All Forum Posts by: Aaron Smith

I recommend looking at local credit unions. Many of them advertise rates and conditions on their websites. Most of the CUs in my area do 1st position HELOCs and I found one for my primary residence in a rural area.

I'm looking at tax sales in a few different counties and I see that a couple of the counties have pulled title reports and offer those for free with the property list.

I know it's best practice to get a title report from a title company on any property that I'm serious about bidding on. Is the title report from the county good enough or is it still recommended to get my own reports?

I've identified a property that was given back to the USDA a few years ago via warranty deed to prevent foreclosure. Since that time, USDA has not paid any property taxes, so I expect it to come up on the tax foreclosure list soon.

Has anybody ever had success in acquiring such a property directly from USDA before it goes to foreclosure? There is a lot of profit in the deal if I can get into it before auc

@Tim Moore Hey, I'm curious what came of this opportunity. Did you end up acquiring the property or did the nightmare get worse?

I assume you were told by your RE agent or loan officer to keep your nose clean, not make any big purchases, don't open any new accounts, and avoid racking up further debt. There's absolutely no reason to stop doing anything that doesn't affect your credit.

You can analyze deals, get to know some hard money lenders, find off-market properties, make offers on seller-financed deals, go to local REI meetings, drive for dollars, improve your REI team, study up on other REI strategies, try wholesaling a deal, listen to podcasts, study for a real estate license, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Find a way to stay productive without affecting your credit score or DTI ratio and July will fly by. Keep that fire burning!

Computer Science degree, currently working in embedded software engineering for wireless and wired networking products. Previously worked for a university as a network engineer.

@Kalin Stocker Did you decide what you'd do here? If it were me, I'd run the numbers and see how much the closing costs would set me back. I'd be inclined to refi just to get out from that high rate, especially if the buyer falls through for any reason. Rates are so low right now I don't think you could possibly go wrong.

You're right on, Jeffrey M. If the numbers don't add up then you walk away. If you go all in because you can't pass up a specific deal then you are in a position to lose money. If you walk away you lost nothing. REI success comes from the head, not the heart.

Don't be discouraged! You just dodged a bullet and that's something to be happy about. On to the next deal, there are still lots of properties that can potentially be yours. My wife and I always say, "there will always be another sale."