Dave Van Horn, Author at The BiggerPockets Blog

Archive of Dave Van Horn

Dave Van Horn is President at PPR The Note Co. - an operating entity that manages several funds that buy/sell/hold residential mortgages, both performing and delinquent. Dave has been in the Real Estate business for 25 years, starting out as a Realtor and contractor and moving onto everything from fix and flips to Raising Private Money.

Dave has written 14 articles for The BiggerPockets Blog.

Real Estate

Is Now the Time to Buy? How to Determine if Your Market Is Worth Buying In.

by Dave Van Horn May 21, 2013

In 2002, Robert M. Campbell dedicated his book, Timing the Real Estate Market, to the millions of home buyers and sellers who every year regretfully say, “if I had only bought (or sold ) a year or two earlier, I would’ve made a killing.” Just as cash-flow is more important than appreciation to most Real [...]

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Commercial Real Estate

Three Reasons Why Commercial Real Estate Investing Might Be Your Next Step

by Dave Van Horn May 15, 2013

Almost 10 years ago now, I was at a crossroads with my investing career. At that point, after investing in residential real estate units for approximately 15 years, I started to ponder the idea of going into the commercial real estate investing arena. It just seemed like the next logical step, I had always done [...]

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Real Estate

3 Insurance Products You Probably Didn’t Know About – But Should Be Using

by Dave Van Horn May 8, 2013

Let’s face it, none of us really love paying for insurance unless it’s that rare moment when we actually need it and all of a sudden we’re eternally grateful. As a former life and annuity insurance agent and a partner in a title insurance company I’m well aware of the fact that as real estate [...]

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Real Estate

Equity Rich and Cash Poor: A Real Life Case Study on How I Saved My Mother’s Home

by Dave Van Horn May 1, 2013

Since the time I was a small child, my parents preached what seems to be the declaration of their generation: study hard, go to college, get a good >job, pay off your home, and live happily ever after. Having worked as a financial planner I feel that this is a common philosophy from the “depression [...]

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Real Estate Investing

Investing in Vacant Land: A Viable Option?

by Dave Van Horn April 24, 2013

When I first became a Realtor and I was taking several courses to get my Broker’s license, I remember learning about vacant land investing. One of the things they taught was the old rule of thumb is to never invest in vacant land if you weren’t going to build on it within 12 months. Now [...]

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General Real Estate

When Renting Makes More Sense Than Owning

by Dave Van Horn April 17, 2013

A couple of years ago, three to be exact, my youngest son was finishing up college and my wife suggested to me that she’d like to downsize our primary residence. It really made sense, both of our children had moved out of the house and with just the two of us, we really didn’t need [...]

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Real Estate Investing

Why Investing in 2nd Mortgages Can Be Risky

by Dave Van Horn April 10, 2013

Let’s face it; investing in junior liens can be risky. Even the market place trades 2nd mortgages and other junior liens at some pretty steep discounts, especially when they’re delinquent. But why can they be so risky? Let’s take a look at the three biggest factors: 1.) Lien Position First and foremost is lien position. [...]

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Real Estate Investing

Making Money Investing In REO’s [From Both Sides!]

by Dave Van Horn April 2, 2013

It was several years ago when I first started pursuing REO properties for an investment. REO stands for Real Estate Owned and it’s a banking term for property that has been taken back by the bank after foreclosure. Most larger banks have large departments for REO and can have a significant portfolio of recently foreclosed [...]

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Real Estate Notes

Flipping Notes for Quick Profits – Three Ways to Recapitalize on Your Notes

by Dave Van Horn March 26, 2013

Most note investors probably start out like I did, just looking for a more passive way to invest in real estate and to be able to cash flow with as little hassle as possible. The initial goal is to just build up a nice portfolio of re-performing notes, whether you originated them, purchased them performing, [...]

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Real Estate Notes

Nine Exit Strategies When Dealing With Defaulted Notes

by Dave Van Horn March 19, 2013

After you buy a defaulted note, you could always contact the borrower and act like a traditional bank, but if you do, expect the conversation to go adversarial rather quickly. What do you expect when you tell someone, “If you don’t pay up, we’ll just Foreclose and you’ll have to get out…”? Yes – but [...]

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Real Estate Notes

Getting in Contact with the Borrower: The Hardest Part of the Note Business

by Dave Van Horn March 12, 2013

A common question we hear from new note buyers is, “Okay, so I just got my note. Now what?” That’s a great question, and knowing a good answer to it can make all the difference in whether you get successfully out of a note deal. In my last two articles I covered where to find [...]

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Real Estate Notes

Note Buying Due Diligence: Assessing Risk

by Dave Van Horn March 5, 2013

Whenever you purchase something, especially something that costs you a lot of money, it’s always best to research, do your due diligence, and know exactly what you’re buying. We all want to get the best bang for our buck, and when it comes to buying notes, they’re no exception. Due diligence with notes all comes [...]

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Real Estate Notes

Finding and Buying Performing and Non-Performing Notes

by Dave Van Horn February 26, 2013

One of the most frequently asked questions I get from investors is, “Where do you and your fund find notes to buy?” The problem with this question is that most companies (including my own) aren’t exactly interested in telling other note buyers their sources of notes because it’s proprietary and in some cases it has [...]

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Real Estate Notes

Five Advantages of Note Investing

by Dave Van Horn February 19, 2013

Practically everyone, investor or not, is in the note business. Most people though are just on the wrong side of it. Nearly everyone owns a mortgage, or has a car loan, student loans, or credit card debt and they’re all on the “borrower side” of the note business, but even sophisticated investors often don’t fully [...]

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