All Forum Posts by: Adam Schmidt

I have worked for and currently work at a community bank. Both of which I can recommend. Oak Valley Community Bank is slowly growing its footprint into the Sac area, with a new branch coming to Roseville soon. California Bank & Trust is also a good California based bank that I can recommend. I currently work at CB&T and can help point you to someone.

I recommend listening to episode #487 from the real estate podcast - skip to about the 4 minute mark. The episode is fresh, only from 10 days ago, and its just David Greene all episode. https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

It's a Q&A where David fields questions from the BP community and gives great answers. Your question is very similar to one of the first questions about HELOC vs. cash out refinance. I hope this helps.

@vikram signh If you are still looking, @sergey tkachev might be able to help.

Hi Richard,

I was casually looking around in midtown/downtown this year specifically to house hack a duplex. What I was finding was a lot of 2bed/1bath per unit, that would rent per room $500-$750/mo. If I took over the 4th room, I would have needed to come out of pocket around $1,500-$1,800/mo. (FYI, I was looking at a small 3-5% down payment).  I ended up putting my search on hold for some personal events and I am also renting at well below market. 

I think house hacking a duplex in midtown/downtown can be possible, but the success stories I have heard included some element of creativity, luck, and/or rehab.. i.e. things like the property had a basement, or there was a surprise extra 500 SF not in the listing (so property was suddenly discounted in price and a new room could be added), etc.  

Prices here aren't going down. Lots of new things going in all over Sacramento, so waiting too long might not be wise. 

One other thing to consider, Sacramento currently has a hotel shortage, so AirBNB is worth looking into. 

Thank you for this! I will check it out.

Thanks Wayne, so I'm interpreting this as 1. The holder of the HELOC has a legitimate lien still. 2. There was poor due diligence done at the original bankruptcy to not have the lien stripped. 3. The holder has all the power and will likely look for being paid in full or going after the available equity. Is that correct?

Hello BP Community!

Any advice or additional options would be wonderful here. Some family friends reached out to me for advice as I work in Commercial Lending, but unfortunately this is outside of my wheelhouse. So I am here doing some research in order to try to help. 

The situation: Their residence was purchased in California in 2005, and a HELOC was borrowed in 2007. In 2010, a Bankruptcy was declared, and through the bankruptcy and Save Your Home California Program, the real estate debt was partially written off. The house was not sold so obviously there was no short-sale/lien release.

Fast forward to today. Payments on the 1st mortgage have "been like clockwork" and all was thought to be going well. It was an unpleasant surprise when debt collectors for the aforementioned HELOC began trying to collect on the principal and unpaid interest since 2010. There was no notification that this debt was active since that time, and it was thought that the HELOC was gone through the bankruptcy. At that time the balance was around $30K, but now the unpaid interest over the years has stacked up and a balance of ~$60K is trying to be collected/negotiated.

My questions are:

1. Do the HELOC collectors have a legitimate cause here?

2. It appears they still have the Note and lien, so who's fault is it that the HELOC was not forgiven during the bankruptcy? Should there be some action taken against the bankruptcy attorney/Save Your Home California people for failing to get this debt written-off? Or was this just poor due diligence by my family friends at the time of the bankruptcy?

3. Aside from another bankruptcy, any advice on how to handle this? I'm sure this HELOC was bought for pennies on the dollar, so what are the chances it could be negotiated for $5k-$10K?

Thank you for any advice. I look forward to some responses!

Hi Kenneth, 

While I do not have much experience in tax delinquent properties, I come from a banking background and as soon as my customers get behind on their loan payments, we begin monitoring their taxes too. I am willing to bet if they cannot pay their taxes, they are behind on their loan as well ( I assume they have one since they are hurting for cash). This could give them an extra incentive to sell.

I would also confirm with them the reason why they are behind on taxes. I still think it is likely a cash issue, but it could be due to something related to the property that is causing them to give up on it.

Sorry I can't give more information, but I wanted to help since you are meeting with them today. 

Did this event happen? I've been keeping my eye out for the next one - can't believe I didn't see it

I am not sure if I can make this one. Is there a tentative date for April's meeting so I can keep it open? I really would like to make a meeting.