All Forum Posts by: Kevin Reid

Thank you, I'll look into it. If investors are looking at these to it might be a challenge as we can't come to the table with a cash purchase. In the last year that is what blocked us from a few houses.

Is there a way to determine what stage, or how far along the process is since the bank won't talk to you. I'm not savy in the details of these deals, but I'm sure I can find a legal office that would help with the back half of the process.

We have been shopping for a new primary, and plan on renting out our current home in west central Fl. For a while now when looking at various sites we keep seeing homes listed in preforeclosure with an estimated default amount. We have asked a few real estate agents about these, but they all seem reluctant to get involved. 

So how do you navigate these, if at all? Can you contact the banks, or owners? Any chance of success before they are listed as short sales or full foreclosures? Any legal issues to look out for?

I looked through the contract quickly but didn't see where earnest money was due. Without going into details the doctor advised against moving because the stress of it could be detrimental to her condition. 

I am of the thought process to just break the contract, as I doubt they will come after him over a 200k house. Especially when there are others like it in the same neighborhood

They don't. Something broken can take value away from a home, but repairing it will not gain value, just restore it.

So long story short I have a friend in Florida that is selling his house. They signed the contract for it 4 days ago, but yesterday his wife was put on bed rest for the next few months. So they will not be able to move. The buyers did not put down any money yet, and they have not paid for inspections or anything. They offered to move the closing back to October 1st, but they refused, and insisted if that happens then he has to pay for a rental and storage. Doing so would eliminate any profit on the investment, and they don't have much money to do so anyway.

So I guess my questions are can he terminate the contract? Does this qualify as force majeure? Any advise?

Actually I can afford to do what I want, I'm just not sure if it's worth it. I can pay cash for the pool, or dump it into having to renovate a more expensive home with a pool. Our life style is modest, but we make decent livings (well north of 125k a year before any overtime or bonuses) and our kids college is already paid for. Like I said we have no other real debt outside of the house. I'm just trying to figure out the smarter course of action.

Since this isn't really an investment property, and will ultimately just be a hedge against inflation, if I'm lucky, I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle of another move to the unknown.

This is less an investment for profit, and more about our home life I guess.

Our situation is we bought our home in Florida at the worst time! It was around June of 2007 right before the collapse. We paid 207k to build it, and at one point it was only worth 130k. While it has rebounded a bit, it's still only worth about 195k, and we still owe 173k on it after refinancing a few years back. So realistically we have 20k in equity, and can only rent it for about $100 more then the mortgage payment.

Here's the deal, the house is now 10 years old and needs some small upgrades (counter tops, paint,...). On top of that we would like a pool since we have 2 kids. So we all know a pool is generally regarded as a bad investment, and I might get back 25-50% of it's purchase price, but this is Florida and it's damn hot here, lol.

So we have been looking and not finding a ton in our comfort range. The homes we are finding that meet all our wants are generally in the 250k and up range, and will still need some work/gutting. Some do have a larger piece of land that I could build a workshop that I've always wanted, but it's something I can live without if need be. 

So what do I do? Should we move and possible add up to 100k onto our mortgage for a slightly bigger house and more land, or should I drop a 40k pool into our current home and try and be happy with what we have? Is the situation you know better then the one you dont? I don't know if this is really a factor, but I plan to retire in about 20 years, and besides the house we are debt free.

Also are their particular companies that will mortgage this type of deal, or will any.

I did find some more info. The property I was looking at requires a down payment of at least 5% after winning, but the balance including fees need to me delivered by noon the next day. It's auctioned through the county site.

Looks like I'll keep looking around. I know Hubzu allows financing on some properties, but can be a pain to deal with and has limited inventory. What are some other decent sites to look at? I have an amazing credit score and good income so getting a mortgage will be the easy part I think.