All Forum Posts by: Bruce Lynn

Call first before you ever send anything.   Don't waste money on mailings.

You need to also find out if they have a mortgage or any liens on the house.

Where's the house in Dallas?  What part?

Use it to open a stock account at someplace like TD Ameritrade, Edward Jones, Fidelity, or Schwab.  Keep the cash in the account.  May take 2-3 days to clear or a week to clear.  When he is ready to buy the next house have them cut checks from that account to seller or title company.  There are banks that allow non-citizens and non-residents to open accounts.  First I would check to see if any US bank has branches in his country.  Typically those are banks like Citi, Bankof America, HSBC, BBVA.  If that is not an option, then try the online banks like Ally.   If he can visit, I would just go from branch to branch until you find one that will open an account.   I've done it plenty of times with overseas customers.   I've had one Wells Fargo branch turn me down, only to go to the next one down the street and not even bat an eye.   Depends sometimes who you get, what their knowledge is, if they know the rules or don't, if they're having a good day or not.

Any chance he could use the same title company on the next transaction?  Would they take the check back?

I'm sorry your were offended by the scam information above.  It is a pretty common scam.  Hey you....I can't cash this check.  Can you put it in your bank account?  I'll give you $1000 or 20%  to do that.  Then you wire transfer me the balance to my account.  You do that, and a week later your banks says the check bounced and you owe them the money.  So we're just trying to help you out.  That your friend is really really really your friend, that you trust 100% and is not going to get you in trouble and take your money.  If the money is too easy or if it just sounds like an incredible opportunity...it probably is a scam.   Be careful, that's all we're saying.

Maybe you need a different strategy?   Can you do subject to in your area?   Some people make two offers to the same seller or maybe more.   I can offer you $100,000 if we leave the current financing in place....or if I need time to secure cash funding, that takes longer and I can only offer you $80,000.  Which works better for you.? Do you want to close this week for $100,000 or a month from now for $80,000.    Be honest and give them a choice.

I think another resource might be your county commissioners office.  Your elected official.  They need all the tax money they can get, so if you're offering to help solve that problem, they might make the phone call for you.

You might also try with the different taxing entities that might each have the list.  So for example you have city property tax, county, school, hospital, flood district, etc each that has the right to tax, hit each one.   School might let you have it, where the county office wouldn't.  Chances are if an owner is 3 years behind on any one of the taxes, they're 3years behind on all of them.

Interesting....I was at two different tax sales in Texas last month in fairly small counties.  Sheriff and attorney were delayed at the first one, so I went in the tax office and started speaking with the staff.  Asked for the list and they printed it out for me.  Not in the friendly format they intended which would have been nicer, but what got printed was about a ream of paper.  They apologized, I promised to bring them a ream back.  I know these counties have small budgets and every little bit helps and it is not my county where I live.

I got to the next county early and had time to kill, so go to the tax office there and ask the same thing.  They say they want about $200 for it, and I have to make the written request.  So some days you get lucky and some you don't.  Might be worth asking a different person on a different day.  Approach might be different too....tell them you want to help clean up the back tax roll.  You might try at both the appraisal district and the tax assessor...where I live that is normally two different people and often two different offices.

You might also ask a title company if they can pull for you, or ask who they get their tax certifications from and see if you can get contact info from that company.

You might also ask if there is a law firm that handles collections.  Check with them to see if they would give or sell the list...if they won't, ask who their contact is to get it.

Last resort...donuts....and coffee.  Sponsor breakfast for the people you're dealing with.

Good luck and let us know what works.

What price range do you want to be in.   I think the trick in most of the areas you mention is there is not a lot of 2-4 family.  Almost everything is single family......or the prices are so high (around Mockingbird) that house hack probably won't make sense.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mia-anne-pham-reeves-c...

Mia Anne Pham Reeves

https://essentialaccountinggroup.com/

@Tyler Barranger  I'll DM you....as sometimes BP doesn't always like advertising/recruiting here.

A couple of thoughts I have are.....#1 what do you do with the money if you sell them?  Do you have a better opportunity somewhere else for better appreciation, better rents, lower costs, better properties, better locations?

What is the outlook for the area where they are located?  Does Amazon come to your town?  Will rents go up?