All Forum Posts by: Ralph C.

I missed the 2/6/18 auction date. How do I find out if the property I wanted actually sold that day or got postponed/cancelled? @Nick Fitzpatrick

Hi,

In October I sent out a letter to an owner of the MHP asking if he would be interested to sell his park. In November I received a reply that yes he is interested to sell, so after few back and forth, I sent out signed formal purchase offer based on standard template.

The seller told that his lawyer needs 30-45 days to check an agreement I sent him.

On dec 29, the seller’s lawyer sent me an agreement with changes, which he claimed will make it more "fair".

Those are the changes:

• $5000 refundable deposit turned into $10,000 non-refundable deposit;
• Seller made us responsible for the cost of ALTA Survey of the RE;
• Seller wants we provide him all surveys, reports…, at no expense, in the event we decide to not close the purchase;
• We wanted either buyer or seller may record a sale agreement. Seller wants none may record a deal;

My attorney says that $10,000 non refundable payment to the Seller should be a deal killer.

Seller virtually never gets money until closing, to make sure they can perform and deliver clean title.

So when we told that to the seller, before proceeding with other details, seller's lawyer told my attorney that seller will not compromise on the requirement for a $10,000 non refundable deposit.

I like this deal and I would really like to close it, but I am not sure how to proceed.

Does anybody here have experience with something like that?

Why would the seller require non refundable payment, especially if the lawyer is saying it is a deal killer for that type of deals?

Any information or assumptions would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Thanks Richard- appreciate the feedback! We're gonna dive in and start our mailers...tweak as we go monthly and see what turns up.

I'll keep you posted.

I am trying to find deals and there are some wholesalers with pretty many to offer.  I know that the wholesalers need to make their profit, but can usually accept less that their listed price.  Any tips on this negotiation?

Also, I know that when buying from MLS, you typically use an agent to submit offers to the seller. How do you make an offer to a wholesaler? Just email them? Call them? Is there a formal process?

Thank you, 

Dean

I am looking at several properties in  Savannah, Ga. and I am concerned about the costs of property insurance due to flooding/hurricanes, etc...is there somewhere to find estimates of what insurance costs in different areas?

Thanks,

Jen

Hi BPers (and, I hope, helpful lawyers),

I have read online that one can secure traditional financing while getting asset protection by getting a traditional residential mortgage in one's own name, putting the title in a land trust at closing time and then, after closing, assigning an LLC as the sole beneficiary of that land trust. This is a strategy recommended by some people, especially Chris Coons from Anderson Advisors (see here and here) for reasons explained in those links and at the bottom of this post.

I spoke to a Georgia real estate attorney (closing attorney) earlier today about this and he told me that land trusts are illegal in Georgia. He also suggested that I may be able to achieve the same benefits and protections by following the same strategy using a revocable living trust instead of a land trust.

Is he right?

1. Are land trusts illegal (or effectively unusable) in Georgia? More to the point, will it be impossible for me to get title insurance with the title held in a land trust (as he says)?
2. Would a revocable living trust be an acceptable substitute for a land trust if I want to follow this strategy?
3. Are there drawbacks to this approach (vs. quit-claiming or closing in an LLC and using commercial financing) that I would be wise to consider?

As many investors know, while doing a quit-claim deed to assign ownership from an individual to an LLC is fairly common practice, it comes with the risk of a traditional loan being called due when a routine title audit discovers the reported change in ownership. That financial risk is what I want to avoid by using a trust, while also achieving inside liability protection via the LLC.

Thanks in advance for any input / non-advice. I know you are not my lawyer!

Note: I intend to check with another GA attorney on this but it would be very nice to get a sanity-check from the experienced folks on this forum.

@Dwayne Byrd Still haven't relocated. I had it down to Texas or Fla but a  member in this thread  has made me  consider California

@Derrick Thomas  I thought about Atlanta. I think I'd  really like Dallas. Seems to be a big network of members there

Hello All,

I have decided to get my RE license. However, I am not trying be a full-time agent. I just want access to the MLS to be able to run comps and schedule appointments on my own.

I did some research on what would be the monthly cost to be an agent with brokerage after I get my RE License. This is what I got:

“Here are the minimum monthly costs an agent will have: (Monthly)

Marketing $250
Insurance $40
MLS and board dues $50
Office fees $200”

I wanted to ask if there is an option to pay just the MLS access fee to brokerage. I am from Atlanta, GA. Also, if someone can recommend me the brokerage in Atlanta that might offer that service, it would be very helpful.

Hello everyone,

I'm considering pursuing a career as a real estate agent, and would like to have existing agents chime in if you could! I've read many books and watched countless videos on the experiences and challenges of the industry, but always seem to find the same Google answer when trying to get a general idea of what to expect salary-wise the first, second, or third year as an agent. According to salary.com, agents earn an average salary of $36,000 (USD) per year. But this includes all info from all levels of experiences, and includes both full-time and part-time agents (making the info very vague!).

I was hoping some people could leave some feedback on what to expect income-wise my first, second, and third years as an agent. Let's assume I am working 40 hours a week, and I'm in a pretty big market (Atlanta). I'm NOT asking people for exactly what they earn each year, just some ranges perhaps on what to expect!

Thanks in advance!