All Forum Posts by: Stephen Goodman

You may be able to search your county tax collector's website  or the assessor's website to find who owns the property. Then search the county recorder's office for recorded documents for the property owner since the date the owner purchased the property. If you're lucky there will be only a few documents (deed and mortgage/trust deed). There can be many documents if the owner also owns other real property in the county, and also if s/he has refinanced or received an equity loan since acquiring the property.

Two other options are (1)  to connect with a local Realtor who will do this research for you in the hope of representing you when you are ready to buy, or (2) contact a local title company representative and explain what you are going to do and what you want. They may help with the expectation that you will use that title company for your transactions.

I just saw this thread.  A little over a month ago I found the RenovationFunders website through an associate from Linked-In.  I spent time doing my due diligence, and after a couple of conversations with the Principal, decided to take a leap forward and signed on to be the Area Manager for Phoenix.  It appears to me that the Principal has gotten all his "stuff" together to provide a web based system for rehabbers and investors to connect and transact short term investments.  The key to whether this system will be a big winner is whether potential investors see merit to the deals being offered, and whether they will actually invest.  I believe that the deals available in the Phoenix market make sense from both the rehabber's point of view and also the investor's.  

The rehabber gets 100% funding for the rehab, and does not need to rely upon a hard money lender for rehab funds.  The investor gets a generous return on his/her investment, is protected by the property's equity, and the Area Manager oversees the rehab on behalf of the investor before funds are released to the rehabber, so that all goes forward as intended. The system enables an investor to invest outside of his/her local area with comfort that the investment will be protected.

Excellent post - @Terri Pour-Rastegar - great information for F&F or fix & hold investors!

In Phoenix there are several hard money lenders that say they will lend up to 70% ARV. If you are a newbie, they will likely reduce the loan amount offered because their assessment of ARV will not be as much as yours. After you can demonstrate a track record of successful flips, you should be able to get a loan that will fund up to 80% or even 90% of the purchase price, and sufficient funding for the rehab, up to a maximum of 70% of the real ARV.

There can be a hidden opportunity every now and then when an REO listing agent inputs incorrect information into the MLS listing, and the asset manager does not sufficiently verify the listing. A couple of months ago I viewed an REO property that was identified in the MLS as a 2 bedroom 2 bath home. The home actually had 3 full bedrooms with closets, and the square footage was correctly reported in the county tax records.

If you F&F and limit your search to a minimum of 3 bedrooms, you would have missed this underpriced opportunity.

If you are really good friends with the person you are going to 50/50 with, then the two of you can openly discuss all the possible outcomes of your first deal, and then write down the deal points that you agree work for both of you. The two of you can then meet with a local real estate attorney to draft a joint venture agreement. The attorney would represent the JV in the event there is a legal problem with the first deal.

After the first successful deal, you can modify the JV agreement for future deals based upon your experience with the first deal. The dollars invested to legally perfect your partnership will be money wisely spent.

I am in Phoenix where old 2 bed 1 bath homes are a target for some rehabbers here. We have successfully renovated old 2BR/1ba homes by adding one or two more bedrooms and another bathroom, making an old 800 to 1000 sq ft home into a modern 1400 to 1800 sq ft home.  As for targeting them for wholesaling, it would depend on what percent of the homes in the area that the 2/1s represent.  

They cover the entire county and charge $79 if you ask for the Realtor/investor rate.

Mr Rekey

602 340 0004

Hi everyone,

I'm a Fix & Flip investor based in the Phoenix area and just joined BP. I've been licensed as a real estate broker for 30 years in northern California and now 8 years in Arizona. I'm looking forward to sharing info here.