All Forum Posts by: Helen Kirk

I have seen some lower priced mobile homes here in Auburn.  Some have even been rehabbed to a point.  If you get one, keep in mind that you will have to pay lot rent unless you own the lot that the mobile home is on.  You will also have to pay yearly taxes on it, and keep insurance on it.  This would an excellent way to jump in and get your feet wet and learn about things without spending an arm and a leg, but if I were you I'd also take advantage of your BP membership and learn as much as you can online before you take that step.  You will also need a bit of cash set aside for maintenance....what if's.  What if the AC unit fails, what if the water heater goes out.... electrical problems, plumbing, etc.  

I applaud you for wanting to get into real estate investing however.  I wish I had done it a long time ago!

Hi Timothy,  Welcome to BP!  You are on the right track but in my view, mobile homes are like cars, the depreciate over time much more than a house.  Since you are still a student have you considered house hacking?  If you can find a duplex, rent out one side and live in the other, you would wind up with a great rental property that you can hold long term.  There are a number of them in Auburn, and about a year ago there were quite a a few on the market.  Not so much anymore, but well worth keeping an eye out for.

I bought a 2 acre lot at a tax auction.  It can be redeemed anytime in the next 3 years, so while I am waiting to get the deed, I rent it out.  It can be rented to a church for a yard sale, a farmer for planting a garden, a parking lot for when people next door hold a party or other function.  Get creative.

Hey Hollie,  Glad you joined BP.  I've learned quite a bit since I joined.  There is nothing quite like having access to all the great minds of people that belong to this forum!  Hoping that we can still get this Auburn/Opelika Real Estate Investor's group going.  Lets get together soon!

@Joe Villeneuve could you go into detail about your #4 - Non-lienable debt?  Is this like having an amount in your bank account and borrowing against it somehow?  

I had something similar.  I bought a townhouse from a lady who was 90 years old and in a nursing home.  Her conservator was handling the sale in her behalf.  She needed the funds to help with her nursing home bills.  A local judge had to check to make sure this lady wasn't being taken advantage of.  He even came out and inspected the property himself.  It needed a lot of deferred maintenance, thus the price was a little lower than it would have been ordinarily.  

Once that hurdle was past, we had another.  This lady had no direct descendants, but we had to go to her nieces and nephews and have them sign off on the sale as well, as they may have been in line for an inheritance.  Didn't matter that she was still alive and needed the funds.  It took us about 6 months to get everything straightened out.  I closed on the property and spent about 20K to restore it to good condition, and am renting it out at this point.

Welcome to Bigger Pockets Maurice.... and War Eagle!

The last 3 times I have gone to the foreclosure sales at the courthouse steps in Lee County, Alabama, we had observers from auction.com to see the process.  They haven't cried any of their properties yet, but they told me that they will in the near future.  The last sale I went to we had a lot of properties that had high starting bids that nobody bid on.  These went back to the bank.  The people from auction.com came up to me and a few others and asked what we would have bid up to on these properties.  They actually took our contact information, so I was wondering if they might contact us later if some of these properties show up in their inventories.

@Denise Evans In our initial discussions Wednesday night seemed to be the favored choice, however we also could do Tuesdays or Thursdays. We could always hold a special session on any other evening and I'm sure it would be ok if it doesn't happen regularly. For the subject, I would think that tax liens would be the first choice, followed by foreclosures and flipping. We had some people interested in landlording, and I actually have two properties that I'm renting, but I think most of our attendees are just getting started in REI.

I'm thinking about putting a notice in the local paper, as well as inviting the Montgomery REIA people. I still belong to their group, and they have a facebook page.

@Pamela Brady thanks for the tips.  When we decide on a date, I'll make sure to include the topic in the title.  I'm excited about Denise's offer because so many of us in this area are interested in tax liens.  I've actually invested in one myself for a 3-acre level lot near downtown Opelika.

@Denise Evans we are so looking forward to this.  If you don't have a preference, I think Wednesday evenings would work best for most of this group.  Let me know what you need.  We have a large training room available that has internet access and a large Smart Board that we can use if we need it.