All Forum Posts by: Kent Verge

@Mark Albano you may just need to expand your search area a bit. I know it may not be a perfect location for you, but there are more properties available in and around Charlotte. 

When I was using postcards, like @Dick Rosen I used Excel/Word to print out the addresses with mailmerge. To make them look very close to handwritten, I used one of the handwritten fonts like this printed in a dark blue ink (there are lots of similar fonts available). Many of the "pro" direct mailers use something similar.

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

-- Thomas Edison

@Curtis H., I assume that the previous owner was behind on his mortgage or you wouldn't be getting it Sub2. If that's the case, they will be thrilled to see the catch-up payments along with the POA. As long as you pay on time, you won't hear from them.

I don't know that getting a new policy would be any cleaner. The mortgage company will want proof of insurance, and having your name on the policy might raise eyebrows in the wrong places. Getting my name added to the policy (and changing the contact info) was simple with the POA.

As I said, the insurance agent acted like he thought something fishy was going on, but they paid the claim nonetheless (tornado damage to the siding). 

I had an insurance claim on a house I bought Sub2 that I already had on a Lease/Option. It was a bit of a pain since his name was listed on the payment (me *and* him), but since I had a POA, the bank didn't care. A POA is the key. The insurance agent, who was also the agent on my own home insurance, always acted like something was shady about our "arrangement."

When I bought it, I added my name to the existing insurance and changed the billing address and contact name/number. I also changed the billing address and contact number on the loan. From that point forward, as far as I know, neither company ever tried to contact the previous owner.

On a side note, for years later I would get letters from collection agents addressed to the original owner. I returned them to the sender with forwarding address unknown (I truly don't know where he moved).

Although not exactly the same, my bank tried to add some BS fees for preapproval letters I needed for HUD offers. We had already used them for three loans with more coming down the road. When I met with them, I said that I was hoping to build a long-term business relationship with them, and it wasn't going to work, no matter the benefit, if they pulled this type of stuff. We ended out working out a process that worked for both if us.

It sounds like you came to the same type of agreement.

Hi, I just joined BP after listening to podcasts during a 12-hour drive back from Florida this weekend. I enjoyed them so much, I would have been OK with an even longer drive.

For a little background, I bought my first investment property 12 years ago using Subject-To. Although finding the property was a ton of work, the actual deal ended up being a win/win/win for all parties involved, and it was a nice profit for my efforts.

About six years ago I started buying single-family homes as buy-and-hold investments. I didn't get any of the staggering deals that that I was hearing about in the podcasts, but all have had a nice cash flow. The first three were differing levels of distress property (HUD, etc.), and the last was a retail purchase; I have four in total and just made an offer on number five.

My long term goal is to develop enough passive income from rentals to replace my income. At that point, I would love to finish my Masters degree and start doing some online teaching. We would also love to be able to travel more than we can right now, but even so we do a fair amount. I think the next step on the journey involves a move into multi-family property, but I'm not quite ready to take that step.

I've had some interesting experiences thus far and will share some of them here on the forum as time permits.

Kent