All Forum Posts by: Karen Polis

I am looking to put together a (non real-estate) deal through my Self-Directed IRA and I need to make sure that it complies with IRS Publication 590 (no self-dealing, etc). I would like to consult with either an Attorney, CPA, or Financial Advisor but I can't seem to find anyone familiar enough with Pub 590 and self-directed.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thank you,
Karen

Simple case of extreme stupidity on my part. Lessons learned!

I did have a mortgage note to go with this, which I wrongly assumed would matter. It only matters in first position and maybe 2 or 3, but not 5. I also thought I was dealing with somebody who's been known in this area for 35 years. As far as I still know, this is his first true swindle. 

The investor in first position hired an attorney. He was the one with the most to gain, so it made sense for him. For me, it would have just been more money after bad.

Thanks Jay,

I'm in Montgomery County, PA. There is a link for a GIS site, but it doesn't make any sense to me. It's here:

http://montcopa.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?useExisting=1

The satellite part is easy, but then it has about a zillion layers you can add, but even though I clicked on add Parcels, it's not putting the boundary lines of the parcels up. I can't make heads or tales of it. The naming conventions for layers is very confusing too and I can't tell if the parcel layers I'm choosing will work in this county.

I'd appreciate any help, or a simpler site that just does those 2 things.

Thanks,

Karen

Does anyone know of a free or very inexpensive Map site or app that will show satellite image and allow you to overlay the parcel line/property boundaries? I've just spent the last 45 minutes searching the web to no avail.

Thank you, Karen

wow- I can't believe it's selling for that much. Well, at least this investor knew what they were doing to turn the place around. I didn't figure these places would go for more than 80K. Guess Skip wasn't lying about at least ONE thing.

And most hopefully, the winning bid number WILL be far lower than the FMV! :)
(which I'm assuming will almost always be the case. maybe not a fair assumption?)

Thank you! But Christian - you're saying that it's 2% of the winning bid price? My understanding is that it is 2% of the FMV, which could make it thousands of dollars, depending on the property.

Pretty sure it is - but want to be positive. 
Ex) If I bring $10,000 to an auction and my (winning) bid is $10,000, does that mean I need to come up with the additional transfer tax monies or does that get factored in with the bid?

Wow- is that in Oregon? Maybe I should try there.
So far, I've only researched one county, but I know they all differ. I've really enjoyed doing all the research and everything. I'm looking forward to learning about tax sales in PA and DE. And certs in NJ. 
And this last experience with Coates street has taught me to do a ton of research first. So, ultimately, I suppose it served it's purpose.

@Jay Hinrichs Thank you. Other than the fact that there's an Upset Sale first, could you explain a little more about why PA is so complicated? I did a lot of research prior to this last sale and it didn't seem too bad to me, but I'm a newbie, so maybe I missed something.

@Steve Babiak Where can I find your REIA group? Is it on Meetups? Do you specialize in Tax Sales?