All Forum Posts by: Sylvia Castellanos

Chris,  thank you so much for giving me the name of the company you use. I note you are in Virginia, and I assume you are somewhere in Northern Nevada.  I am assuming that you have some properties in Virginia but that you own properties in other states as well, and that Madison Management, which is based in Nevada, provides services in a number of states, if not all. Am I right?

I looked up the list of forums here and I did not see a "notes and tax lien one."  Might it have another name?

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  You have no idea for how many months I have been seeking that answer.

I am interested in selling vacant lots to buyers using seller financing, in other words, covering most of the purchase price myself.  I know people who sell a lot of properties based on that use specialized companies to collect the monthly payments and deal with buyers who are defaulting on their obligation.  That is definitely the route I want to go. How do I find companies that perform that service?  Also, does the company  have to be in the same state  as the property, or can I use a national company?  I will really appreciate feedback on this. I have googled it using every search term I could think of, but I have come up with nothing.

Your comments make me realize there is a detail I should have included--I am looking exclusively at vacant lots. My reason is all the points you mention. 

I have a few questions about how the Memphis Land Bank operates in practice.  Yes, I have read all the rules, but that doesn't always give you the whole picture of how the institution operates in practice.  I would appreciate it very much if someone who is involved in real estate in Memphis, either as a realtor or as an investor, would private message me so I could have a text conversation and ask my questions.

The way Wayne County PA handles its OTC property inventory is to hold auctions four times a year. I attended its summer sale yesterday and I bought two properties. When the sale ended around 12:30, the staff of three said we needed to wait to be called up to pay. To make a long story short, my turn, as bidder #131, to pay came at 5:00. As I left, there were still fifteen-twenty people left to pay.

I am new to the auction setting, but there is no way this can be the normal procedure to pay at the end of an auction. How is it normally handled?

This is directed at people in the Memphis, TN, area.  

I am considering buying two or three lots inside Memphis that are about 0.17 acre. I looked up the lot minimums for Shelby County, and these seem to be 15,000 square feet with a 100 foot width. I don’t know if Memphis has its own minimums that override those of the county. These lots I am looking at are about 7,500 square feet and about 50’ in width. Now here is the thing. In recently decades municipalities have passed lot minimums that render a huge number of the existing lots unbuildable, so they have had to accept grandfathering in a large number of the older lots. My sense is that this isn’t codified in an orderly way, however.

So this is a question for the real estate professionals on this forum. If I buy these lots—7,500 square feet with a 50’ width—how comfortable can I be that the person who buys them from me will be allowed to build a house on them? I want to know what your experience has been as far as these smaller lots being exempted from current code minimums. I know that in Mississippi the rule of thumb seems to be that as long as the lot can meet the frontage requirements, construction is permitted.

If anyone who reads this has had experiences with specific HOAs in Northeast Pennsylvania, I would love to have you share them with me, either on this forum or privately. It is becoming obvious to me that I will have to deal with HOAs. The question is more which ones are more reasonable and which ones I should stay away from.  Your input would be very valuable.

Thank you so much for your very valuable input. My main concern is that someone  told me that there are HOAs whose rules are so restrictive that people who bought lots found they couldn't even build. This person was in a position to know, but that does not automatically mean that it is true. On the other hand, at the auction Wayne County held back in the Spring, about half the auction was the  listings for Sterling Township inside Pocono Springs. Not a single one of these lots sold. Not a one got a single bid. I witnessed this myself first hand. So while some rules only affect potential residents, they can have the effect that investors in land like us will have trouble finding buyers. 

Again, what I am after here is having others share their experiences in dealing with HOAs as land investors.

Thank you so much for your very valuable input. My main concern is that someone  told me that there are HOAs whose rules are so restrictive that people who bought lots found they couldn't even build. This person was in a position to know, but that does not automatically mean that it is true. On the other hand, at the auction Wayne County held back in the Spring, about half the auction was the  listings for Sterling Township inside Pocono Springs. Not a single one of these lots sold. Not a one got a single bid. I witnessed this myself first hand. So while some rules only affect potential residents, they can have the effect that investors in land like us will have trouble finding buyers. 

Again, what I am after here is having others share their experiences in dealing with HOAs as land investors.