All Forum Posts by: Brian Mathews

I'm not a fan of big banks. I only bank with locals and credit union. Not sure if anybody heard story of BoA trying to repo guys house. He didn't even have a loan on it, much less BoA. Owned it outright. He racked up all sorts of legal fees and won a judgment against them to pay his fees, which they did not pay. He got a court order to repo take possession of the furniture at the local branch to satisfy his debt, they came up with funds in an hour. Not sure BoA is only bank to screw this up, but sure speaks volumes about large banks and their lack of personal concern or attention to detail.

Is it a good market? I'm curious. Its about 3 hrs from me, but don't really know a lot about it. I lived there when I was 2. I know most other larger towns in Texas are doing well. But you never hear about Corpus. My father worked for Coastal States gas back then. He said it was poised to boom in the 60s in oil with it's deep water. Lots of oil companies moving there. But Houston played their cards a little better and everybody abandoned Corpus for Houston. We're going to Port Aransas in 2 weeks, so I'll probably drive through. Go to Blackbeards, I used to go there when I was a kid and took my grandkids there 2 years ago to eat.

That's looks right to me as well. I refinanced mine 2 years ago. $85K owed at 4.38% and housepayment of $450. My taxes and insurance are double what yours are. I'd lock it and go. It look like rates jumped right at 1% today. Largest increase in 26 years.

Looks like rot, but hard to tell in pics. Are there any little mud tunnels from the ground into the house on the underpinning?

Everyplace is different. You just gotta shop it.

So you'll be giving him money then he'll be paying it back in rent? Why even bother, charge the other 3 rent, make them all split utilities and move on. No reason to overcomplicate things. This should be a fairly easy thing to do. Make him get a job and work some to pay for his share of utilities and let him live there rent free.

The BBB is a scam. They've approached me several times, its a couple of hundred dollars a year. Their claim to me is its great marketing, nothing to do with consumer protection. If you don't pay or aren't a member, they don't give a rip about you. They won't put you in there with good or bad reviews cause then it's free advertising to the company. As long as the company makes some reasonable attempt to remedy the problem and not necessarily to the customer's satisfaction, it doesn't ruin the companys reputation or grading. The trick is to wear the customer out with endless emails and through the BBB site, don't call them names or threaten them and you will maintain your rating. Your best source of services or providers is still through friends and family referrals. I prefer a referral over a website or phone book call anyday. Half my job is done getting the job before I ever set foot in the door. The other methods have a lot of time wasting price shopping tire kickers.

Education is subjective. One person might pick up something rather quickly whereas another may not. Best thing is to work with somebody who knows the ropes. Gonna be hard to start with no money and poor credit. Banks aren't going to work with you, hard money lenders might, but if you are inexperienced, they will want you to have some cash reserves, they will even if you're experienced, unless you've proven yourself. You have to bring something to the table. Maybe a skill in fixing something. The late night informercials lie.

They sound like timeshare salesman. I went to one years ago for the free tv I didn't get. I think the name "Fortune Builders" is honestly laughable. I'd be skeptical as hell. I am naturally.

I've got a customer this just happened too. Grandma signed the lease for grandson. Grandson quit paying rent and got evicted. They went to clean the place after eviction and found he was growing pot in there. Ruined all the laminate floors, pitbull chewed up all cabinets and to top it all off, his cat got stuck in the toilet and obviously died after several days. They went to extricate the cat and it's head fell off in the toilet. There is a reason they need a co-signer.