All Forum Posts by: Arseni Zaitsev

Anyone out there have a recent experience and maybe a positive resolution with City of Atlanta. Selling a house and found out tenant of 5 years left an 8k water bill.... yay. Closing atty pointed this out & said  "due to the name on the water statement not match the on title there won't be anything to collect." Does anyone know what that means? I'm waiting for the answer from them also...

Builders and Remodelers of Bigger Pockets!  

When buying sizeable or large quantities, I'm curious what your strategy is for negotiating discounts with your material vendors and distributors. 

Do you make similar vendors compete on price? Do you negotiate based on if you have an account or pay upfront? How do you negotiate with repeat distributors? 

I've tried different methods over the years and haven't pinned one that consistently works. Sometimes I've found that just asking "is this best you can do" is enough to get a few points off. Other times, I have to send competing quotes to vendors for a price match on the items that are more. Last resort, I sometimes piecemeal, but that's very time-consuming. I've also found that some distributors offer discounts for paying off accounts "earlier".

Please share your stories and strategies. 

Looking for an Atlanta Area Tax Advisor who can help with my current portfolio and planning moving forward:

1. long term rentals

2. Airbnb rentals

3. new construction/rehab business

4. Self directed IRA, possibly (Solo k)

5. advice on future 1031 exchanges. 

Update 2 months later: House was under contract closing at $450k two weeks ago. The foreclosure deed was recorded as we witnessed at auction for 315k. The teardown property is NOW listed at 600k.

What is the best policy for a Vacant Old house? House will stay vacant for 6-8 months. Then either a sale for land or development (another 8 months). This one happens to be already mostly boarded, but I'm curious in general.

Bit long story, but thought i'd share. I'm curious about oversight, ethics, procedure, etc. that govern courthouse property foreclosure auction by counties. I have bought a few previously and today this happened: 

There was a property offered today that I figured would be very popular if it made it to the steps. While doing my due diligence last week, I spoke briefly with the representing lawyer. He was friendly, but wouldn't give out the opening bid. I didn't argue but found this a bit strange as typically some number is given or "it hasn't been determined, you can check back later" is the answer. The lawyer also seemed to go out of his way to mention he was supposed to visit other auctions and did not know his arrival time at Fulton. He did welcome a morning call the day of sale.

Today, group of us interested waited all day and politely tried to reach this lawyer to see when he may show.

From 2pm-4pm, about a dozen bidders lingered waiting, cautiously watching potential auctioneers . At 3:50pm, a casually dressed gentleman showed up on the steps, played with his phone for a few minutes and then walked into a corner as "another" guy showed. Few of us waiting rushed over to inquire if either were going to be reading properties. To my surprise, one of the guys was already taking bids and barely annunciated the address when prompted by the newcomers. I don't believe he'd even read the deed as seemingly customary. Auction proceeded with 4 interested bidding parties, during which lawyer would say repeatedly "going once, going twice" before a bidder would offer a higher price.

Reaching 300k, the auction slowed with only myself and a lady counter bidding at small increments. When the bid climbed to 314k, the "other" guy offered 315k. The lawyer immediately said going "once, sold" and walked off with winning party to collect "information." There was no opportunity for another bidder to offer a better price. Lawyer and winning bidder walked off and didn't seem to exchange much info before departing. My experience is that handing over the funds takes time, even with regular bigger companies. One lady claimed she had heard the lawyer tell the guy "don't worry, I already have it" as the guy handed something over. Afterward, when asked, the lawyer said he was very busy and was happy with the process before walking away.

There are least 4 bidders and maybe 8 witnesses that found the whole interaction and conclusion to be strange. We all noted that the winning party had not been present with us and seemed to show only to meet this particular lawyer.

Summary: a group of bidders suspicious that auction lawyer may have arranged a deal with buyer ahead of the auction. 

Is there any way to see if this was a legit sale? 

What if the recorded deed shows a lower price then we witnessed as sale? 

How does one file a complaint and to whom? Seems our local sheriff department only handles tax foreclosures. I was told to speak with court services, but even they seemed lost. 

Does anyone have experience buying land from recently deceased? Such as a trust or estate? 

How does one find estate and trust sales? I'm pretty sure these are often assemblages that get sold after someone's death, maybe a divorce, and I'm assuming it might not always be in the same city or even state. 

Is there a list of properties of recently deceased?  

Any insight would be much appreciated and sorry for the morbid discussion. 

My previous experience involved purchasing a foreclosure that I later discovered was a reverse mortgage. 

I'm looking for any recommendations for apps, books, sites, etc that have brain teasers geared towards real estate. Can be basic math, puzzles, scenario based. anyone come across anything? please share with the community! 

@Ben McMahon Thanks for the advice. Agree with KISS approach. 

In a JV agreement, I'm curious how to keep my role as developer separate from the architecture and builder. At moment, I can do both, but things change. It would great to have the option to hire out the work as needed. My idea was to assign a % of construction cost value to both of these, considered as part of reimbursable. This way, the profits split at the end can reflect market value, but I get compensated earlier for the "service" work.

Looking for suggestions on how to structure a partnership for a small 3-6 house development where I do not own the land. The owner is not willing to sell land outright, but open to "partnership." I am an architect and builder. I would be doing all pre-development research, architectural design and then building. Also, the owner of land may be able to provide some, but not, all funding. I have funding access, vision, and know-how, just not aware of the different ways a deal like this can be structured. If I am to invest so much time into this, I need owners complete commitment of land. Thanks for your advice!