All Forum Posts by: Clifton Jones

If BOA has been hired by Mellon to service the contract, then that would make sense. The homeowner would send the mortgage check to BOA, who would then send it to Mellon, minus BOA's service fee.

There seems to be more to your question than appears at first glance. If you are asking what makes a home a candidate for a short sale, it is that the current fair market value is less than what is owed on the property.

If you are speaking of buying through a short sale, then other questions must be answered. Are you wanting to buy to live in the property?

Are you going to wholesale the properties, retail them, or buy and hold? This can make a difference.

If you are a wholesaler, in what areas do your buyers want to purchase? Retailer, are properties moving in the area? Buy and Hold, is it a good rental area? Your exit strategy can have a lot to do with the area you purchase in.

The price you pay can also vary, depending on your exit strategy. If you are wholesaling, your target price should be below 70% ARV - repair costs - profit.

If you are retailing, you might be willing to pay a higher price because you will be attempting to sell for ARV, but also take into consideration profit, closing costs, holding costs and the market trend. If the market is trending downward, meaning the prices are still dropping, you have to take that into consideration, when making an offer.

If you are buying and holding, then the target to shoot for is the 2% rule. This means that you can get 2% of the purchase price in rent each month. If you can get $1000 in rent, then you would want to spend no more than $50,000. This is an oversimplified explanation, and is not a hard and fast rule, but a good guide.

Hope this answered your questions.

Lafi, I have had some success with this. I currently have 4 I am negotiating that have yet to be sent to Equator. That is not to say that they won't eventually get sent there, just that they haven't up to this point.

My partner is negotiating the other six properties we have. We both feel that they are PITA and we look at the proeprty very thoroughly before we will take any more from BoA. Our problem is that about 65% of the properties in our area going to foreclosure appear to be BoA, and other investors are working that 35% that isn't BoA, just like we are.

Lafi, I agree that many will not tell you what the BPO came in at, but you should ask every time you call in. If you talk to one of the people that is not a negotiator, they will sometimes let it slip. Hence, the reason to ask every time you call in.

I do agree with Caleb, also. If you have done your homework, you should know what the BPO should come in at. When the BPO agent shows up, you should be there and have the comps with you, as well as all repair estimates.

It would be a good thing to have a contractor provide you with the estimate. Also, have the contractor itemize each item, including prices. This will tend to add more weight to the estimate, because it will show each item that is to be replaced/repaired. Just don't add items that do not need to be replaced/repaired, or the estimate can work in teh other direction.

Sounds to me like this is actually a good thing for those short sellers in Florida, Arizona, California and Vegas. It doesn't really affect any other market, for the most part. Prices in most of the other markets shouldn't go down too much, based on this article, but in these markets, the prices should still decrease. This looks promising for the buy and hold strategy

We are. We currently have about 10 short sales in the pipeline with BoA. We have requested that they do NOT put these in the Equator system, as there is no realtor involved in most of these short sales.

I will say that the oldest short sale we have (going on 10 months) is with them. They are a tremendous PITA to deal with, but most of our short sales are serviced by them, not owned by them. That also makes a difference in how long these are taking.

You appear to be talking apples and oranges in your example. That is a realtor who is listing the property, not an appraiser. There is actually nothing wrong with what she did. She listed it at what the current homeowner wanted it listed at. That is her responsibility.

The issue is that the comps do not justify that listing. Since you can justify your asking price, then when the lender sends out an appraiser or BPO agent, you can provide them with the same data. Even if they do not use your data and pull their own instead, based on your statement, the comps do not justify her asking price, so the BPO/appraisal should come in at the correct price.

It is always a good a idea to be there for the BPO/appraisal, if for no other reason than to point out repair issues. If they are not pointed out, in our area, they are normally completely overlooked. That can cause the BPO to come in at tens of thousands of dollars too high.

Luck has nothing to do with it, Caleb. Did you make the attempt at marketing? Did you actually walk the walk, not just talk the talk?

If you are out there working the business, then these are going to happen. It is not luck. It won't happen every time, but there are enough out there that it is bound to happen. Congratulations on it happening this quick. Keep up the good work.

Also, do call Nick. Don't attempt to work this business as a newbie without a mentor. It will cause you more problems than you can imagine. A mentor is a great thing to have and can show you why things you think might work either will or won't, without you wasting time.

Try this blog post. It should be able to help. http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/355/blog_posts/3117-finding-buyers-on-craigslist

You can search for building a buyers list on this site. There are numerous threads and blogs that can help.

Is he wanting all of them to be sold on one contract? Your post is a little confusing in that. If he is looking to have each property shorted, then I would suggest doing each of them at the same time. That way, each of his mortgage debts can be used to justify each short sale.