All Forum Posts by: Bobby Vernazza

Hey Everyone, I am currently looking for another rehab project and found two properties which I noticed the other day driving around.  Both of the properties are vacant and have been for quite some time (I talked with the neighbors).  One of the properties went through an eviction process which I found out through searching the records at the county courthouse.  With these records I was able to uncover the landlords phone number.  I proceeded to call him up and see what happened with the property and if he was interested in selling it.  He claimed that the he was foreclosed upon about a year ago and that he no longer owns the house.  However, I ran a search at my local title company which in fact states that he is the current owner.  I called him back and told him that he actually is the owner and the more we talked the more frustrated he got with me.  In the end, he did not really want to cooperate with me.  I offered to give him a few bucks for his time and efforts to sign a release of information so the bank would be able to talk to me about his situation.

With this second house that I have identified, I knew one of the previous tenants in the house, who gave me the landlords personal email (he is an Absentee owner from California) in which I contacted him offering to buy his house.  Initially he did not reply so I had my realtor contact him.  She stated that she had a seller for his home and asked if he was interested in selling.  He too, stated that he got foreclosed upon and did not want to talk at all about the house or even entertain the idea of selling it.  I also had my title company look into this property where they found that this individual, is the current owner. So I am at a loss for who to contact in order to find current owner and negotiate a sale.  Is this one of those situations where MERS was involved and messed up the recording process?

I am not too sure where to go from here. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas? Has anyone been in this same situation? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

What I ended up doing was going back to the buyer stating that we will review all offers on Monday.  They were relatively okay with this idea, yet since then I have had two other offers come in.  They both are using conventional financing and both are contingent upon the sale of their house.  However with one of the offers, the buyer's house has not even been listed yet, so it's still a longg ways off from getting sold.  However with the other offer, the buyer's house has been listed with an accepted offer (all cash) and are already through the inspection period.  As of now the last offer looks pretty attractive, but with an open house today, we will see what kind of other offers I get in before Monday.  Thanks for all the input!

Thanks for the feedback, I am thinking of countering their offer 9300 higher than the list price (which is actually what I would be paying in closing, not 6000 as originally stated). This will then allow for basically a full price offer. However I am still a little nervous do that because of the fact the buyers are going to have a VA loan, with very little money down and in addition to this, they only have a 2000 earnest money deposit. Along with the increased price in the counter, I am thinking of increasing the earnest money to 6000 which will give them more skin in the game. Or I am thinking about going back to the buyer and saying that all offers will be reviewed on Monday June 19th which will allow for another open house this weekend. This will hopefully stimulate a few other full price offers to come in.

Hello Fellow BP'ers,

I just listed one of my flips this past weekend and had the first open house on Saturday.  It was a huge hit with 83 people going through the house and subsequent showings throughout the proceeding days.  However, as of now, we have only received 1 offer which is going to expire tomorrow.  This is a full price offer however, the buyer wants me to pay 6000 in closing costs and the offer is subject to the buyer selling their house.  They currently have a pending offer and are simply waiting on an appraisal for their house.  However, I am not too sure how long this will take and I will also have to wait for an appraisal of my house to be done as well.  I am looking to sell this house ASAP and get rolling on a few other properties.  Does anyone have any words of wisdom about these "Subject To" offers?  I am a little hesitant to take it due to the fact that its going to take an undisclosed amount of time to close, yet I do not want to decline this offer to only receive lower offers from then on.  Plus, if the buyers pending offer falls apart, I am going to be stuck waiting on them to sell their house.  Any insight that anyone has will be greatly appreciated!

Hello @Account Closed,

I just stumbled upon this post today and am very curious to hear how things turned out for you.  Would you mind sharing what happened with your deal?  I have been in a few situations similar to yours and it can be extremely frustrating!  Especially when you put in all the time and effort towards a property just to have it snatched up by someone else.

So I met with one group of students who seem very orderly and calm (not big partiers).  They say they are paying more per person in rent at their current resident which would make it easy for them to make my monthly rental payments.  However, they do not want to start the lease until Sept. 1st.  One of the roommates wants to move into the house beginning June 1st but cannot pay the full 1300.  My idea was to lower the overall monthly rent to 900 or so until Sept. 1 when all the other roommates move back in and the rent will increase to 1400 in order to offset the lose that I took over the summer months.  I will have all the names on the lease but have it stated that Sept. 1st rent will increase to 1400.  What do you guys think?  That way I am getting some money flowing and they all know they have a place to go when school starts back up again.

Just a little update, after posting my rental on Zillow, I have gotten about 4 more hits and will be having a group showing this weekend.  I know that doesn't mean anything is set yet, but more leads = more possibilities.  I've always thought of Zillow as the place to go for buying/selling properties not necessarily rentals, but I guess a lot of people go there looking to rent.  Thanks for all the tips and I'll keep everyone updated about how everything goes.

@Paul Ronto Thanks for the heads up about the software, I will definitely check that out. That’s a good idea about going back to the 2 bedroom applicants. I may not get the price that I am asking for but it is better than getting nothing. I am just a little nervous about having this place vacant for so long. I guess it is better to wait for the right tenant rather than pick someone on impulse and have them screw me over later.  

Thanks for the input guys, I'll put up an add on Zillow. Never heard of Zumper but I’ll give it a shot! @Andrew Johnson Most of the people coming to look at the house have been 3 students or smaller families. I am hoping to not get a houseful of students but if they pay the rent and are respectable, I don’t see any harm there except I will have to do the whole process over in a year. I have the two bedroom rented out at $900 where as I have the 3 bedroom listed at $1300. There is much more space in the 3 bed and it has a covered back patio with off street parking for 3 cars. Overall I thought it would be more accommodating but I guess not. I remodeled the whole bathroom with a nice tile tub-surround, new vanity and all that jazz..new kitchen appliances, yet no one has really jumped on it.

@Nathan Gesner  I have started to notice that when I tell people I am going to look into their history and credit, a lot of people start to get a little uneasy. I’ll definitely take a look on Facebook as well.

Thanks again for all the tips!!

Hey Everyone, I have been working on rehabbing a duplex for the past few months.  I have finally got it all done and cleaned up.  One side is a 2/1 and the other is a 3/1.  I put both sides up on craigslist and got a ton of hits on the 2 bed but not much on the 3 bed.  This is my first time renting so I am learning as I go.  The 2 bed rented out pretty quick however, I still have the 3 bed up on craigslist with barely any hits.  I have been using Smart Move for my credit/background checks and it seems that many of the applicants do not accept my invitation.  Is this normal?  In addition, I have the 3 bed listed at 1300 in Corvallis, OR which I thought was a very reasonable price for this location in town.  I am a little hesitant to put a "For Rent" sign out front because I am then advertising that the place is vacant and don't want any trouble.  Are there any other websites or places that people advertise their property?  Do you think that I should lower the price $100 or so?  I know that if I wait another month or so, more students will be looking for housing, but that would mean more money out the window for me.  In addition if a student was interested but couldn't start the lease until July 1st, would it be a good idea to secure them and have them pay 50% of the total rent until July 1st?  That way they have a place secured and I will have at least a little cash flow going into my pocket.  Any insight on renting a property would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.