All Forum Posts by: Eric Bowlin

sorry. In my head I called it 'municipal lien certificate' instead of cml

Mlc info is all online for Worcester including water bills.

I cannot find anything in the REALTOR rules or codes that specifically disallow wholesaling but anything 'unethical' is not allowed.... A net listing is where the seller receives a certain price no matter what while the agent or broker can then turn around and sell it for any price and pocket the difference without taking possession of the property. This is illegal in MANY states and considered unethical basically everywhere. Whole-saling is a form of a net listing if you really think about it and is probably a border-line activity at best. The REALTOR association doesn't look kindly upon net-listings and probably wouldn't like any sort of borderline activity such as wholesaling. I think wholesaling is risky business for any person, but it seems like a terrible idea for a licensed sales person and REALTOR.

@Kenny Bergeron I pulled it up in MLS and found exactly the property you mentioned... If you want, you can message me and we can chat about it.

Did he lie? Who knows. Just the frustration and hassle of dealing with a bank is worth something more, which is why short sales often sell far below fair market value. 

Using this logic...buying a house for 100k and putting 20k worth of work..I should only sell it for 120k. Any more for 'profit' and I clearly paid too little and must have 'lied' about it's value before purchasing. What if I have a buyer lined up beforehand who cannot qualify to buy a distressed property but will qualify for a loan when its repaired. I'm being double deceptive!.... Ridiculous. 

Usually these uses are grandfathered as zoning didn't really come around until pretty recently (60s I think?). Grandfathering generally is good until you do major work or change its use... We would call it "legal, non-conforming" So you should not require variances. At least that's how it works in my experience.

In my opinion, put your best foot forward with your offer and if you know the numbers are solid then stick with them. There is no 'bidding war' if you don't keep bidding higher. Don't make a bad deal just to get the deal.

A discerning consumer doesn't always go with the cheapest product (or highest offer) if they have met you, trust you, believe you will close quickly and without headaches...they may take a few thousand less (or pay more if you were a contractor for example). People buy the iPhone every day. It is good but spec-wise it clearly is not and has never been the superior product...and they pay MORE than the superior products cost. People get it because they like them and trust them, and other psychological reasons.

Don't mess with service dogs @Brandon Hicks . @Kevin Page  is absolutely right.

Story for your consumption: Local cafe owner that I know personally had an Iraq vet come in with his 'service dog' (I'm also a vet so I have absolutely no resentment toward him for this...generally I would be bias toward his point of view). Unfortunately, these 'service dogs' are often not trained in any manner..as the animal was running around bothering patrons and begging for their food and getting underfoot.

The store owner asked him to take the dog outside and it turned into a big issue, really bad press about a store owner who 'hates' vets and the disabled, news cameras and write-ups in the paper, lawsuit..etc.. Guy is barely hanging onto his business now. Unfortunately, the guy was probably just looking for a paycheck. There are a LOT of attorneys that will use the disabled to shop around for lawsuits by finding even small violations of the disability laws

Owner handled the situation incorrectly because he didn't know the laws. Regardless if you believe it is a 'real' service dog or a 'fake' one...DO NOT DISCRIMINATE against this person with this animal. You cannot say no because of this dog. They may or may not be disqualified because they don't meet your strict leasing requirements which you have documented and provided to them prior to application...but the dog is a non-issue.

@Guy Gimenez There is no law that I'm aware of for earnest money. It is more of what is the 'norm' and what makes you look serious vs how much you want to throw away if you walk away.

It's also done twice here..first at offer then at p&s. Often $1000 is standard for deposit at offer. Your realtor may hold that check hostage until you get to p&s while the sellers agent will do everything they can to get hold of it. It's kind of a weird game being played. 

At P&S it really depends who you are dealing with. An REO will have a bank imposed minimum (often 5%) while a homeowner may not care as much unless they are comparing multiple offers.

@Joe Villeneuve I like your stile. I have some very similar rules, but I like your simplicity with them. 

I work with 3 unit buildings mostly..so your rules fit my same rules if multiplied.

1) I don't work for less than 10k/yr/building

2) I don't invest unless I get 40% return. You want your money back in 1 year (100% ROI), I want it back within 2.

3) I didn't have this rule so I made a couple deals and locked in a lot of my money.. Took a good 6-9 months to recover from it and get moving again. I'll definitely be adopting something like your rule #3.

Thanks for your input.