All Forum Posts by: Bruce Lynn

What I have found is the national guys often don't have a good grip on local practices.  It is a tough gig to break.  Every jurisdiction while following perhaps the same basic laws works a little differently.  The national guys may give you some broad knowledge, but often don't bid locally...even if they tell you they did/do.   I think the best education is to go to the auctions.  Network.  Talk to people.

Even if suit has been filed, you can still buy and pay off the taxes prior to the tax sale and maybe even after the tax sale.  At minimum in Texas there is a 180 day right of redemption.   The difference is at this point there could be more penalties and fees, but usually they are minor in compared with the taxes due.   So find out from the county the total amount due and figure that in with your bid.  Make sure that amount includes all taxing entities.   Sometimes the county handles everything, but in some places different taxing entities collect their own.  You could have five different taxes or so in Harris county....county, cit, school, hospital, and maybe community college or others.

Always close at a title company so they will help you collect and pay off the taxes and any other liens.

This is a perfect opportunity for you.  Don't be scared off.  I would say this is a very normal situation.

That does not sound motivated to me.

That whole deal as you describe it does not sound like a good wholesale property to me.

Sounds difficult to sell.   I think one trick today is that you see lots and lots of $750,000 homes for sale now.

Make it a weird $750,000 home and that makes it even tougher to sell.

So typically in my area the struck off list is free and sometimes online.  The sale list is free and normally online.  However just the deliquent list is often going to be more work to get and may cost money.   You might also want to limit it by a year or two.   Of course the whole system could be different where you live from where I live.  Different states have different systems.  I only know about Texas and no where else.

Everybody is different that you ask, so you have to be clear what you need or want.  Good example is last Tuesday in the county that wanted $200 for the delinquent list, turned around and said here is a free list.  The free list was the "struck off" list.  Properties that had gone through at least one sale and did not sell and therefore hit the "struck off" list.  Mostly junk no one wanted...small lots, land locked lots, nuisance homes, homes that present eminent danger, etc.  There can be finds there, but typically is slim pickens on that list.  I think you have to know what you want, ask the right person for what you want, and then work according to what you get.

Very different list.

Some accounts can go delinquent for years before they are foreclosed on....just saw one in Dallas that was about 20 years delinquent.  Not sure what the city strategy on that was to wait so long.    So you could have been after the owner for the last 20 years to sell.

Now it has gone to court, the taxing entity has won a judgement and sometime soon it will be scheduled for auction.  So once it hits the tax sale list you have to act fast typically and make your deal in the next 30-60 days around here.

Before that....well normally they'll go delinquent for 3-4-5 years before they go to court to get a judgement and sale date....so you have more time.

Hope that helps.  Also around here you can normally get the tax sale list for free online....but the delinquent list most often you have to pay.  I got one county for free the other day, but the next county over wanted $200.   I told the first county I would bring them back 1-2 reams of paper for their efforts.  I know everyone is on a budget and I might need their help in the future.

Be careful.....I don't know anything about Philippines, but in Thailand others are right on.  Foreigners can't own land.  Some people think they have a way around it, for example buying in a company name.   My thought is don't play games with your retirement money.  Every now and again someone will get pissed and decide to end this game of foreigners buying through companies, declare them all illegal and confiscate the properties.   

You can buy in a  condo in a foreign name....there are restrictions.  Foreigners can't own more than 1/2 the building and of course plenty of other rules.

There is a company called New Nordic that mostly built condo type hotels south of Pattaya and now in Samui and Phuket.  They can guarantee returns, rent your place out like a hotel room, so you can stay too when you want to go.   There is tax on rentals now, so you want to check that out.  Just recently enacted.

One logistic you have to think about is how do you use your place for vacations if you have it rented out?  Unless you only use it for short term rentals.

@Cameron Marmon Don't do it.....the numbers almost never work on condos. The HOA dues will kill the return. Remember you're paying those even when they are empty. I think you're also end up paying for amenities that you don't get the return on....for example pool, yard, fitness.

There's also more chance for things to go wrong. What happens when your tenants put the trash out on the wrong day. Maybe you get the fine and never can collect from the tenant. What happens when they disturb the owner neighbors. What happens if the owner occupants just get tired of having renters nearby and enact HOA rules to prohibit rentals. I've seen that happen at more than one place in the DFW area.

I think the other real trick is ....what is your exit strategy?   With many of these places, they won't finance or it is tough to get financing, so you are left selling to other investors with cash.  So then it becomes an issue of cash flow.

While I have no good info to back it up other than places I've been in, it seems like the tenants on these can be a little tougher on units and there is more turnover.  So you can have higher costs than some alternative investments.

There are perhaps a couple of exceptions to these ideas....one is if you think you will have enough money over time to buy most of the units in the complex.  Then you could reverse engineer it from a condo to an apartment....and then figure out how to sell it to an apartment investor...or maybe tear the whole thing down and build something with higher value.

I think one issue can be people moving in from other places and maybe even locally probably never search on River Oaks, so that can hurt you some.  it's kind of a hidden gem.

Good schools if you are in Castleberry.   It's an older community, but I like it.  I'm thinking rents are probably lower there, but also so are the home prices.