All Forum Posts by: William C.

can someone clarify what exactly being a tax deed state means in terms of this conversation?  Or what being a tax deed state means in relation to a non tax deed state?

I am very familiar with Montgomery and Bucks county. Rents are obviously going to depend on the exact location but I'd be happy to help.

I'd be happy to help. PM me with your contact info and we can connect.

Could you clarify what you mean my PA being a tax deed? Investor and agent from PA, I might be able to offer some insight but not sure what you mean. Also, as far as I know taxes are a county thing, so it will vary from county to county how the sales are handled. Also known as a sheriffs sale. Furthermore, and most importantly, you could very well purchase a home at a "tax sale" for the balance due, let's call it $10,000, but any other liens on the property will come along with it. So great, you bought a $100,000 house for $10k, but you also inherited the $120,000 mortgage that comes along with it. There might be online resources to use in order to research property information prior to a sale. As an agent I have access to most mortgage information, but iv been told a good title company will be your best source for finding complete and accurate information on your subject properties. Im sure there are certainly opportunities to be had, but this seems like a space you need to be very knowledgeable and or experienced in to take advantage of. Personally I would find it easier to use these lists as a means of finding motivated sellers, and approaching them directly to try to purchase prior to it going to auction. I am by no means an expert in this space, but this is my understanding of the process. Hopefully someone with experience with tax sales will chime in and provide more detailed info, I'm curious to hear how close or far away my view is from the truth. Best of luck if you decide to give it a try.

I think it 100% depends on your own situation. From what iv noticed, the big time players who own hundreds of doors typically own their own PM company. It makes more sense for them to keep that cost "in house" then to put source it. It seems like other have relied heavily on Outside PM companies and it has worked for them. As for myself, I have been an agent for 8 years and have been dealing with tenants and tenant screening ever since I started so for me it's something I'm good at, have systems in place to minimize the time it takes from my day, and is something I couldn't imagine paying someone else to do for me at this stage of my investing "career". Location has a lot to do with it as well. Our units are in B+ areas so our tenants have credit in the high 700s, have over $10-20k in savings, and call us if we don't cash their check in a timely matter to make sure we got it in the rare event they aren't set up to auto pay electronically each month. There will certainly be a threshold of units I can manage on my own, but like I said it's not only something I'm good at, something I consider "easy", but I enjoy it to a certain extent. To each their own.

The buyer not only gets a copy of the appraisal but will sign documents stating they received a copy. So if he lender won't send the buyers a copy something is definitely fishy.

@Jay Hinrichs iv done a few flips as well, and in fact any stories that I have that would be considered a failure, were on flips.  It would easily come down to #3 and 8.  Plan for the worst, because chances are you'll run into something you weren't expecting and if the deal works in a worst case scenario then anything better is a blessing.  Having more than one exit strategy is important when flipping because if you can't sell it for whatever reason, and that was the single way of exitting, now what.  Also I'm not saying these are the only rules to follow, but I'd be willing to bet most failures failed to adhere to one of more of these rules at some point.

@Harrison Liu i don't know that I forgot about location.  If you plan for the worste, know your numbers, have more that one exit strategy, and Screen your tenants for a rental, one can successfully invest in any location in my opinion.  You didn't mention exactly what happened in 2008.  I'm assuming the values decreased?  See rule number one of my list.

Respond to the email with the lowest price, no?

The moral of most of the horror stories will be: 1) Real Estate does not always appreciate in value 2)Screen your tenants 3)Pan for the worst, hope for the best, reality will fall somewhere in between 4)Screen your tenants 5)Budget for maintenance and repairs, everything has a shelf life 6)Screen your tenants 7)don't over leverage yourself or your properties 8)Screen your tenants 9)have more than one exit strategy 10)last but not least Screen your tenants

Yea. You just can't deny them BECAUSE they have kids.