All Forum Posts by: Sheri Ulm

Hello,
I am in the process of tryig to close on my first land contract and the title company is taking forever and a bit incompetent (I will NEVER use this comoany again). My question is: Being as it is a land contract and I will be making payments to the seller shouldn't I have recieved something in writing from the title company/lawyer stating what my payments are and when they start? In the original purchase contract there is an amount but it was an estimate because we did not know the exact amounts for insurances and taxes and the lawyer who wrote the land contract just copied the info from the purchase agreement word for word. In fact, he made a mistake and wrote the total amout (PITI) and the ADDED the taxes and insurance again thus showing a higher payment since T&I were accounted for twice. I was told when I signed to just cross that out and put in the correct amounts but that was 2 months ago and was still just based on the estimates. We now have the actual amounts so I need something that shows the change in amount to be paid and the new payment start date (was originally 7/1 but we have yet to close). I figured there would be some sort od ammendment or something as that is what we would do here in CA but not sure what Ohio laws are. When I asked title about this they didn't seem to know what I was talking about and they said they would check on it. Also, on the HUD 1, which I just received today, under lender it says "CASH"... shouldn't the sellers name be there as they are carring the financing? Or is it different with the land contract? I did receive a page that shows no prepayment penalty, no increase in interest rates etc.. in a series of check boxes but there is no actual loan/seller carry info. Any help here is apprieciated. This was supposed to be a 2-4 week close and as of today it is 3 months and counting.

Thanks for the info. Never hurts to have a back up... Just in case.

@Joe Gore

Where do you get that he works under the table and doesn't pay taxes??? I see that he has some real estate and bought and sold businesses.... All legitimate ways of making money and all taxable. Did I miss something?

As for the OP if you still want to do some fixers in addition to your buy and hold you could use hard or private money to buy some fixers and do the repairs then after they are done refinance with a more traditional lender based on the new value of the property which will give you a lower % borrowed therefore less income needed to repay. Also, if you rent it before the refi they should use a portion of the rents you are receiving as 'income' to repay the loan. You may still need some other income but the amount needed would be reduced by these other factors. I would look into something like this to find out exactly what I would need. Just my two cents worth.

I personally would invest the 50k in an under valued area of Ohio. But that is my preferred choice for buy and hold rentals. Might not work for everybody. I'd say research any area you are thinking of investing in and put together a good team in the area. It is possible to be successful with out staying close to home but you do needed to do your homework on the areas you are interested in.

welcome to BP and Thanks for your service!!!!! You will find a wealth of information here. Definitely check out the links others have posted above... They contain tons of great info.

I am currently purchasing a rental property in Ohio on a land contract. From my experience and others I have talked to they are pretty common there. Very similar to straight seller financing except you don't get the deed until you have fulfilled the terms of the contract. I believe it also makes it eaiser for the seller to take back the property in the event you default. My terms are 1k down, seller carries loan for 3 years at 3% interest at which time the house will be paid in full and I get the deed. Hope this helps.

@Darrin Carey

Thanks for the post. I'm all signed up to attend the webinar. I haven't wholesaled anything in Ohio but since I invest there it definitely interest me and I would also like to know because I have come across deals I couldn't do or wasn't interested in and I would like to wholesale those or get a finders fee or something for passing on to another investor that might be interested but right now I just pass them on with no compensation because the last thing I want to do is get in legal trouble with the state.

Welcome to BP!!!

@Derek W I should clarify...I will have to edit the "I drive by it all the time" part for my out of state properties but I will definitly use a modified version and I will use this in its entirety for anything local when I get to that point.

@Mike Sattem I like that idea also and will use it. I may switch between the "notice" idea and @Jane George personlization idea and see what happens with each

@Derek W Perfect!!! Thank you.