All Forum Posts by: Mark Elliott

my opinion, refi the property. let the tenants make the payments just as you are now. use the proceeds from the refi to buy and rehab another property. then, when that is rented and going well, refi that and do it again. always us other peoples money. leave yourself with some positive cash flow from each place, but if you really want to move ahead, equity that is just on paper will do nothing for you. idle money does no one any good

i agree with lonnie but let me build on that. first, your credit report is based largely upon your pay history. paying early does nothing to boost your score ,but paying late will reduce your score quickly. so, pay on time. next, CARRY A BALANCE. it will actually lower your credit score if you do not use a decent portion of your avaliable credit. also, maxing out your credit cards will also hurt your credit, it is optimal to carry between 30-50% balance of your avalible limit on your cards. do not worry about intrest as long as what you are purchasing is ultimately going to gain you more in value that the cost of the intrest. i.e. why would you worry about a 25% intrest rate if you are going to make 50% on the house you are investing in?

next, ask a friend or a relative who has a strong credit history if you can sign on to his or her credit card as an authorized user. you immediately gain the history that they have on that card which will boost your rate almost instantly. beware, if they default, you could also be responsible to pay for their card.

as home inspector, of course i would recommend to have one done. a second set of eyes will almost always find something you over looked and you then have professional proof of what needs to be done. not only could this be used as a bargaining chip but you now has a complete, professional list of what needs to be done. of course, along the way, you will pick up on things the inspector does and will become better at finding things on your own, but especially with your first few flips, it is necessary. for any one here on BP that is in the western new york area, please see my profile and call me if you have need of a home inspector

here is am idea for them. since they own it out right, have them get a mortgage on it for as much as they can. the proceeds from refinancing are NOT TAXABLE. then, they sell it, and the difference between what they sell it for and what was owed is what is taxable. its done in real estate all the time

i have an interesting question for anyone who can educate me on this. here is the scenario:

i have found a " zombie house". owner moved out when the bank started foreclosure. the bank is not maintaining the property and has not completed the foreclosure process and taken title. the house is in disrepair and i am thinking the bank does not want to foreclose and take possession because the place is no where near the amount of money they would need to get out of it. 

my question. if i were to purchase the legal owners intrest in the house, could i push a foreclosure on the house and force the bank to act, or not act on their intrest? if they do foreclose, at least we have pushed it to that point. or, if they do not act, could i complete a foreclosure on my end and get the house?

the bank has NOT paid this years taxes. could i purchase the tax and put a lien on the property and force a foreclosure that way?    

any help would be greatly appreciated.    thanks to all. btw, we are talking the western new york area

hi david. doing a county records search is a good idea. you can also check for any foreclosure proceedings and such while you are there. the absolute fastest way to find the bank that holds the property is to call the local treasurers or tax authority office. someone is paying the taxes, ask who. most of the time, the bank will either pay them themselves or use an escrow agency to do it such as core logic. if that is the case, then call the escrow agent and see if they will give you that information. sometimes they will, and other times they won't. good luck

hi darvin. here is the possible deal. banks have been dropping some houses from their books lately. by this i mean they started the foreclosure, then decided it was not worth their time and effort to own and resell the house, so they drop it off their books. they then file a release of lein with the local register of deeds. that is key here. if the bank has released the lein, the house now belongs to the orginal owner and you can buy directly from them. the banks usually hire a firm such as safeguard or others to " manage" the house while it is in foreclosure. this being mowing the lawn, checking on the house on a bi-weekly basis, etc. when the lawn stops being mowed, papers pile up on the porch, taxes stop  being paid, etc. its likely the bank has released their lein. you then need to find the owner and buy him out. usually they do not care about the house and will let it go dirt cheap. good luck

first thing you need to do is get the owners permission to enter the house. this can be done via email, snail mail or whatever. enter the house either with a key the owner has sent you or break in, provided you have the owners permission. 

the most important thing here is that the bank my have a vested intrest in the house. if it has been foreclosed on, the bank is the owner and the only owner. banks have been dropping their intrests in houses recently if it doesn;t make sense to hold on to it. when they do this, the usually file a release of lein with the county or register of deeds. if this has happened, the original owner now owns the place and you can buy directly from him. check things out first. good luck

personally, i would buy several houses with the $10k, flip a few to get my $10k back and rent the others. keep repeating the process until you have set yourself up with enough cash to invest in  a better area

shaun. here is an idea. use a portion of that 800 to 840 k to secure the loan. put the amount you want to borrow in an account at the bank you want to finance the mortgage through. put the funds up for collateral. if the bank asks why you don't just pay cash, your simple answer is that you wish to rebuild your credit and you want to keep your money safe and secure. you will not have access to this money set aside as it is collateral, but you still own it. in doing this, you can rebuild your credit thru making your payments on time and refinance when your credit situation is better, then freeing up the money you have set aside as collateral.