All Forum Posts by: Thomas Garza

@Cameron Tope

Is that it? That is easier than I thought it would be. 

@Erick Harbert

Thanks for the reply. I think we have decided to just pay cash for it and not refinance it. We were thinking about paying off their mortgage and then paying them a set amount for the next year to finish paying for it. With that said, I don't know what the practical steps are to make this happen. I assume that we need to do something with the title, but I'm not sure what. I'm not sure what else needs to be done in addition to getting the title changed. 

In regards to looking at the property like an investment, I certainly agree. We crunched the numbers and then sat down with them to see if we could make it work. Luckily, the price they wanted was very reasonable, and came in a few thousand dollars under what we were willing to pay. 

     My wife and I are considering purchasing her parents old house, and fixing it up to use as a rental property. We were in the market and actively looking for our first rental property when they started talking about selling their house. We were planning on financing whatever investment property we purchased, but this house is so cheap that the closing costs are over 10%. This has made me consider purchasing the house from them cash, but I am not sure how to do that. 

     This will certainly be a newbie question, but what are the steps required to purchase a house with cash in Texas? Since this was going to be our first purchase, I planned on relying on the bank and realtor to let me know what needed to be done and when, but since we won't have either in this case, I need to figure it all out myself. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hey @Lyall Storandt, can you send me the info too?

@Brandon Hall

Thanks for the explanation! Goes to show that a little (very little) knowledge on a topic can lead you to inaccurate assumptions (talking about myself). 

Aren't the laws different in each state? I also thought that a CPA was only certified for the state that they registered in. Are CPS's allowed to practice in any state without meeting each states requirements? 

Hey @Bill Pennington, welcome to BP. I am also from Houston and am in the process of trying to work towards my first buy and hold property. Best of luck to you!

My wife and I have been keeping an eye on a vacant lot in our neighborhood which is currently behind on its taxes. I spoke with the owner 6 months ago after sending him a yellow letter, and he was looking for considerably more than I was willing to pay. I noticed that he still hadn't paid the past taxes, so my wife and I decided to call him again. This time he said that he would sell us the property, as long as we pay off all of the back taxes!

I think this will be a very good deal for us, but since this is our first deal, I have many questions:

* Are we able to transfer the title with the taxes still due, or do we have to pay them first?

* How do we find out if the title has any other liens on it?

* We are planning on paying cash for the deal, so do we just give him the money and he signs the title (like a car)?

* What am I missing? Are there any other gotchas that we need to know about

Thanks for everyone's help. I know these seems like silly questions, but since I have never completed a deal before, all of this suddenly seems overwhelming.  

@Hugh Ayles

You and CK seem to have the same approach. For some reason I never considered that as an option. 

@CK Hwang

That seems very logical. I haven't considered making a distinction between politics surrounding real estate and the politics of social issues.