All Forum Posts by: Robert Leonard

Lafayette, LA real estate investors can RSVP at meetup.com/bpacadiana for more details.

We normally meet on the 3rd Monday of the month, but moved our meeting this month.

Bring your wholesale deals, bring a notepad and bring a friend!

There will be a “meeting after the meeting” at a nearby restaurant, if you show up hungry for more than deals, connections and knowledge!

RSVP at meetup.com/bplakecharles there is limited space!

We meet here every month on the 4th Monday of the month (usually).  If you join the free meetup group, you will get notice of all meetups, with the details. 

While there is no charge to attend, this place allows us to use their private meeting room because they expect us to buy food.  So come hungry and grab something to eat with us!

LOL, this is so ticklish!  I apologize, John Lewis, that this discussion seems to have taken a wrong turn down the road to “how we do it here in DC.”

I’m only offering an experienced perspective for here in Louisiana, which, I think, pertains to your original question. I hope my reply helped you or anyone following the topic doing business in LA.

Come on @Tom Gimer, did you read the second paragraph of my original post?  Zero Pay?  I said to be prepared to pay $500-600 to for those services for a deal that might not work out.  Maybe I’m rephrasing that a little clearer here now?

What is the difference if a seller lies to you and says there are no other owners? Should I go out and try to find out if there are any others with an ownership interest in a property every time I get one under contract?  Or will the title attorney be the one who, in the regular course of their business, finds that out and either shuts down the person trying to sell what they can’t or brings in the others for their rightful share of the proceeds?

If some attorneys don’t want to take my money for doing legal “legwork,” they don’t have to.  Others already do as part of finding ways to make deals work, not looking for ways to kill deals before they start.

Welcome to BP @charles 

@Charles Simon McEntee Crawl, walk, run.  It’s always easier when you get a good demonstration from someone who knows how to do what you are trying to learn.  I served 24 years and I am CSM Retired.  Feel free to reach out for help.

This is a legal question.  These are some pretty entertaining answers from all over the country.  LA law is what applies in Lake Charles, LA.  Taking legal advice from the Internet is a questionable business practice.  As much as I like this place, we are still on the Internet.  I’ll private message you a local attorney recommendation.

There will be a presentation on this topic at the next Baton Rouge REIA meeting in a couple of weeks. You can get your question answered by a subject matter expert. BP doesn't like discussion of meetups outside of the networking topic thread. I'll post more details there.

Welcome to BP @Korey Hayes!  I think you are confusing the sheriffs foreclosure sales with the sheriffs tax sales.  They are very different processes.  Here’s where you can find more answers about the sheriff’s tax sale in Lafayette Parish:

https://www.lafayettesheriff.com/site460.php

No, nothing protects the investor from spending money to find out the facts of who has an ownership interest and will they all agree to sell?  The contract is what starts the process of getting a title attorney to do the work of finding out if there are heirs or judgements that affect the property.  Unless the buyer is a private investigator, it’s worth the potential cost to hire the title company to do the investigating related to the title of the property.  

If the seller puts a sign out in front of the property and signs contracts with 2 or 3 different “buyers.” If they are in a rightful position to sell the property, the first contract is “first in line” to buy before the others.  If you didn’t have a contract and you went and hired somebody or spent the time doing it yourself, what happens when you show up a week or two later and say, “I’m satisfied that there are no liens or potential title problems.  I’m ready to buy it,” BUT somebody else came yesterday and put it under contract?  That would leave you wasting time and any expense for a property you just missed.

This process and your effort should start with a purchase agreement.  Get that and then go to a title company/attorney and be prepared to spend about $2-3k for a succession.  Who pays for that is negotiable.  It can be paid by you, out of the proceeds of the sale or by you in addition to the amount you offer.  I normally consider it a closing cost that is not a normal closing cost and it comes out of the seller’s proceeds at the closing.

Liens against the property are only part of your concerns.  Judgements against any owner/heirs is another concern.  That’s why you just need to get it to a title company/attorney and let them answer those questions for you.  Be prepared that it might cost you $500-600 to find out that you have what will cost much more than the average numbers I stated above.  You may not be willing to risk or able to negotiate that higher cost with the seller.

The person you talk to and get a contract with, can’t close the deal without the succession being completed, but you need a contract to start the process.  Whoever you deal with, make sure all money changes hands through the title attorney.