All Forum Posts by: Robert Leonard

Hello Ryan Rodgers I was just looking at the La forum and saw you had no replies. It's been a month, so hopefully you found the help you were looking for elsewhere? I've found a couple real good guys in the trades using Thumbtack.com and HomeAdvisor.com. I like Thumbtack and use it most often when I don't have a referral from a friend or colleague. These come in handy when you are doing business across several markets or outside of the major cities. There's also Redbeacon (HD) and Porch (Lowes) contractor locator services that are supposed to offer the same thing.

https://www.meetup.com/the-ring/events/236650617/

There's a meeting tonight at 6:30 where you can meet/network with lots of investors in BR!  The details are on the page I posted above.  Hope to see you there!

That sounds a little high for attorney fees, but I can't quote you a rate to expect as we do a volume of business that earns a better rate than a one-time customer.

The inspector I mentioned has his rates on his website if you google him.

I don't usually hire appraisers, they get hired by lenders who do a volume business as well.  I wouldn't expect to be able to hire an appraiser for the same rate as a lender.  I've seen $300-450 on settlement statements.

Welcome to BP @Jim Brophy!

For an attorney, go to Chad Reynolds @ Legacy Title off Sherwood Forest Blvd.

I'm guessing you meant Inspector because that was your question although you said appraiser in the title of your post? Inspector, Richard Campbell at Geaux Home Inspections.

I recently did one exactly the way Jesse Tsai did it. Hard to argue with buying a cash flowing property on day one. The security deposit and possibility to get prorated refund for unused days rent the faster they vacate is a very effective incentive!

Hello @Ramona Lazard,

1) The answer to this question is a matter of opinion and may be different based on what you are trying to accomplish.  What's best to do is also different based on your own finances.  If you have cash and or good credit you have options that someone without those won't have.  

2) This is unknowable.  Property value changes also happen different in what are known as submarkets.  Smaller areas of a city that have different demographics, schools, job growth or losses, or population changes.  This is a risk factor that comes with knowing the market and making your informed estimation of which way values will go.

3) You have to look up each individual property address to find out the flood zone status of the property to know if flood insurance is required.  Anything outside of flood zone X will require flood insurance by the lender if it is financed.  Here's a website I use to check flood zones for Louisiana:  http://maps.lsuagcenter.com/floodmaps/

Hello Chester, and welcome to BP! You just missed this month's meeting last night, but look up "The RING"/Baton Rouge REIA. You can make some connections with active investors at all levels of experience in that group.

I highly recommend the podcasts for learning different strategies from pros who give their own unique perspectives.  Just be aware that real estate is extremely local and different strategies have different levels of effectiveness in different markets.  The hosts do a good job of making the podcasts educational by breaking down the topics and terms they discuss.

Thanks for chiming in @Wayne Brooks!  I didn't know you had connections to the hub city.  Now what went on here in the 80s was THE buying opportunity of a lifetime for our market.  Between that oil crash and the S&L debacle, the real estate market here was decimated unlike any other period in my lifetime.  Unfortunately, I was just a teenager during the 80s and I only caught the tail end of that buying opportunity when I started buying in the early 90s.

I highly recommend @Dave Van Horn's podcast here on BP and his website!  I'm not affiliated with his organization, but I've found their material very helpful and informative!

@Andrew Ortego, the strategy of buying houses at risk of foreclosure is called buying "pre-foreclosures" or "targeting pre-foreclosures" when using direct mail.  Not all pre-foreclosures need to be sold as a short sale, although they commonly would require a short sale if sold before being foreclosed.  Simply put, if there's equity, then the property can be sold at or above what's owed and not "short" of what's owed.

It's not likely that you will be able to pull off a short sale of a property financed by one of the big banks by the time there's a notice on the sheriff's sale web page. But it might be doable with a smaller local bank.  In any case, you wouldn't deal directly with the bank before you first deal with the property owner.

Short sales are a specialty.  Hence, there are special requirements and procedures to follow to do it all right.  I recommend you find a short sale specialist (realtor who is very experienced specifically in short sales) if you want somebody to help you learn what you can and can't expect to do.  Like always, get more than one opinion before you accept anybody's word on how it works.

There's also an area of note investing called NPNs (non-performing notes) that you should learn about too.  Note investing is a whole specialty in-and-of itself, but for those who know how that's done, they are dealing with the notes (paper side) of these same pre-foreclosure properties.  The note buying process is directly between the investor and the bank.  The thing there is, the banks don't usually deal with "one off" (single) notes.  These are often transacted in bulk packages of multiple loans for the sake of efficiency.  I only mention this so you are aware of it, not as a recommendation to try to acquire properties.

Exellent post @Rip Rittell!  A lot of new and aspiring investors can learn from the way you clearly defined your niche and your long term goals!  Well done!