All Forum Posts by: Chris Martin

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.

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. 

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. 

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

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

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. 

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. 

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

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. 

Quote from @Brian Kehoe:

In the current market with the prices of homes being so high does it still make sense to be investing in real estate or to be accumulating cash and waiting to see where the market goes? I’ve been reading articles stating how baby boomers are starting to retire and selling their businesses at a discount. I’ve been researching businesses for sale and many look profitable on paper. My question is in the current market would buying a high cash flow business where I can be an absentee owner be a better decision then investing in real estate now? My thought process is make the cash now and invest in real estate later but I’d love to hear anybody else’s insight. 

If you have the ability to manage managers, then for the next decade you will have the opportunity to buy out retiring Boomers in whatever industry you like. Maybe 6-8 months ago, I would have answered like Don, but I spent a day with an investor in one of my solar farm projects and I was absolutely floored. 

He has been buying businesses owned by aging Boomers, and the TAM (Total Available Market) for him is huge. Think about it. "10K a day" of Boomers retire, and many of the "S" type business owners really didn't develop a plan for how to exit their business. Lately he has bought local restaurant businesses, primarily, but also apartment buildings, land, MHPs, and other commercial properties. 

So, I'd encourage you to pursue business acquisition if you have the skills to manage managers. The best example I can think of is this. I met a guy in the 1990s who owned a Jersey Mike's franchise. He was an "owner occupied" franchise in that he was owner/manager/worker. I went there several times weekly. But he wasn't there after a few months. Maybe two years later, we (my W-2 working colleagues in the 1990s) saw him. He recognized us and we talked for an hour. He had 6 or 8 stores. He rotated between them, managing the managers. He wasn't buying out people, but rather expanding the franchise opportunities. 

Fast forward to now, and there is an incredible opportunity to buy out old folks like me. Aging Boomers have developed fantastic businesses, but they are old. Health, focus, will, and determination, along with a lot of other factors, will make Boomers want to exit. They need a buyer. Many times there is no one there. And the more motivated the seller is, the more willing the seller will negotiate terms and price. 

So, my answer is, to your conclusion "My thought process is make the cash now and invest in real estate later..." I agree, if you can manage the manager.