All Forum Posts by: George C.

I would go and look at #2 first and of course try to get it much lower than asking price. #1 will never be just the $30-40K you guestimate, there's always unknowns that pop up and add costs.

Expireds are expired for a reason, the seller's price is too high / unrealistic, not enough "retail" buyers in the market, poor showing property or less than desirable area.

  You calling them, mailing them or knocking on their door isn't going to change any of the above situations. I wouldn't put too much stock in going after expireds,  I think you are right in that it was a waste of time, you tried it, so there is no refuting that.

  To make it as a r/e agent you have to have a big network of people, like by being active in civic groups / clubs, church, etc, You have to be very outgoing, charming & trustworthy. Everyone you know should know that you are an agent and, Aarin Jacobs should be the name that they think of first when they or someone they know needs a realtor.  

Water mark your photos in your ads with your business name & phone number ( ABCD REALTY 111-555-1212), it's very easy to do on your computer. That alone will keep them at bay. They will sooner steal someone else's photos to scam than yours.

 What to do about now? I'd put another ad stating that your ad was hijacked and is no longer for rent, that anyone who made arrangements with someone else about the property should report it/them to the police.

I couldn't get the youtube video... :(

"OTR" = Over the road truck driver. "Homeless"= for him means living/working out of his truck that most likely has a sleeper birth & most, if not all of the comforts of home, not what you think of as typical homeless, he doesn't need a permanent address at this time in his life.

  Plenty of people here use a management company for the running of their properties, due to being too busy in their work lives or the properties are far away from where they live themselves, so it can be done.

  The key is to buy rite, you make your money when you buy, especially knowing that you will have the added expense of management & more expensive repairs, due to you not being able to do them yourself.

  If you are handy and like doing hands on repairs, try to buy in an area that you will be in, or driving thru from time to time, at least that way you can keep some costs down by doing some of the work yourself, or at least you can keep your own eyes on how the properties are being kept up.

As a landlord and past towing company owner, I wouldn't care who's name is on the title or who the lender was, if lot rent was owed to me I'd want to be paid. I'd hold the home hostage / impound till it was paid all the while accruing billable months. I would think you'd be on the hook for any past rents if you want to keep control over that mh.  I think those mh parks have a lot more power to enforce rents than you might imagine. My guess is If you're in the NY/NJ metro area they will want to see the old homes go and replace them with new modern homes that they can sell at a handsome profit and jack up the lot rents.

  Lenders get stuck in this position with cars, boats and mh's often enough. Last year I saw where a bank after 7 years came to recover an abandoned boat from storage area of the marina where I have a slip. The bank paid $14,000 in storage fees for a boat that was worth maybe $4000 cleaned up. The marina owner was so happy. I've seen this scenario played out with cars in our impound lot, houses in foreclosure. Sometimes its best for the lender to walk away from their collateral then to "spend good money after bad".

Sunny,

Nice find! I would make that 5th unit part of one of the four to get more rent out of it, or rent it for storage, something to make added rent from it. Do not tare it down, that will cost you thousands and you'll never make any money from doing that. The inspection report is ok, you don't have to fix every single thing, there is no perfect property. Even new buildings don't stay new for long.

Jalen,

It can be done, I did it when I was 22.

Background; (1990) My father owned a 2 family, one unit had a relative living in it, the other a friend of the relative. My Dad had retired and moved across the country, so he was not hands on. I was young and doing construction/contracting work and living in the area, so I would fix anything there that broke.  The relative was constantly late with the rent, so my father in his less than infinite wisdom let them pay the mortgage directly to the bank, being that it was the same amount as their rent. They would have till the 15th to do it with out it being late. Yup, bonehead move on Dad's part. 

*Jalen, never rent to friends or family*

  Everyone knows what happened, right??? Relative didn't pay the mortgage for three months in a row, My Dad had no clue, this was 1990 before computers and instant info. Dad gets a letter in the mail one day from the bank telling him that they are foreclosing on him if he doesn't come up with the arrears & costs. He didn't have that money being newly retired. Of course relative doesn't answer the phone, etc...

  I'm 22, working with no credit and nothing to show, my soon to be wife (getting married in 4 months) had been a RN nurse for less than a year but had provable income, but no credit. We wanted to buy the house because my Dad wanted out, couldn't deal with it, and being so far away.

  I talked to a friend of mine and he told me to go to this local mortgage company that he dealt with. I went there and told the loan agent exactly what the deal was. she ran our (my girl's & my) credit and was like you have none. She said that we wouldn't qualify on our own. She said that they would refinance the amount we wanted to buy out my Dad, but he would have to be on the mortgage and be an owner to get it done, being that he had good credit ( the recent problem explained to them). *She said*, wait a few months after the loan closed and have your Dad sign over a deed to just the two of us, he gets his money & you two get the house. He just has to stay on the mortgage for a while, you could always refinance in two years and get him off. So that's what we did.

 We were 22 and owned a 2 family house within 10 minutes of NYC, we got it for no money down & no credit of our own.

  Oh but the family drama that went on after that, how cold hearted I was for kicking them to the street with a baby and all, never mind they cost my father part of his retirement income forever & their friends in the other apt created problems till they got out the next month.

  Could this be replicated with a stranger-seller? I bet you could, it's kind of like buying subject to the sellers old mortgage. If they are desperate to get out and want to save their credit instead of walking away from it, they might be willing to refinance *with you* and give you the reins with the stipulation that you be able to refinance later and get them off the mortgage too. 

  We had one closing but two deeds, one for Dad granting us equal share that was filed at closing, one signed & legal giving us Dad's share, just filed two months after the mortgage closing.

There are a lot of desperate people out there in bad financial shape, that's why he's offering to do it. I've seen plenty of ads like that. It's a 50/50 shot it could work, he might know enough to give you a good job, he might be a fall down drunk or an addict... I had one like that work for me for a while, but he was a friend of my brother who was down on his luck (since he was 15, now 50). He did beautiful drywall & mud, carpentry...he just couldn't put his own life together, still hasn't. I let him stay in the homes he was working in, threw him money for food and gave him some cash when the house was done, but it was primarily room and board he worked for.

Maybe the letter is a bluff scare you into not pursuing the money owed on the lease? Maybe it's just a quick shakedown?

Either way, I wouldn't answer their letter or take their calls. 

  It costs a lot of money to sue someone, if it's not a slam dunk case where a contingency lawyer would foot the bill. She would have to put up a big retainer and be willing to risk that & having to pay your attorney's fees...and having egg on her face as well.

 I wouldn't sweat it...