All Forum Posts by: Shelly Swanzy

@Damien Dupee - when you researched the tax assessor there should have been a name and address for the owner (this is also where they send the tax bill) if the address is the same as the property you may want to talk to neighbors to see if they know how to contact the owners. If you've done your due diligence and run your numbers and they are indeed a motivated seller make your offer and take it from there. Good luck and welcome to BP

I'm pretty new here but yes a lot of flippers contract out the rehab -- they calculate that into their rehab costs when running their numbers prior to purchasing to make sure that the deal works.

@William Kingdollar Jr - I'd just ask them in a polite way "I hope I'm not overstepping my boundaries but why did you decide to sell?" I think most sellers would be honest with their reasons. In any case, like others have mentioned as long as you've done your due diligence and run your numbers -- if the deal makes sense then do it. Good luck and see you around BP

Call it a lesson learned. #1 Screen your tenants #2 offer rental to them and if they accept, schedule a time to sign lease and collect deposit/rent/etc... #3 if they do not show up to sign and pay -- move on to the next one. As landlords we and our rentals are also being screened by prospective tenants - good tenants will shop around and choose where they wish to live just as we landlords screen to get what we hope are good tenants. I'm varily new to landlording however doing it is actually a series of ongoing lessons learned. One thing I learned in the beginning do not become desperate/hasty --- my new motto is "I'd rather have it empty than pay someone to live there".

Definitely check tax assessor for owner info. and it sounds like it is a pre-foreclosure (notes posted all over).

@Doug Hadley She signed the lease which stipulates rules about guests. She is trying to use her occupation to manipulate you. Ask your neighbor what kind of car the boyfriend drives and then do random drive bys at all hours and take pics of his car there; you should have enough evidence within a week that he is living/staying there more than elsewhere (or ask your neighbors to do it for you) make sure to get pics of his liscense plate. When you have enough proof before you file for eviction based on breach of lease then do an inspection of the property -- take pics of all his personal items throughout the house (toiletries, dirty laundry, clothes in closet/drawers, etc...). Then go file and post your 3 day notice of Intent to Evict. If she's already trying to manipulate the relationship it can only get worse.

So very true. A little over a year ago we had a tenant who said "You'll have to evict me". We started the process and every other day he was calling the sherriff out about something (What a headache) one of the sherriffs told us that in Texas if you take a homeless man in and let him sleep on your couch for a few days and then you ask him where he wants you to take him he can actually tell you that you must evict him (Crazy?????? Evict him from your couch).

Since it sounds like they are already pretty much gone. I'd do an inspection of the property and make sure they haven't trashed the place. If they haven't then I'd contact them and let them know that I understand life happens and that you'd be willing to help them out if they could have all their belongings out by ??? then you'd let them out of the lease early and give them their deposit back. (This is probably the easiest, fastest, and least expensive way to get them gone).

Thanks for all your help BP. I gave my friend all your advice. She gathered all the documentation and went to court. She was surprised that all the judge wanted was lease agreement and record of payment history. It was all said and done in less than 15 minutes and tenants were told to vacate in 5 days -- they waited till the last day and moved out. She was relieved to see them leave so that she didn't have to pay for constable to come out and physically remove them from the property and wait while her and her husband put all their belongings on the curb.

Not sure about your area however in our area (30 miles NE of Dallas - rural) It is really hard to get financed for an older mobile home and most people do not have cash on hand to purchase a home outright; that being said I'd only go about 1/2 of asking price if I were paying cash and wanted to flip them. (Rehab costs could be expensive, long-holding time, and/or eventually having to sell them owner finance.  Now on the other hand, I would definitely try to get him to owner finance them to me after I did my due diligence and decided that buying would be a good investment strategy and exits  #1 personal preference buy & hold (rents here would be $650 - $850 per month each) or  #2 You plan to fix and flip but  this way you aren't investing all the money up front since it could take a while to find a cash buyer (which is very risky).  There is money to be made in mobile homes on their own land but since the only real value is in the land itself because of the rapid depreciation of the mobile home -- buy and hold is probably the most profitable (of course, this is my personal opinion).