All Forum Posts by: Peter U.

Long story short, there are three parcels of land behind my house that are owned by the county. They went to upset sale and judicial sale but no one bought them. The parcels are basically useless to anyone else... they border other small parcels that are essentially landlocked. The parcels total about .5 acres and they all border each other as well as the land my house is on.

There is a form on the county site that can be used to bid on the land.

My question is... how do you decide what to bid for land like this? Does the assessed value come into play?

Thanks in advance for the help.

I have been watching this house for a year or so now. The property is down the street from me and I am interesting in buying it. Our realtor isn't able to find out anything meaningful so I looked up the address and owner and it appears that the owner passed away a few years ago. It looks like there was a property management posting in the window but it is no longer readable. Recently, a new notice is present on the door. It looks like a family member is referenced in the letter, but I'm not exactly sure what it means. Here is the letter: 

It appears there are multiple pages present but I didn't want to hang around on the property longer than I needed to. 

Any help with this is appreciated! 

Another "funny" thing.... even the background on their YouTube channel is now fake. They sold their house, but the background is still the same as it was before... 

Hi All, 

Currently, my primary residence is a 1250 sq ft 3 bed 2 bath house on about .25 acre. A few weeks ago, tax upset sale notices were posted on a few parcels of land behind my house. The land totals around 3 acres, with one of the parcels being directly behind my house. The approximate "upset" price posted was extremely cheap, so I was considering buying the parcel behind my house at auction next week. If I did that, my total would be around 1/2 acre. 

Looking ahead a few months to a year, my family and I plan on moving out of the house and keeping it as a rental. Our mortgage is less than half of the property's value and rents in the area are decent. 

My question is this: Does it make sense from an investment standpoint to buy the quarter acre behind my house? I know it will make no difference to renters, but in the event that we would decide to sell the property eventually, I am curious if it would increase the value. Additionally, would there be any value in buying all of it if it is cheap enough? (this part depends on what I would do with it, I know..)

Another note.... I don't think there will be too much competition for the land because it is landlocked. Apparently, the current owner wanted to develop it but the township would not allow them to create an access the property via the small "lane" between my property and my neighbor's property. 

I appreciate any thoughts on this!

I'm curious what kind of down payment you put on the new home that might have been able to cancel out some of this debt? Did you by chance move out of the duplex into the new home? If so, maybe consider selling the duplex tax free and taking the almost 100k equity to pay off the debt and find another rental. It'd be hard to sell a fully rented duplex, especially since it sounds like it cash flows nicely. But if you're going to be weighed down by the credit card debt and strapped anyway, you might come out ahead in the end.

Originally posted by @Eric James:

Originally posted by @Peter U.:

Hi Everyone, 

Looking for some opinions here. I'm 29, married with two young kids, and a third on the way. Currently, we own a small house, and our mortgage balance is around half of what the house would sell for.. We bought the house as a foreclosure and have since made a bunch of repairs. 

The problem is, as our family grows, the house is becoming two small. We also want to get started in real estate investing, and are considering using some of the equity in our house to get started. My issue is that I don't want to sink all the equity in an upgraded house and lose the opportunity to use the equity to invest. But, "real life" is going to dictate that we move at some point, because we will be out of room in the house. 

On one hand, I am willing to be cramped in the small house for another two years while we get our investing started. The kids are 3 and 1 and will likely not remember too much of this stage as they get older (not that they are REALLY suffering, but you get the point). On the other hand, they are growing fast, and I'd love to provide a place for them with an actual yard and space to play. 

I should also mention at this point we've decided to keep my wife home to take care of the kids. So we are currently making due on my single income. 

I would imagine that this question is always present - no matter where you are on the investing spectrum. For example, no matter how much money you have or investing you've already done, the question of when to *spend* money with no return other than taking care of your family or yourself will always be there..

So, I am just wondering how other people have handled similar situations. 

Thanks in advance for any input!

 I'm in a similar situation as you, with kids ages 6, 4, and 2, living in a smallish house. As the kids get older I'd like to get a larger house so the kids can each have their own room etc. For me the issue isn't so much using our equity as increasing the $ we have going to a larger mortgage each month, rather to savings/investment. Buying a more expensive house will also increase our debt/income ratio. I don't have a definite plan, but we will likely stay where we are now for a couple years.

 Good to know others face the same dilemma. I understand your perspective of not wanting to increase your monthly spend. I think my strategy will always be two only buy when there is an opportunity to buy something undervalued that we can fix up. Hopefully this will keep our payments low and preserve our equity to some extent. 

good luck!

Originally posted by @Lane Kawaoka:

Peter Underwood sounds like you are potentially making the same mistake most Americans make that keeps the locked at their jobs.

Do what most people don’t do if you don’t want an average life.

 Great advice, and I am definitely going to avoid making the same mistakes most Americans make. Unfortunately I spent the 2 years paying off over 60k in student loans (which I feel was smart given our not-so-low interest rate). We still have a relatively small amount in loans left, but the number is not so soul / budget crushing anymore. We're very conservative with our spending, as in we spend virtually nothing on ourselves. The home we bought was a foreclosure, and we have some sweat equity into it. Anything we would buy to give us more room would likely be something undervalued so that we don't find ourselves in the same trap a lot of Americans do, as you stated. 

Thanks again!

Originally posted by @Chinmay J.:

Rent out the current house, and find a bigger place for yourself to raise the family. You can always take advantage of FHA loans to buy the new place with minimal down payment.

This is a good option. Especially since the current house is not an FHA loan.

Originally posted by @Jason D.:

What if you were to take out the equity to fund the down payment on and FHA loan, and keep the house you are living in now as a rental? As long as the current house cash flows, could be an easy way to eas into being a landlord. Depending on the equity you have, it may be enough to buy a second rental as well.

 Hi Jason, thanks for the reply! This is what I'm thinking we might do. I think in today's market the house would sell for around 165k - 170k, and we owe around 75k. I think it would cash flow. It isn't in the "best" area, but is a 60 second drive from shipping centers, etc. Convenient for renters. 

Thanks again for the reply. Interestingly, it looks like we're only about an hour from each-other. small world. 

Hi Everyone, 

Looking for some opinions here. I'm 29, married with two young kids, and a third on the way. Currently, we own a small house, and our mortgage balance is around half of what the house would sell for.. We bought the house as a foreclosure and have since made a bunch of repairs. 

The problem is, as our family grows, the house is becoming two small. We also want to get started in real estate investing, and are considering using some of the equity in our house to get started. My issue is that I don't want to sink all the equity in an upgraded house and lose the opportunity to use the equity to invest. But, "real life" is going to dictate that we move at some point, because we will be out of room in the house. 

On one hand, I am willing to be cramped in the small house for another two years while we get our investing started. The kids are 3 and 1 and will likely not remember too much of this stage as they get older (not that they are REALLY suffering, but you get the point). On the other hand, they are growing fast, and I'd love to provide a place for them with an actual yard and space to play. 

I should also mention at this point we've decided to keep my wife home to take care of the kids. So we are currently making due on my single income. 

I would imagine that this question is always present - no matter where you are on the investing spectrum. For example, no matter how much money you have or investing you've already done, the question of when to *spend* money with no return other than taking care of your family or yourself will always be there..

So, I am just wondering how other people have handled similar situations. 

Thanks in advance for any input!