All Forum Posts by: Jeff NA

I am looking at an old house, built 1916, in Portland as a place to live for a year to 18 months while working on the parts of the house that I can work on and hiring out other parts before reselling. The numbers are there (house is a REO languishing around $120k with an arv of $200k, up toward $230k if done w/ higher end finishes).

It needs some basics (roof, whole kitchen will need to be redone) but most of the place retains some great features and should be a standout in the neighborhood when finished.

So with that extended intro aside, the house has electric baseboard heat with no existing ductwork. I lived with electric baseboards for one winter and don't wish to relive the experience. What am I looking at in terms of having this installed though the house? I am guessing that this is way out of the range that can be done by the novice diy-er and that it will need to be hired out. I imagine that many walls and floors will have to be removed, and I am comfortable with that.

I guess I'm looking for any insight into this project. If anyone has any experience and wants to share costs involved with previous projects like this, I'd appreciate it. For reference, this house is 1500 sq' (plus 500 in an unfinished basement), two story and I'm just trying to get an idea if I'm going to be handed a $5000 estimate or a $30k estimate. Or if I can reduce those by providing any prep or other labor.

My question, though, is why will homeowners want to sell? There's nothing to motivate them if not a looming foreclosure date. They'll be living payment free until this gets sorted out, no?

I'll offer a different opinion. I signed up a few weeks ago and set the service to forward to my cell phone. I hear the other party just fine but have heard that my voice is choppy and inconsistent. I stopped using it immediately.

Sounds like two birds, at best, in the bush. I'm with Bryan. No reason to get excited when "respond" will be defined by the banks as a letter saying the case is under review and that you should expect an answer in 30 days. Which, of course, might be defined as 4 months.

No, definitely not mailing only once. My plan was for exactly the same number of mailings, 6-7, but I was just wondering how to space those apart and when to send that last one out. Like I said in my original post, I've had little luck with mailing in the first week after the NOD is filed. I know others here have reported otherwise, and I'm certainly not going to stop sending a letter in the first week, but I do think I'll tailor my message a bit and change it to reflect where they are in the process up until about 3 weeks before.

Thank you very much for the input.

Jeff

It seems that I am having little success mailing to people within two or three days of the NOD being filed, and from the calls that I have generated I would hypothesize that this is because most people still think there is another answer other than selling.

On the other end of things, when they've given up on those hopes and realize that a SS may be their only option left I would still love to be there for them. I do not, however, want to get a seller's hopes up too close to the foreclosure sale by promising something that I cannot deliver.

With that being said, it a week before the sale date too late to submit the paperwork? Two weeks? Will I be able to get the date postponed and allow me time to get the rest of my ducks in order? Is there a time when it just isn't worth offering my services, or should I keep mailing right up until the last few days?

Jeff

James, yes indeed, I meant the foreclosure sale date.

Smitnlit, as I understand it, bankruptcy just holds up the foreclosure but does not cancel it indefinitely. I figured a loan mod in progress would postpone the date, but I suppose you are correct that it's probably not a waste of stamps until I see that the sale date has been cancelled altogether.

Thanks to both for the replies.

Jeff

I'm about to do a 2nd and 3rd mailing to some short sale prospects. Looking up some current info, I see a good portion of their sale dates are being postponed, sometimes by one month and often times by two to three weeks. Before I mail these folks again I was wondering why sales get postponed. If it's because they are already working with someone then I don't see the need to waste the stamps. Are there other reasons that I am unaware of?

Jeff

No question this should be a sticky so we could put this question to rest.

Misia, as I understand it (having never done it) if you are using transactional funding, the transactional lender will require the b-c contract before they release funds to do the a-b.

Someone else should correct me if I am mistaken.