All Forum Posts by: Leigh Ann Smith

@Travis Lloyd, I think I should try to get the printed versions of those maps.  You can't zoom in very far, and when you do zoom, you can't read the printing!

Thanks, @John Truong.  I put in the address on the property I was looking at, and it did indeed come back as "high risk".  I also found this helpful info on the site:

Floodprone Street Index: Shown on selected Flood Maps, this index lists the streets in the mapped community that are partially or completely in the special Flood Hazard Area. It also indicates the panel(s) on which each street is shown. Grid coordinates that allow you to locate the street on the panel are listed for each street. The Floodprone Street Index may be shown either on the index or on a separate panel.

We are looking at property in the Houston area, so flood zones are always a concern when evaluating a property.  Frequently, the property itself does not appear to be in the 100 yr. flood plain (Zone AE), but the street in front of the house is.  I understand that the streets are lower and you'd expect the water to go there first, but what I want to know is whether the home itself would be considered to be in that zone for insurance purposes.

We're not seeing any slow down on the south side of Houston, as far as I can tell. An investor friend with experience in Houston told us that they have quit buying because prices are too high.  He said "hold on to your money". We are still actively looking, but have to constantly remind ourselves that just because everybody else is willing to pay too much, it doesn't mean that we have to.  We have our spreadsheet, and that's what lets us know how high we can go on a house.

I have been watching rentals in the area in which we'd like to purchase a buy and hold to see what they are asking for rent and how long they stay on the market.  Since every single rental home in the neighborhood had "Days on Zillow" of less than a month, I was thinking that the rents were probably set about right...except for one house.  

We had been interested in the house when it came on the market, but we didn't move quickly enough to get it.  The buyer renovated it nicely, but still, the rent he's asking is at least $200/month more than what I'd think he can get.  

So, I've been watching it online and drive by occasionally.   It's been for rent for at least 3 months, but I don't think I've ever seen the days on Zillow go over 15-20.  What's up with that? Is he maybe removing the listing then reposting it?  Is it a glitch in Zillow? Now I'm thinking that number will carry about as much weight as a Zestimate!

Alas, the seller went with another offer.  

@John Truong, we did have it written into the contract that the seller would pay us the renter's deposit and pet deposit at closing.  We also stipulated that he had to provide the last lease.  The tenant was living there with no lease, and he could've gone to the landlord and asked to sign a new lease before closing so that the new owners couldn't kick him out.  We didn't want that to happen.

@Toby Bergstrom, that's good advice!  This house needs foundation work.  Because of that, the sliding glass door won't close all the way which means the renters are paying nearly $400 for electricity in the summer.  Also, the tile surround in the master bath had caved in (maybe the builder didn't use greenboard behind the tile?), and the back yard doesn't drain when it rains.  So there are some significant issues that the renter has been dealing with in exchange for paying lower than market rent.  They've been there 5 years, and I think the landlord was good with just letting them stay and not raising their rent rather than deal with getting the place fixed up and raising the price.  

We made the offer without any stipulations concerning getting the renter out (just asked for the deposit). I would think that would've been a big plus with our offer, but maybe the other guy offered that AND more money.  Our plan was to spend about $20K on rehab, which would've have gotten it up to the standard for that area.

With the market like it is (hot), it has been frustrating to us as time and time again we get beat out by people who we believe are paying too much for these properties.  It makes me start to question whether they know something we don't know.   Oh well, back to hunting for properties!

Thanks for the input @Eric Thomson and @Michael Modesto.  The deal does not work at $1,100.   However, it would be break even, so we could sign them to a 3-4 month lease, informing them that the rent is going up to $1,400 after that time.  Hopefully that would give them time to make a plan for leaving.  We could use the time to get our ducks in a row for the rehab to begin as soon as they're out.

We went over there yesterday to see the house with our realtor.  Apparently, the listing agent told everyone to come at 6 p.m., but unfortunately no one had bothered to tell the renters that the house was going to be sold.  After hanging out in the yard for a few minutes with the other lookers, the listing agent convinced the renters to let the prospective buyers in.  

Even after all that, the renters were very cordial.  They have been there 5 years, and they are currently on a month to month lease (a handshake deal after their lease ran out, they said).  They also say they are planning to buy a house and move out in 3-4 months.  They have 2 pit bulls and some broken off door casings which the little boy helpfully told us had been done by the dogs.  

We're going to make an offer.  No contingencies about the renters, but we're asking for a copy of the lease, payment history, and the seller needs to give us the security and pet deposits.  We'll see what happens!

We're looking at a house that has a renter in it who's supposedly paying $1,100/month with a month to month lease.  With a few cosmetic upgrades, the place should easily rent for $1,400.  Based on the pictures online of the house, it looks like the renter has been there a long time (lots of stuff on the walls, etc.) . Properties have been selling super fast, so we'd like to put in a cash offer (possibly full asking price).  

What do you think about putting in a contingency that the renter needs to be out before closing?  And should we throw something in there about requiring an inspection for damages after the move out?  We don't want to make our offer unattractive by adding difficult contingencies, but nobody wants to inherit a tenant who's paying $300 under market rent.

We are considering bidding on a home being auctioned on Homesearch.com.  We've had a realtor walk us through the house, and we are pretty familiar with the neighborhood, so we feel okay about that part.  

I've been reading lots of BP posts about special warranty deeds, but I'm still not clear on the title search and title insurance.  If I understand correctly, the special warranty deed does not mean that there aren't liens against the property.  Is that true?

 If we are the winning bidders, will the title company perform the title search before closing?  If anything is amiss, will we be able to back out of closing?  If so, I presume we would lose the $3,000 earnest money and $2,500 auction fee.  

Even though I've done lots of reading here about title searches, it sounds pretty tricky to me. The auction closes tomorrow, so I don't believe there would be time for one of those title search companies to search it for us.  Or would there be time?

We do know that the home was built in 1971 and a loan was issued on the home in 2004.  The male owner passed away in about 2012, and his wife passed away in 2013.  About $60K was owed on the loan.  That would lead me to believe that the property taxes also may not have been paid in a couple of years at least, and at $3,000/yr, that's significant.

I'd appreciate any advice!

Hi @Kevin Wood,  I'll chime in to agree with the others.   I don't think this looks like a good deal.  Have you run the numbers on a spreadsheet, accounting for all of the costs?  If you have, maybe you could share that on the deal analysis forum and see if you can get some more advice.