All Forum Posts by: Tara G.

With craigslist, unless the emailer referred to something unique about my item for sale in their email, I don't respond. Or they give me a local phone number to call. Things like "do you still have this "item"?" are most likely phishing scams using autbots. They need to call you, give them a phone number in your response. If they call, you may have a deal. If they don't, at least you weren't phished.

Unfortunately, craigslist ads result in a lot of these emails, it is a chore to sort out the genuine buyers from the scams.

Good luck!

Where we are, appraises make an appointment through the centralized showing service. Once the appointment is confirmed, I get all of his/her contact information from the CSS confirmation of Showing request. For this particular rehab with a gross of over 70K, I sent him an email introducing myself and included a list of everything we had done, noting the upgrades as compared to the neighborhood without talking numbers. I also gave him a link to comps I pulled from the MLS. I let him know that I would leave him "before pictures" on the kitchen counter (the "after" is right in front of his eyes). He can estimate what we spent, I wouldn't want him to have to try and justify a 40k markup, we were already the most expensive house on the block. I also left him an area calculation from our "buying" appraisal, which showed that the square footage was higher than what was shown in county records. It was gone when I came back:-)

I also timed myself to be there straightening up a little around the beginning of the appointment. I shook his hand introduced myself, gave him my card and then asked him to call if there were questions or concerns. After that it was sitting on tenterhooks, hoping the appraisal came in alright. It did, not sure what exactly helped, but I plan on following this course of action..

I have to agree with Real Estate that if the data doesn't support it, there is nothing an appraiser can do about the value. A 5-10K difference can be sorted out over niceties and opinions but harder to do so as that difference starts becoming larger. But then the presumption is that we investors know our market and are not going to over-price property and risk it sitting on the market in the first place!

I really think this is going to take more than 40K, even if it is just TLC and "lipstick". Some of that awesome detail is going to need restoring and if you really want to restore it to its former glory, its is going to cost a lot more than 40K. Plaster on wood lath is expensive stuff...

Awesome castle, it sounds like a dream project!

It was 2004 winter and we bought a REO property with a steeeeeep driveway that had been languishing. Borrowed from relatives, put in 8k of our own money for 112K buying price. We put in new carpets and learned never to try and lay carpets ourselves. No garage on the house so we were going to lower the driveway and add a few steps to the front door. The backhoe hit the water line from the meter to the house and we had red mud wash all over the cul-de-sac, which promptly froze. Thank god for understanding neighbors!

We have watched several potential buyers drive onto the driveway- which was much less steep now, but still sloped up- and promptly back out and drive away. They did not even bother to go into the house. I would get a sinking feeling watching this.. Anyway, it sold in March 2005 for 132K, 8K net to us. Our realtor made more money on the buying and selling than we did, which prompted me to get my own license. That is the one good thing that our first deal resulted in.

Update- we will be paying for half the cost to replace roof and 20 pieces of siding.

Also, their "roofing siding inspector" wanted $5210 to replace 16 pieces of siding (8" hardi-plank, 16' long, 16 pieces required to replace various lengths of siding) and another $1700 to caulk and paint these 16 pieces of siding. Do people really get taken in by these quotes? Their roofing quote was a little high but not unreasonable.

Thanks to all that replied. We have had very good feedback on the finishes and staging, I had agents call me to get the name of our contractor and staging company. We close on the 29th of April, it isnt closed until it is closed.

We have their home inspection report. The siding and roof are just older, not unsound. We replaced the boots around the vents, any siding that was not sound, rotten wood trim. Inspection report shows dry stains on roof sheathing (2 days after a heave rain) in areas where boots were replaced, some caulk between trim and siding had shrunk, some pieces of siding that we seem to have missed does need replacing. Even if we were to replace marginally suspect pieces of siding it would not be more than 20-25 pieces, mostly on the west face of the home and 2 on the east. We have read the very detailed report thoroughly and are willing to fix everything (most are things like caulk, drywall touch up at switches, shower door difficult to lock, few screws need tightened). Even if this buyer walks, we will fix all those items anyway, including the siding, that would be the right thing to do.

We just don't know how to respond to a buyer that may be spooked by what the roofing-siding guy told them. We don't have a report from the roofing-siding "inspector".

We bought a SFH at the courthouse auction, put in very nice upgrades, fixed all the issues that our inspection identified, staged it, on the market in 5 weeks. Had 2 offers in the first week, accepted one with a 3-week due diligence period (don't ask, new Realtor Form doesn't have contingencies, only a walk for any or no reason for the buyer, with a due diligence fee). Got inspection report, many little items, some siding items. We said we would take care of everything. We'd had rotten siding replaced and painted the whole house, inside and out, including trim. Buyer gets a siding and roofing "inspector" to look at the home. Said "inspector" (read roofing and siding installer) said, need to replace entire siding and roofing, basically spooking the buyers. Buyers have about 1000$ besides EMD invested in the deal, in fees, inspections etc- all non-refundable. Second time home owners, seem to be good people. We want them to have a good home, but replace all siding and roof when there are no issues? Home is about 20 years old.

How would you deal with this? We'd lose about 3-4 weeks of on-market time if this tanks.

I have experience with Apartment and am looking to buy a MH park. I have two questions that I need to get a good feel for:

1. My expectation from MH park is that trailers cost ~8K and above, thus owners of trailers have incentive to keep paying rent. In this specific park, trailers are quite old. They cost around $1500.
I am looking at situation where people if they need to move will do so without much expense.
- What are some of the ways to retain customers?
- What is the best was to advertise for sale trailers?
-What are the profiles of people who rent trailers? - need to determine media that will work for the? Most of the people in this park are hispanic immigrants , with family.

2. This park has well water. Are there any liability issues with this?

Thank you,
-Rye

Is there anyone out there with Section 8 multifamily projects in NC? HUD has stopped making payments on our project and I hear on 250 other projects in NC. I have heard from my Greensboro office that they have run out of money and congress has not gotten around to make the nescessary appropriations.

This logic is difficult for me to digest given this is mid-year and all the funds are allocated previous year.

Anyone with experience or insights?

Thank you,
Rye.

It is not uncommon for people to come back after 1 -2 years to pay and clear their record. It is a good idea to get a judgement.