All Forum Posts by: Patrick L.

As a landlord I would never go for it. I always require the full deposit (no installment plans, no trade in lieu of deposit, etc) prior to move in. I also do not allow tenants to preform repairs on the property, I need to know what was done and that it was done up to my standards so I use my own contractors.

Liz Brumer I'm primarily interested in the Tampa Bay area, mostly Pinellas & Hillsborough Counties. I know the neighborhoods in the area and have a really good grasp on the market around here. I know I'm limiting myself somewhat but at least getting started it'd nice to be able to drive by to see the asset and neighborhood. If I had a little more experience I'm sure I'd be able to expand my comfort level and give other areas of the state a try.

I'm interested to hear more about this too. I've looked into NPN investing a little bit and I'd be interested in finding some local notes where I can work out a deed in lieu/cash for keys agreement with the borrowers....or even just finish the foreclosure. The problem with the loan balance ratios is it really depends on how much the market has changed in that area. There's houses in the "ghetto" areas around here that "investors" bought at the peak for $150k+ that sell for under $20k now....which tend to be about 10% of the UPB.

Where are you guys buying your notes, through a broker or directly from smaller lenders?

Definitely a lack of inventory here, I'd assume it's either the banks delaying inventory or a lag in the foreclosure process. It has driven prices up here and has definitely cut back on what I've bought. I've been trying to add as many rentals as I can over the last few years but the pickings have been pretty slim in that market lately. Everything that's out there is either crap or priced too high for the return I want. I'll keep looking but I'm more than happy to accumulate more cash to invest if the inventory starts flowing.

You'd probably be better off just providing washer and dryer hookups and let them worry about their own washer and dryer. I'd either sell the ones it came with or tell the tenants that "the washer and dryer were left here by a previous tenant, you can use them if you wish but we don't guarantee them." With the cost of purchasing coin op machines and the cost of maintaining and repairing them it's just not worth it for a 2 unit building.

I agree with Will's numbers, if it were in my market I'd be a buyer at 30-35k if your numbers are accurate. You really need to figure out actual rehab costs though, pulling a number out of thin air isn't going to help anybody. You said it needs "exterior" work, have you even seen the inside? Does it need ktichen, bath, electrical, plumbing, flooring, paint, etc? Your numbers could be way off and quickly eliminate any spread you have on this property.

Even if you find an issue with your inspection you're still talking about taking it as is or giving up your EMD with a HUD contract (unless you're an owner occupant). You're not buying low enough if you're that worried about a plumbing leak, unless there's some type of evidence of a major issue under a slab.

You should always do ALL of your due diligence on any bank owned properties. The bank often has no clue about the issues that the property may have. Beyond code enforcement you should also check for things like open permits and utility issues. Open permits that were never finaled can lead to huge headaches down the road. You can also find yourself with big bills trying to get the water turned on a lot of places if the meter has been pulled. Here if you get the water shut off for non payment they just turn the meter off, if you turn it back on yourself they lock it....if you cut the lock they remove the meter ($350 to reinstall) and if you tamper with it beyond that they disconnect your property from the city water and concrete over it ($1200 and 4-6 weeks to reconnect). Houses that have gone through foreclosure often have these types of issues as people obviously didn't have the money to do things correctly.

This inspired me to go look on there again.....last month I had looked at two houses on there because rental inventory is scarce and I'll look anywhere. Both houses were in pretty poor condition and both had offers on there and after watching it for a couple days both offers kept going up by $500-$1k a day and were above the original list price so they had to have multiple "buyers." Well I looked today and both houses are back on there again with no offers yet. That's pretty typical hubzu from my experience....either they declined to sell them or the buyers were fake to try to get somebody else to jump in on the bidding (most likely in my opinion). There is a broker attached to the listings but the entire company is run out of India and there's nobody in the US you can talk to about the properties.

The website always shows the highest offer, even on non auction properties. I'm convinced that half of those offers are phantom offers just to make it seem like there's action. I've tried it on a few houses but the prices always got stupid. I did have the highest bid on one house but they declined to sell it to me and I saw it sold a few months later for about $10k less than my offer on a quit claim deed.