All Forum Posts by: Jerry R.

Hi J Scott,

Would you mind sharing the exact wording of the stipulation that you sometimes use regarding the option of using financing instead of cash?

I changed your wording to 3rd person and it is a little long and or probably not quite polished enough for contract:

"Buyer reserves the right to switch to financing instead of a cash purchase if they so choose, but there is no financing contingency and will pay cash for some reason buyer's lender can't perform"

I've got a similar concern. I put an offer in today on a REO that had some very nice appliances (stainless refrig/stove and new washer/dryer) as well as a new A/C unit. My offer price was based on the property having these nicer appliances and new A/C.

It's VERY common in this area for the A/C units to get stolen and not at all uncommon for the appliances to be stolen as well.

Before even accepting my initial offer, the listing agent told me I need to sign the addendum which states what Ibrahim said. It also says they will not offer credit or replacement of any such items if deemed missing, damaged or non-operational at time of closing.

If something did happen before closing, I could back out of the deal, but would surely lose my earnest deposit.

What I did was strike-out "missing" and "non-operational" from the addendum, but my agent doubts they will accept my offer like this.

I could try lowering my bid, but would not expect them to take the offer at much of a lower price due to heavy competition.

I am sure you are right Bill in that they do not want to know.

And I'm one that moved to Florida. Prices are so low it's ridiculous. Taxes are still low compared to Wisconsin. Not sure about insurance, but the lack of income tax sure cancels that out for me.

I took a serious look at Texas before moving here and I can clearly see the draw there as well.

Banks are not held to the same standards as other seller. This has been my most frustrating aspect of looking at REO's.

As a seller I must disclose any known defects, but banks can keep it a secret if they know about these problems.

9 out of 10 REO's I look at have some sort of damage usually due to vandals. I worry about damage done between the time I make my offer and the closing.

Fees show up all the time on these types of properties. Common ones in my area are water/sewer assessments and mowing fees.

Like the others have said you need to watch out for senior liens, back taxes, IRS, etc.

Title companies will not insure these, but can give you a title search or a policy with an exception.

Proper due diligence is a must when buying from a tax sale.

I'm with Dan on this one.

You need to see what lots are selling for in the area and then you need to buy them at a much, much lower price.

Not many people are building now, but there are a lot of people buying land because of the great deals they can get.

If you can buy a lot for $4000 with good comps which have sold recently for $8000 which used to be worth $40,000 a few years ago then you have a deal.

Then just like wholesaling a house, you need to know who is buying these properties.

That's where a good agent comes in handy. Or else roll up your sleeves and look through pages upon pages of records in the county registrar to find these buyers.

I'm just getting over this low starting teaser price.

I am not sure if all these homes in Ft. Myers/Cape Coral are getting tons of offers. I am seeing many being dropped in price after awhile. But perhaps this is to get a second wave of offers in. All I know is Rich is correct, there are a ton of foreclosures in this area - way more than I could ever look at.

I am doing comps for the properties and if I need to be able to offer more than the list price that's fine - if it meets my 65% of APR price.

I am still in the research phase, but will be flying down to Fort Myers next week to look at some properties and meet with a buyers agent.

Is this topic just on how to buy? Or how to buy to flip?

Some good points.

Another good point is lots like the ones to the North may require snow removal - Yikes!