All Forum Posts by: MaryAnn Houghton

We purchased a rental Nov 28, 2012 for cash. At the time of closing, we paid the winter taxes and our portion of the summer taxes on the property.

I was on the city assessor's website today to confirm what taxes were paid last year. The site had not updated the payment for the winter taxes yet so I called the assessor's office. I was informed that the winter taxes had not been paid and that there were late fees now associated with the account.

My next step was calling the title company and the gal that did our title work is on vacation this week. After a bit of digging, her colleague informed me that only the person that did the original title work could assist me and that I would have to leave a message on voice mail. I promptly did this.

My questions are as follows:
1) Is this a common occurrence that I need to follow up on after each of my transactions? I have not had this issue with past transactions.
2) Am I responsible for the late fees since I paid the taxes in full in November to the title co?
3) What should I specifically be asking the title co to do (other than pay my taxes) when I speak with them on Monday?

I don't see a benefit, as of yet, to demand to speak with a supervisor immediately (today) despite being cranky about the whole thing.

Thank you for your input. This came out of left field for us today.

We were literally in the same situation last May with a not so short, short sale.

Our realtor assured us that due to the neighborhood, we needed to bid the asking price of 70K. We initially were going to bid 50K but due to the recommendation of our realtor went 55K with her assurance that the bank would not accept.

The bank did accept and then the negotiation of the final price commenced due to the condition of the home. Short of the story is that we closed at 40K after everything was all said and done.

If you feel the home is worth a certain amount bid that amount. The worst that can happen is the bank rejects your offer and you may either need to rebid or look at another opportunity. Either way you will have less of a chance to leave good money on the table.

We firmly believe we paid in the end 5-10K more than we should have and attribute it to listening to our realtor. Lesson learned on our part.

Good luck! Please keep us updated on where you go from here.

We have stumbled across a duplex currently bank owned and on the market. The neighborhood is a little rough but the $29k listed for at first glance makes the property interesting. We are pretty sure that we can get the price down to $20k ish (if not lower) and could rent it in the $500/unit/month range. This is in a smaller town where everyone knows everyone elses business. So we know some of the history on this duplex.

The duplex was built on a slab and not properly insulated (between the home and the slab). There is a cronic problem with mold in the house that is believed to be sourced from the condensation between the slab and the home when it is occupied in the winter time. Multiple previous owners, when they decided to sell would paint over the mold so the mold would be more difficult to detect.

We know that the duplex has been through the sherrif sale process, still belongs to the bank and sits empty. We have not had an opportunity to go in ourselves or have our team take a look at it yet so we don't know the true condition of the home or if the mold truly is still an issue.

In looking at the boards, it looks like mold is something that, when remediated correctly, is something that can be delt with. At what point though do you determine that the deal is not worth it? If we play our cards right, we think we may be able to knock the price down significantly further due to the mold issue.

To make it even more interesting, the same bank owns a second duplex of the same vintage and floor plan 2 doors down. This second duplex is not on the market yet though. It is probable due to the similarities that this second duplex may have the same mold issues.

Any thoughts, suggestions and red flags would greatly be appreciated.

Hi Frank L. DeFazio
Andy Houghton and I are starting out our rental empire and live outside Philly.
Welcome to Bigger Pockets.

Andy and I are here!

While we have always subscribed to using an "expert" in areas we are not familiar in, we made the mistake last year in using a buyer's agent for a short sale.

We found the house on our own and contacted a buyer's agent to place a bid. We now know better than to allow an agent to pursuade us to raise our opening bid. Also, we should have recognized the red flag when she advised us that it was a long process and that she hadn't had many short sales actually close.

Despite our agent, we did finally close on the short sale 6 months later. As far as both the buyer's agent and seller's agent were concerned, the dates on the offer and addendums really didn't amount to a hill of beans when dealing with banks and short sales. The bank will respond and do what they like when they get around to it.

With that being said, legally we had an out to walk away during most of the process due to the lack of response from the bank. If we were to do the deal again, I would probably give the bank 30 days to respond rather than the week or two typically given in a standard Michigan sales agreement.

I am in. Thanks!

David Krulac and Steve Babiak, Thank you very much for your thoughts. They are appreciated. We will investigate limitations of lease terms.

One more wrinkle that should be considered, while we do reside in PA, the home is in Michigan.

We have a lawyer in MI that has agreed to review the final lease draft (he rode the short sale rollercoaster with us during our purchase last summer) to ensure it protects us and my parents, but he recommended we draft the lease since we would need to iron out the details as well.

Thank you for the interesting disucssion on Life Estate and story about the Life Estate. In this case though, it is a lifetime lease which is slightly different from what we have been told. The Life Estate is more commonly known about.
Our understanding with the lifetime lease is that it is similar to a normal lease and the tenant pays rent. At least that is what we currently have set up. The difference is that the lease term is for the lifetime of the tenants. Often this option is good if the tenant is an older parent or relative of the owner.
Our verbal agreement is that they cover all the maintenance and repairs/improvements. We have not written a lease before (our first rental) and are having a hard time getting our brains wrapped around how to construct a lease that would give them lifetime rights to live in the house.

The lifetime lease allows us to have a better insurance policy for a better price. Also, it includes everything that would have been covered under a renter's insurance policy which resulted in a savings for both us and my parents.