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All Forum Posts by: Chris Martin

Chris Martin has started 113 posts and replied 5292 times.

Post: A Frustrating Conversation That Got Me Thinking...

Chris MartinPosted
  • Investor
  • Willow Spring, NC
  • Posts 5,689
  • Votes 3,431

This post is attempting to be constructive criticism. 

From your post, I don't see a well-defined problem. You're attempting to find a solution but haven't articulated the details of the problem. Regarding your comment "But here's the thing: I'm not an expert. I don't know what I'm doing." It's a tough ask for software productivity tools when the "spec" (or "problem statement") isn't well defined. 

I've built plenty of software tools for my own investment use. An example problem statement that I may have stated (and built the software for) in 2003, when I started investing full time: Build a tool for lead generation that collects county records from the county recorder's office (and property card data), finds the recent first mortgage defaults  from trustees websites or public filings for properties that are between 1000 and 1700 square feet, in a neighborhood of 90% like-kind properties with greater than 20 parcels, houses built after 1978, that can cash flow at current rates when fully leveraged. 

BTW, I am not a real estate agent so can't help you with agent-related stuff. 

My point is you need a well-defined problem statement. 

Post: Published Lis Pendens

Chris MartinPosted
  • Investor
  • Willow Spring, NC
  • Posts 5,689
  • Votes 3,431

NC is a trustee state, so a mortgage default will trigger the "power of sale" process as spelled out in the recorded Deed of Trust. The legal details are in Article 2A, Sales Under Power of Sale in the NC General Statutes Chapter 45, Mortgages and Deeds of Trust

The earliest recorded legal action on a mortgage default is the substitute trustee filing. That is the document you will want to find in a county register of deeds search. The clerk's office will have a case file in their Special Proceeding office that corresponds to the Document Number on the substitute trustee filing. 

The S-TR filings, today, are sparce enough that you can process them by hand. When I was active at the courthouse steps, there were literally 50x the cases filed now in 2024. Back then I used an online service to filter my target areas. For example, @Dan Gabrielli has a good ePreforeclosure service for a number of NC counties. 

Tax foreclosures are a different beast. I've never bought a tax foreclosure and can't speak about that process. 

In today's market, with low foreclosure discount compared to past buyer's markets and a lot of "motivated buyers", the risk/reward ratio keeps me far away from the courthouse steps. 

Hope that helps.

Post: Section 8 Rent to Own Program

Chris MartinPosted
  • Investor
  • Willow Spring, NC
  • Posts 5,689
  • Votes 3,431

Check with your local HA. Not all participate. Click on the HCV Homeownership Dashboard on the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) homeownership program to see how many participants there are in the Austin Housing Authority. Hint: it is 0, just like Raleigh. 

Post: Land Titles & Technology

Chris MartinPosted
  • Investor
  • Willow Spring, NC
  • Posts 5,689
  • Votes 3,431

In the US, the blockchain represents a solution for a problem that does not exist. The blockchain technology has been around for a decade or more. As far as I know, no state legislature (via statutory action) or county recorder of deeds, in the US, has adopted blockchain as the "solution" for their chain of title. Let me know if I am wrong. 

County recorded documents are necessary and sufficient, IMO, and until blockchain technology can show a better, faster, cheaper alternative, it is a non-starter. 

I'm not anti-technology. But each technology needs to show why it should and will be adapted, just like wind and solar have, along with ESS (energy storage systems), in the US market. 

This is a US market centric post. Venezuela may think differently. 

Post: Seller wants to wait a year for tax purposes?

Chris MartinPosted
  • Investor
  • Willow Spring, NC
  • Posts 5,689
  • Votes 3,431

The options contracts I've done in NC (only 4 or 5, me as seller, all post-GR) set the 'contract price' and terms. The option contract defines a "consideration" (money) paid to owner for the buyer's right to purchase per the terms of all the 9 items in the link I provided, including #7, the length of option time period. 

A "First Right of Refusal" is different and something I've not experienced, as buyer or seller. You might want to look at this NAR document: Right of First Refusal: A Guide for Real Estate Agents

Post: Flipping Rezoned Land

Chris MartinPosted
  • Investor
  • Willow Spring, NC
  • Posts 5,689
  • Votes 3,431

Related: VIRGINIA TAKES FARM LAND | Local Government Condemns Farm Land for BIG TECH

I didn't realize the volume of water required for cooling of these data centers. 

The question becomes: is building of an Amazon or Meta data center, which is for enhancing the growth and profitability of an individual company, in the public interest? VA Code § 36-27. Eminent domain

Post: Buying Foreclosures at Auction

Chris MartinPosted
  • Investor
  • Willow Spring, NC
  • Posts 5,689
  • Votes 3,431

I've only purchased foreclosures in NC, via trustee sales. It looks like the process in Miami-Dade County (MDC) is quite different, with apparently judicial foreclosures being the predominant method for power of sale enforcement. I would put every MDC Clerk of Court sales record (date, case number, address/PID, opening bid, winning bid, AV, etc.) into a spreadsheet, along with the names of the 3rd party bidders. (An Example, on 7/16/2024.) You will find out the answers to some of your questions. You will also get your finger on the pulse of the foreclosure market. 

In NC, and maybe where you are, foreclosures are 90% legal... and the other half has to do with property. I stand by the concepts in my 5/27/2020 post on this BP topic, Buying auction properties in Wake County, NC, that people serious about buying foreclosures should take a few law classes or at least know every detail in their state statutes regarding the process. 

Post: Using Heloc to buy larger multifamily

Chris MartinPosted
  • Investor
  • Willow Spring, NC
  • Posts 5,689
  • Votes 3,431

Regarding "The comment that @Greg Scott made is intriguing, because his experience is that those two units make a big difference in how the deal is done, from the business plan onward." Well, yes, completely from a financing perspective. Look at any of your SFR loan documents. They are 1-4 family residential, government subsidized (through Fannie Mae) loans. All the apartments I bought were financed/refinanced through commercial lenders because they were >4 units. Yes, Fannie Mae does have a multi-family lending arm, starting at a lower limit of $1M for 80% LTV. But I dealt in cheap properties and in mid-2010s, couldn't pencil a $1M loan for an 18-plex. Today, I probably could.

Financing a 6-plex is a PITA. That's why there aren't many, compared to 4-plexes and duplexes. 

Post: SBLOC, All Cash Purchase, Refi, Payback, Repeat. Is this a thing?

Chris MartinPosted
  • Investor
  • Willow Spring, NC
  • Posts 5,689
  • Votes 3,431

At the end of the day, you are pledging an asset (stocks, in your example) for potential liquidity. Disclaimer: my stock 'portfolio' is small relative to NW. 

After the GR (Great Recession) we did these types of loans through a pool (group of properties in a tranche) on lower-cost, lower-rent property. See this BP post, for example.  Simple collateral substitution. 

Would I be doing business today like on 12/21/2012? #e!! no. There is a time and place for every strategy. When factoring in risk, I agree with @V.G Jason

Post: Partnership Strategy Advice

Chris MartinPosted
  • Investor
  • Willow Spring, NC
  • Posts 5,689
  • Votes 3,431
Quote from @Justin Skiles:

Hi Folks! 

I am considering a partnership with a young construction worker I trust.  He would take out the loan on a multi-family and I would provide the funds for closing and reno as he lives there for 2 years.  Has anyone done this type of arrangement before?  Outside of the normal partnership risks, what other risks am I overlooking?  I was thinking this could be a good strategy to scale and keep costs managable.  Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

-Justin

You may want to talk to a Mortgage Loan Officer (MLO) to make sure a "partnership", a legal entity, is acceptable on an FHA Multi-Family loan. I deduced this type of loan from the "3.5% down" comment. My guess is that the arrangement you contemplate would not meet FHA underwriting guidelines, but I am not a MLO and have not had a conventional or FHA loan in decades. I just know that most federally subsidized loan programs lend to people (humans), not partnerships, LLCs, or corporations.