you have to.  Just an idea.