All Forum Posts by: Adam Johnson

The official answer is "it depends".  Most likely, it is going to depend on the laws within your state (which I am not familiar with).  The easiest way, in my opinion, is going to be to negotiate or incentivize your ex somehow, versus the legal route.  Maybe you could offer to pay for the first 30 days of storage at a self storage nearby, do the agreement in her name and have her sign, but you put up the money for the first month.  That way, it becomes her problem and no longer yours.  You may or may not want to offer help to get it there too.  Make sure NOT to put the storage agreement in your name!  You are just making a "donation" of the fee for her benefit.

As @Dawn Anastasi said, you can also try more of a strong arm approach where you start pushing her to motivate and move her stuff.  This may work also, it may also backfire.

The final approach is the legal process.  Not that the 2 options above are necessarily illegal, they just assume that the ex is at least semi-cooperative.  If things ended badly and she is totally uncooperative, you may need to take the legal process approach, which will vary by State and possibly local law.  In NY, you would have to "evict" her personal property.  I won't run you through the whole process, but I will say it takes a fair amount of time (possibly a couple months).  In the end, if you do an eviction in NY, you would still have to store her personal property for what the law calls "a reasonable period of time" (how is that for being specific?!) before disposing of it.  Huge pain!

Your state process may be very different.  In my opinion, you are time ahead trying to help grease the wheels, negotiate to help somehow, get it over with reasonably peacefully, and move on.  I don't know the specifics of the break-up, but even if it was less than friendly, I think this is your best bet to close the chapter as soon as possible.

Good luck.

@Robert Fisher - my first thought is that your total approach is flawed.  Your approach seems to be using the asking price as the starting point, then trying to come up with a statistic that says how much below asking price you should offer.  Huge mistake.  That assumes that the seller has priced the property correctly, using comparable sales and NO emotion whatsoever.  This doesn't happen very often.  If you had a $ 100,000 property and somebody offered you $ 150,000, would you take it?  Sure you would.  Much the same, many sellers, as you know, start at a "dream" price and look at the offers that come in, then decide if they can live with that offer.  Some sellers are well-advised when they list, listen to the advice given, and price it appropriately from day one.  As a BUYER, it is your job, along with your BUYER'S AGENT if you are using one, to determine if the seller and their agent if applicable have priced it properly in the first place.

I have offered full asking price for properties before.  I have also offered 1/3 of the asking price before.  Believe it or not, the property that I off 1/3 of the asking price was accepted at around 40% of the asking price.  This was a combination of improper pricing, along with strong justification on my side for my offer.  It also helped that the selling agent was willing to listen to why I offered what I did and the situation made sense to close that deal.

I have presented offers that are crazy compared to the asking price.  I always can back up my numbers with justification.  Sometimes I tick people off with what I offer.  I have had sellers walk out of the room screaming at me, I have been asked to leave and quit wasting their time, you name it.  I have also closed a fair number of deals.  I am a ready, willing, and able buyer prepared to close the deal.  I know my numbers and do my homework (I don't use Zillow) ahead of time and I can back up every figure that I use to determine my opinion of value.  I don't write offers on emotion (other than my personal residence), it is all about good numbers.

In my earlier post, I stated that you have to determine what the property is worth today in order to make an informed decision.  I never use the asking price in any part of my formula for what to offer, EVER.  Use your own numbers ALWAYS.  Part of your purchase is emotional due to your long term plan for this property.  That will very likely reduce the investment quality for this particular property because emotion will come into play.  What you describe is partially speculation too, which makes it tough to pin down a value.

I am not familiar with the market nor the type of property.  My opinion is merely how I look at all investment properties.   It's a numbers game.  If you use good numbers, you get ahead.  If you use bad numbers, you don't.

Hope that helps.

I am going to take a little different approach in my response.  Nothing has been posted (other than Zillow) to indicate why this deal makes any sense.  Investing means you buy something that you hope will have a greater value now or in the future!  Nothing posted says that analysis has even happened.

I don't mean to sound rude, so please don't take my comments that way.  You are about to make a serious (and expensive) rookie mistake that may prevent or discourage you from ever investing again.  I am saying something to try to help, not offend.

When looking at ANY investment, you need to determine 1) present value and 2) future value.  You also need to determine 3) what factors are involved in realizing the future value.

In your example, you need to determine what it is worth today to a ready willing and able buyer.  Zillow is not going to give you that.  An experienced professional can give you a reasonable guess, but even that is not a guarantee.  At least using a human you get the opportunity to ask why they gave the opinion they gave.

You then need to determine the future value.  Basically, how will you make money on the deal.  Too many scenarios exist, so I will leave it at that.

Finally, you need to determine what you need to do to realize your gain.  Do you fix something and sell it for more than the cost of repairs?  Do you sit on it and wait for a big developer to buy it to tear down and build a mall?  Do you sit back and collect rent for the next 20 years?  A combination of the above?

My best advice to you would be to learn how to answer these basic questions before writing any offers.  You are looking at some pretty hefty numbers if you make a mistake.  Again, none of my comments are intended to be offensive.

Good luck, happy investing!

@Jennifer S. if you are shaking a tree and no fruit is falling out of it, there is a possibility you are shaking the wrong tree. It has already been said, but I will say it again, start looking for new ways to find deals. I would say that less than half of the deals I have ever done were listed on the MLS. I will go on to say that not all Realtors are equal. There are some rock stars and there are some that shouldn't quit their day job.

I started with bad credit, no money, and an unbreakable drive to succeed.  So far, so good.  Start reading about creative financing.  You will likely NOT find the perfect recipe.  You will, however, find several key ingredients that you can combine to get a deal done...WHEN you find the right deal.

I will share some advice I was given early on..."if you find the right deal, the one that makes a ton of sense to close, the money will find you, you won't have to find the money".  Start learning how to find REALLY good deals.  You will dig through a lot of information, you will look at a lot of bad deals, you will feel you are wasting time.  You will also be learning how to find the low hanging fruit, the deals that are full of "juice".  I have gone years in between deals because I haven't found the right fit.  I have also had deals come to me when I wasn't looking to buy, simply because people knew what I did and how to get in touch with me.  I might do several deals at a time, then nothing for quite a while.

The bottom line is if it was easy, every body would be doing it.  When I started out, I put a simple ad in a local paper that ran every week.  Something like "I buy real estate.  Call ..."  My phone wouldn't ring a lot.  However, I closed a couple deals that brought enough equity that I could run that ad for a couple hundred years and still be money ahead.  It was simply, cheap, and easy to do.  It got me in front of people to try to close deals.  Many went nowhere, but the experience I gained was invaluable.

Don't quit because you get knocked down or fall down.  Get up, brush off the dust, and keep going.

Good luck, happy investing!

@Eddie T. - my advise would be to contact local/regional lenders close to where you/your properties are located.  The portfolio lenders that I work with are sensitive to the property location.  I see you are in Jamaica, NY.  There is a fair distance between you and I, so I doubt the lenders I work with would be much help.  I don't mind sharing the information, I just don't think it will be much help.

Develop relationships with lenders that have branches nearby.  I would also advise staying away from the larger national/regional lenders with a very large footprint as they are less likely to offer portfolio financing.  That isn't to say that they won't, only to say that they are less likely.  I like to follow the path of least resistance, time is money.  Start with the smaller lenders/banks in your area first.

I would not push this to the point of a restraining order by any means!  It sounds like you had a decent conversation and that your instinct is good with the owner's attitude.  Don't push your luck, if you tick her off, you will likely no longer have your calls answered.  Having been developed by her late husband, she is probably well tuned in to the property and has a business mind.  I doubt you are dealing with an amateur here.  You need to make a friend, not an enemy.

I have had similar situations.  I would tread lightly.  If you are nearby, maybe make a point to stop at the park during business hours in the next couple weeks and see if you can introduce yourself to her, give her a business card, and simply say that you spoke with her recently and wanted to put a "face to the voice on the phone".  Keep the door open, but don't force your way in.  Ask if she minds if you check in once in a while.  If she is ok with that, then maybe make a phone call every couple months and leave it at that.  Stay visible, but not annoying.

Good luck!

It has already been stated to get a "tick" tester, as they are commonly referred.  More on that in a second.  First and foremost, never, ever, ever ASSUME any wire/circuit is dead without first verifying it.  I have encountered some potentially deadly situations where my first assumption was, "there is no way that is live", only to find out with my "tick" tester that it did, in fact carry voltage.

In my opinion, the cost of a decent tester is worth far more than going "cheap".  I have a decent one in the door of my truck and use it regularly.  It cost me maybe $ 30-40 and has adjustable sensitivity.  I usually start with it at the highest sensitivity.  When I get close to a live circuit, it flashes a light and beeps.  Mine will pick up live lines behind drywall, power at switches through plates, as well as common cable sheathing.

I am not an electrician, but I work around it enough to know when to take 5 minutes extra to get my tester from the truck.  Ever run a screw through drywall to hang a picture and run it through a wire?  Maybe I should add, "yet"?  Money well spent.

Some take the furnace and water heater too!

I will offer perspective from a park owner.  We specifically exclude investor-owned units in our community.  From the owner's perspective, it is or can be a nightmare if the home is not properly maintained.  Evictions for any reason are an even bigger problem.  What happens if the occupant pays the rent to the investor, but the investor doesn't pay the lot rent to us?  Who do we evict?  For what reason?  Evictions in NY and I assume in other states for mobile homes are already more complex and take much more time (6 months plus in some cases), I don't need this aggravation as an owner.  I assume the owner you ran into doesn't either.

I offer this not to be discouraging, only to offer perspective.  Knowing this may also give you a couple talking points when you speak with owners/managers in the future.  Knowing what is important to the person on the other side of the negotiating table and knowing about THEIR business will make you a better-equipped negotiator and will make for more success.

Don't give up, learn what you need to know.  Don't be afraid to ask why somebody told you no.  Turn rejection into education.

Best of luck, happy investing!

@John O. - many/most/all portfolio lenders will consider LLC's. I can't say exactly which it is. Fannie won't, at least not at the level that many BP'ers operate at. With the exception of my personal residence, all of my other properties are owned by LLC's, which is a primary reason I don't deal with Fannie/Freddie.

@Daria B. - don't get too dreamy-eyed yet over the non-recourse loans.  They exist, but they tend to be available primarily to larger loans.  I can't give you an exact figure, but based on my requests, I expect the figure is 7 figure deals.  To answer your question, 2 parcels means 2 mortgages. 

I would caution against blanket mortgages.  What happens if you want to sell one of the properties and keep the other?  You have to refinance the one you want to keep, adding extra closing costs and headaches.  Instead, see if the lender will accept separate mortgages, cross-collateralize, and later permit you to sell one property and keep the mortgage on the other(s).  Many will consider this option, provided it does not compromise their loan to value limits after one of the properties is sold.