All Forum Posts by: Belinda Lopez

The faster she can get the place remediated, the better.  What is she wanting to do with the property?  sell it? or fix and stay there?  If this was the first time it flooded, then investors will look at it - including me! Believe it or not, a foot of water is not much compared to other areas.  A foot of water means a four foot drywall cut and "basic" remediation to replace flooring,  electrical outlets and everything under the cut line.  It's the properties that had water to their roofs that can't be saved.

FEMA and the SBA can help but it is a VERY long process. There might be some immediate help for temporary housing and other grant programs but expect a very long wait and process to rebuild. If she is able to get back, does she have some place to stay? My experience from Ike is that the paperwork required to get long-term help is about two inches high and is pretty daunting for most folks. If you can assist her with it, then there are several programs that can help her now and long term. FEMA will do everything from getting her a temporary place to stay including a trailer in her yard to writing her a check for up to $33k so she can rebuild. After Ike, tons of folks received checks for $28k with NO restrictions and I can tell you first hand that many of those folks used them for things like new motorcycles and other luxury items instead of repairing their properties. Then they either abandoned their properties or sold them for pennies on the dollar after they spent the money on other things. Many elderly simply moved in with their family members and left their homes. I am still finding Ike rehabs from 2008 where that is the case.

So, in your mother-in-laws case, what is it she want to do? stay or sell? If she wants to stay then going to a FEMA center is her best option or starting the application online at disasterassistance.gov is the starting point. The SBA is the agency that then handles the loan programs even for non-business owners. This is very confusing for many b/c they are not business owners but it is the SBA that handles residential owner loans. I would say she register for any and all assistance out there including FEMA, the SBA, city and county programs, programs for elderly residents, churches and other non-profits who are willing to help her rebuild. Heck, I have an agency who will be helping to rebuild homes for those with no other resources so let me know where the property is.

Let me know what she wants to do with the property and I can give more options for resources.  Good luck to her and your family.

You might want to post this over in the mobile home park forums. Jefferson Lilly and others can give you more info on financing or partnering options. You can do hard money loans but the LTV will be pretty low some as low as 50% loan to value so your appraisal will be critical. What is the cap rate on the property?

One creative strategy we've used is to sell off or partition off part of the land so that you can get a separate loan on that land/parcel and use that as your down payment for the other piece.  For example, we had a 14 acre property where the park sat on about 4-5 acres so broke up the other 10 acres, sold 2 acres and put a first lien on park and on the remaining acreage with a different lender.  Lots of creative strategies but depends on how the park is situated, if there are other assets/acreage that can be separated, what the upside is, can the rents be raised?  First question is, "Is the park worth $1.2mm?"  how many spaces, what is the cap rate.  All those can help you get the best financing options.

Hi Jordan, what about trying to contact other local RV Park owners?  Unlike apartments and other types of real estate most MH and RV Parks are Mom  & Pop type development with few corporate developers.  Developing a park from scratch is not an easy undertaking even with the partial process started.  The issue is that it can take quiet a bit of time to fill a Mobile Home Park and RV Parks can also take time to fill unless there is also a current demand.

I'll message you for more info as I may have some resources for you.   Good luck!

Surely you did a survey when you purchased the property?  If not, then get one done now.  If it's a private road then it probably is up to you and possibly the others who are using it to fix it.  Counties/other government entities can choose to abandon certain pieces of property or just not do the upkeep if they so choose.  Trying to force them to spend money is a long haul and if you're talking about hiring an attorney to force them to do, why not just spend the money to fix the road instead?  Then you can claim ownership over time.

How carefully did you read your Title policy?  Were the shortages added into the policy?  You need to find out exactly what you bought and who's on record as the owner as well as any easements.

I've learned that in Texas there are ways to offset the costs of installing public utilities or hybrid systems using private utility companies.  The way it works, as I understand it, is that you pay for the initial installation and work with a private utility company to manage.  The state will give you a low cost loan for the development and then there is a loan forgiveness program that pretty much eliminates the loan.  

You need to call Melissa at Freudenberg insurance in Galveston.  She knows everything about the ins and outs of vacation rental insurance.  Tell her I sent you!

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American Tracers is awesome for skip tracing.

Folks, the poster said, "it is going into forelosure," not a REO. That means they are dealing with the current homeowner not the bank. So Yes, they can assign this to an end buyer right up until the day of the foreclosure auction. I've seen some stopped at the trustee sale by investors paying the arrears; some taken with no title policy but again, the investor knew what they were doing and eliminated the risks in other ways. If you have a good relationship with a Title company, some can do 3 day turn arounds on Title policies; just depends on the situation.

Absolutely!  Your insurance provider is one of your best partners in your investing.  Yes, soil is poor all over but Texas is huge so you can get a soil analysis from your local agricultural extension.  In the Houston area we have thick clay soil which expands and contracts due to weather cycles.

As far as Mother Nature - well, at least we get several days notice for Hurricanes on the coastal areas.  We have plenty of time to prepare, pack and leave when told to do so.  Tornados, storms are not unique to Texas and hit with no notice - like fire.  All you can do is keep insurance.  Same with earthquakes in CA - how do you prepare for those?

Dallas & Houston are two of the most air-conditioned cities in the world, so yes, HVAC costs will be higher.  Like everything else, you factor it into your investing.  

Your total insurance needs may be dictated by your mortgage or lender as well.  I live on the coast and I will drop flood insurance as soon as I pay off this mortgage.  It won't pay me back for losses as windstorm insurance is what will cover me in a total loss situation.