All Forum Posts by: Mike M.

Investors make money buying preforclosures by purchasing the owner's equity at a discount. If the mortgage is close to the market value of the house = no equity = no deal. Short sale will be difficult as well since the borrower is not underwater.

I agree that the deal does not seem good on the surface. Too much P&I and not enough gross income. Not enough margin for vacancies, maintenance, and capital upgrades.

The assumable loan would generally considered to be a plus. However, in the same paragraph you state that you may try to find more favorable financing terms to lower the monthly payment. If an assumable loan is not worth assuming, its lost much of its appeal, unless you can refinance after aquiring.

Owner wants to sell because he/she is either bleeding money now or can see the writing on the wall (depending on age/conditon of units). $400 rent/unit sounds like a human maintenance problem to me. I think I'd punt.

Good luck!

Dale was one of the first ones to reach out to me when I signed up and provided me some reading material. It is a tragedy. I hope his wife recovers and his family has my condolences.

I just had a wax ring and closet flange replaced and they used plaster of Paris under the base. I haven't verified but understood from them that it will help level the toilet but won't hold water.

Joel, thanks for the sanity check. I obviously want to leverage what I know about her situation to my benefit, but want to do so in a respectable manner. I'll mail another letter to her in the near future and see if she'll come around to the fact she'll be left with a home needing extensive work and judgements from the county for overdue taxes unless she changes course soon. Thanks again.

I found a property in disrepair while driving through my farm area a couple weeks ago. I assumed the property was vacant, but the owner actually appears to still live there. I sent her a basic letter with the "I'm interested in buying your property - please call me" text, but have not heard anything back.

My decorum question is this - what's the general protocol about using what the owner may believe to be personal information to motivate them to sell? For instance, I know from a public records search she settled a property tax judgement back in 2009, and she hasn't paid a dime in property taxes since then. I also know she was divorced in 2001 (not pertinent to my effort), but received the house, which is fully paid off, as part of the settlement (which is pertinent).

I would like to use the above information to nudge her to call me, but at what point does an owner go from thinking of you as the problem solver to the creepy investor who knows too much about what (I assume) owners believe is fairly personal information (even if it is public record)?

I know this is a bit of a fishing expedition, but any thoughts on how to use public record information constructively, or any thoughts on how I can structure my next communication more effectively, are appreciated.

916.50 is your actual average monthly payment (you'll have two months at $1269 and ten at 846).

I'm assuming you financed near 100% based on loan value to market value unless your area in DFW declined in price. I understand it to be difficult to make any SFH cash flow at 100% leverage. To squeeze any cash out now is not bad. Could you ride the house for several years and gain some equity via loan pay down and appreciation? Like Kyle said, all about your goals. Best of luck.

David,

If your bi-weekly payment is $423, your monthly isn't $846; there are 26 bi-weekly periods in a year. This makes your cash flow less than what you perceive, before taking vacancies, advertising, and other expenses into account.

I don't think you can technically owner-finance something you don't own. I think you're talking a wraparound, where the new mortgage wraps around your existing (I'm no expert, so others will correct me if needed). I think it's unlikely you'll get a wraparound on a house you paid too much for unless some buyer falls in love with it.

If you really want out, can you sell and break even?

I've just finished my third presentation too, and really enjoying the content. Glad I was able to pick it up at the $50 price!

As previously mentioned by others, we have had good luck using a solution (cannot remember the ratio) of mint jelly with 20 mule team Borax. It will take about 3-4 days, but the ants are attracted to it almost over any other food item. It has worked well for what we call sugar ants (small red ants that want to play in your pantry or countertops).