All Forum Posts by: Bill Patterson

Vikram,
You and I are often on the same page on issues and I value your input! This said, I have to disagree with you on this one! We buy & sell short sale properties Nationwide and without the market evaluations and comps supplied by the Realtors that we work with, we would have no clue. I have no faith in the "Zillow" type market search. I have checked them and their info is often way out of line! We still ask for comps and also evaluate our offers, but the Realtor's local knowledge is of critical importance. Even when we are in our own local area and run our own comps from the MLS, we also evaluate the recommendations of the local Realtors that we work with. I like to think that we are good, but another set of eyes and another perspective never hurts!
Bill

Mitch,
I've installed pex for radiant floor heating and snowmelt systems for 20 years! This is a much more stressful environment for the piping with the extreme temperature fluctuations and the piping has been used in Europe for domestic hot and cold water systems for at least that long. It's good stuff and I use it in all of my new condos that I build.

Polybutylene is the subject of many a law suit! When I was in the plumbing business about15 years ago, we had two (2 man crews) that just re-piped mobile and modular homes with the stuff in them. It will keep leaking until it is all replaced.

As for the epoxy coating or the water lines....I'm not sure I would spend the $$$. I have used it for large lines that were not accessible, but it was expensive. The last time was a high school pool, main drain. We did not want to tear up the pool tile floor to replace it. It took 2 applications to get it to hold and that was just a straight 50 ft, 8 in. dia. line with one elbow to the main drain. I don't know how they could do all of the elbows, tees, etc. while not damaging the valves that are installed. Things may have changed a lot, but I would just replace it with pex and be done with it!
Bill

I did get my post and answer to Bill Gassett's request to let him know what was false information, on the comment section of his article. For some reason....It would not accept posts from me, but it did accept one from Jackie's computer!

From my standpoint, this debate is over. I'm not going to waste any more time repeating to Bill my points, when he will not consider them. This is not a debate anymore. I well know that I can not convince every Realtor of the benefits of using and investor. All Realtors do not need one and many are capable of doing the work themselves. Many more are not or do not chose to spend their time in negotiations. These are the Realtors that we work with. Bill seems to have a system down that works for him and his clients. All that I have a problem with, and I said it in my very first post, is that his article is full of misleading statements and false information that spreads a negative cast over all investors. I don't use the same, broad brush to paint all Realtors and Bill should not use the same broad brush to paint all investors as he did in his article.
I'm going to post on a thread where relevant input is appreciated! Signing off!!
Bill

Oops! This page appears broken. DNS Error - Server cannot be found.

I tried to post it as a comment on your article, Bill, and got the above message. Maybe the server is down, so I will try it again in the morning.
Bill

“The answer is real simple. One of the biggest reasons why many short sales never reach the closing table is because the seller accepts an offer that is too far under market value and the lender rejects the contract denying the short sale.†False! If the lender rejects an offer, the investor or any other buyer can respond to a counter from the lender. Most investors will continue until an agreeable price and terms are obtained. Many “retail†buyers will not, because they have been advised to place multiple offers on different short sale properties and go with the one that is accepted. This is where the seller loses and the process starts all over again.
“There are also situations where the investor buyer is the referral source to the listing agent. The listing agent may be given an incentive from the investor buyer to take on a short sale in return for receiving the re-sale listing after the investor buys the short sale home. In essence the Realtor lists the house again when the home is being “flippedâ€. For performing the transaction for the investor the Realtor is promised they will handle more of these transactions in the future. The problem with this arrangement is very simple.
Any Realtor who signs a contract with a seller to sell their home is working for that seller! It is the Realtors fiduciary responsibility to get the seller the best terms and conditions. How can a Realtor do this when there is an inherent conflict of interest? THEY CAN’T. This is a short sale scam!!†False! False on one count and misleading on another! First, Realtors livelihoods depend on referral business and there is nothing wrong, unethical or illegal about referring business to an agent that is doing business with you and performing in a competent and professional manor. To call this a “short sale scam†(using your words) is ludicrous! The second thing is misleading. Getting the seller “the best terms and conditions†in a short sale means no or as little deficiency as possible. The homeowner gets no benefit from a short sale, so a sale price of $100,000 with no deficiency on their personal residence is as good as a sale price of $125.000 with no deficiency!
“Firms such as Bank of America and others have language in their short sale approval letters that prohibit the flipping of a property and after closing they will audit transactions to identify “flips†or “flopsâ€. False! BOA does not always have this language in their approval letters. In addition, FHA has placed a moratorium on their 90 day no re-sale requirement to allow investors to flip properties.

The title of your article is also misleading. “Beware of The Short Sale Investor|Short Sale Fraud†In the whole article, there was one correct example of short sale fraud. The rest was misleading and / or false information that was intended to cast a disparaging light on legitimate short sale investing and to market your business. I have expressed disappointment at your condescending remarks to me as well as your personal attacks on others that disagreed with you.

Now that you have moved to Bigger Pockets to continue this discussion away from the eyes of your readers, I hope that you will consider the input of the investors that have commented. I think I will also place this post as a comment on your article and see if it passes moderation.

Bill

Definitely tile under the DW! Since you cannot reasonably tile under the cabinets, the shim under the tops is a great option. Check your DW height first, though. Usually there is enough adjustment to make up the additional 3/8" or so that you will need. Also in a worse case scenario, I have taken the adjustment feet out of the DW frame and gained over 1/4".
Bill

Sam,
Your post just goes to show that all of the mortgage fraud that is talked about is not just about investor fraud. Unfortunately, when short sale fraud is talked about the statistics quoted include all mortgage fraud in most cases.
Thanks,
Bill