All Forum Posts by: Bob Baldwin

James Miller : Sorry I misunderstood the point you were making . reguarding others comments : I am NOT short on cash ! . However If this deal were to proceed all monies MUST be put in Escrow . Not the Seller nor Potential Partner has access to it UNTIL after the closing . At closing the Attorneys can sort out the Tax Lien and Judgement so we start with a Clear Title . That to me means Escrow pays both and are in possession of all Satisfactions Prior to the Seller receiving any funds from the Escrow account .

As far as the consulting goes Not sure what my Advice or Opinion are worth . Obviously quite a bit more when you have your own skin in the game " LOL " !!

Also How much do you consider a "Finders Fee " to be worth ? % of Bought Price ? A flat Fee ?

My feelings are IF the potential Partners put in 1/3 and I put in 2/3rds of the money I control the purse strings . We will document a figure as to their performing the work AND WHAT they receive at Completion of said work . Which will be a seperate document unto itself .

At the completion and Mutually agreed Price They will be entitled to 1/3 rd Net Net Proceeds and myself 2/3rds Net Net Proceeds . That is the only way I will do the Deal .

Bring me another deal if at the end of the first one I am happy I might be interested in doing another one with you . But for now these are my terms take it Leave It 

James : Thanks that does make sense . as stated my biggest concern is Taking possession of the Deed Now So IF I am no longer in the picture or should she end up in some kind of financial situation then the Deed is accessable to my Heirs or Trusts .

Visited with my attorney yesterday he did in fact mention a type of exit trust . He would like a few days to Ponder his advice and speak with her attorney before we move ahead . I guess keeping the attorneys both on the same page is the priority " LOL" as to WHICH type documents get drawn up . CHA CHING !!!

Wow ! Probate Estates are something that need to be handled delicately and carefully . There are just too many type senarios that can happen and we approach each on a case by case basis . M ost importantly your timing has to be good . 

Example : Did the husband pass away leaving the wife with everything ? Is the wife now gone leaving everything to the kids ? Are the Kids living locally or out of state . ? What are the Heirs looking for or to do .? Are all the heirs on the same page ?

               One piece of advice I will give is and I see this more than you would expect Do NOT make any contact at least until AFTER the Funeral . Any call or correspondence prior to is a waste of time and really shows the person as having NO CLASS or No Feelings . 

              My wife and I would suggest to others is a WRITE A HAND WRITTEN LETTER to the heirs or spouse within a few days offering services of What we can do ,How we may assist , Many things at no charge , Disposal of contents , Estate Sales , Shipping of certain Contents to out of state heirs . Suggestions for those mentioned .

             Usually 2 days later another hand written letter with REFERENCES from 2 local Probate Attorneys along with local people contact information that we have done this for .

            No 2 estates are ever the same but I would say that doing this little extra things has really contributed to us getting priority status for us to get the property If the goals are to Liquidate the assets and NET NET proceeds dispursed to the heirs . We are in a Small town / Suburbia area and I can't tell you how many times we have actually gotten calls prior to send out the first hand written letter . Your Reputation and references still go a long way in todays world open communication to all involved is the key factor 

James : You raise some interesting points . Can you expound on your comment about " Consulting Agreements " In that context I certainly consider myself to be a NEWBIE 

kristine : Great advice !! as I said I don't NEED the deal But would like to see them succeed if possible . My greatest concern being WHY they think it is OK to give the Earnest Money to the sellers . There answer as I posed it to them was " They are going to get the money anyhow " Ignorance or Stupidity ?

             I might be willing to let the couple do the work based on a solid contract and payment schedule BUT the last thing I am about to do is write out a Check for $15,000.00 to either the seller or Potential Partner . My position being that He / She that controls the Cash , Controls the Deal . 

           I really look at this as 2 seperate deals . Buy the house ,Get the occupants owners OUT  THEN Fix and FLIP

          The Potential Partners Don't Laugh ! it appears they copied a purchase order , hand wrote it on a legal size yellow pad and they think they are Good to Go .LOL

          I might be willing to give the seller $100 earnest money and even pay Cash for the house BUT I CONTROL the SALE to me and Control The sale again If I decide to FLIP it 

         If in fact this was to occur How Much would you think should be paid to the so called partners that brought me the deal ?

I got a call yesterday afternoon from a newbie RE investor I will try to para-phrase as best as I can . We are looking to do our first deal . My husband works for a remodeling contractor , willing to do the work but we are short on cash . In your investments do you ever Partner up with others ? My answer : I have in the past but I am very particular who I choose to do business with . 

The Deal : ARV round numbers $119,000.00 Seller will accept $45,000.00 as is Not verified yet but the newbie says her husband thinks about $15,000.00 for repairs .

The Kicker : They have $5,000.00 for the deal OK But the seller says if we can get earnest money up front for total $15,000,00 they will drop the price another $5,000.00 

My curiousity : I got the sellers name and address went to the Courthouse and low and behold while there is No mortgage on the house there is a $8,000.00 Federal tax Lien and a $6,000.00 + judgement active  Somewhat funny that they the sellers were looking for 15 K in Earnest money up front .

My Concern .: While the numbers seem to work , I don't know the seller , I don't know the Newbie investors . They are wanting to take on a partner as opposed to using Hard Money Lender . WHY would I front 10K to make the deal happen ? I have no problem giving my advice and though they SEEM to be nice people in need of guidance I DO have a GUT feeling that this COULD be some type of Scam 

My Personal feelings : Do I need the deal ? NO 

                                    Would I like to see Newbies succeed on their first deal ? Yes 

Well I met the Newbies today for lunch at the Golden Arches trying to express my Negative thoughts and also trying to recall my days starting out . Also trying to explain some other options " Creative Financing " etc; along with stating which documents I would like to see drawn up prior to me even agreeing to consider doing the deal . There seemed to be some hesitation OR lack of knowledge on their part to move forward . So the question remains Ignorance on their part or possible Scam ?

Again My GUT tell me to help them along BUT DON't put any money into the Deal . Your Thoughts Please ?

Net worth and Wealth are in the eyes of the beholder !! Once my assets reached $5 million Both the wife and I decided to take a 30 day trip to europe London , Rome , Paris etc; enjoyed the sights but really no desire to return . The one place I have not visited but find it intriguing is Australia would like to spend 30 days there with different stops thru-out 

The kids 1 boy 1 girl never lacked for anything ,Yet they never really wanted much . They both got married within 2 years of each other . I offered to buy each a house and they both said NO . funny though when growing up they always had their brother / sister conflicts but now they live next to each other . They are both in almost identical houses .I offered assistance to both but they wanted to have a mortgage to Appreciate what they had .so in essence I bought both houses for Cash and sold them each for a Mortgage of 85 K $$$

Fast forward 15 years they have paid off each of their houses , I have done a few deals with them so that they each have 2 kids and their colleges are paid for and IRA's established . Neither wants to leave their jobs as they both enjoy what they do .

The wife and I still live in the house I built 2 years after we got married .

As far as Splurging $$$ I bought a house on a lake in Northern Maine and a House on a Canal lot in Port Charlotte Fla. Sold 2 of my investments to do so . Also bought a used 35 ft fishing boat paid 90 K but it would have been 400 K new why buy new ?

I will confess that I have always been an admirer of Ferrari's my best man bought one about 9 years ago . He passed away about 2 years ago . His wife called my wife to see IF I were interested in it ? Knowing that I was ! I let the wife give it to me for my 65th Birthday .

Not sure how many generations the wealth will flow down to at this point can only hope the generations will keep passing it forward . 

NO ROLEXS for us the TIMEX just keeps a ticking LOL As others have said If you have your love of family , Your Health , Appreciate what you do have , Contribute to those who have Real Needs . Then on your death bed you can say " I Died A Wealthy Man BUT I just can't put a Dollar Value to It  "

Rick : This property is in Kentucky Not in California . If there had been any mention of a " Life Estate " I simply would have walked away from the deal 

          Like I said doing the deal with 25K down is not a problem ,I am just wondering at this point if the deal you did that you said was similar did you supply Earnest money to lock in the deal before the estate was fully probated ? 

         Also at which point would you consider doing a title search ? Just to make sure everything is in order " No Liens " as an example . If you read my original posting the way she wants it structured I am thinking I would need to do a title search now and then again at 5 years when she is ready to step out of the picture . Advice Please ?

Dave : I sent you a PM . If you read my original posting it is pretty obvious she is short of cash to be able to fix what needs to be repaired . Working out some of the numbers I had mentioned to her late this afternoon that I would change the sale price from 50K to 59.9 K if she wanted to just walk away from the property .She stated the original agreed upon deal is where she wants to stay . As long as my attorney and her attorney are on the same page I am OK with it 

Skylar : Thanks for your Concerns . Literally 5 minutes ago I just got off the phone with her attorney ,He called me to confirm What my Plans and Thinking were . Her attorney Father and Son law offices ,whom I have used personally in the past are Great and also investors themselves . I probably would have called them myself but my Primary Attorney also another investor I am scheduled to see on Monday .to review all intents at this time .

Unlike some Investors I am more comfortable having legal representation on my part for all my Investments be they LLC's Trusts , Probate Matters etc; Particularly if seller is based out of state .

Just don't recall this senario having been discussed before perhaps it has and I missed it .

As far as me making a decision I am hoping to find imput from members on BP . Yet not knowing all the probate laws in my state and California ultimately I will leave that up to both attorneys to keep the deal moving forward