All Forum Posts by: Rob K.

I agree with Bill Gulley on this. Some of these questions are beyond ridiculous. There was a guy a few weeks back asking how you get comps on a property. His next question was, "What is comps?"

Most of the questions on this forum require the expertise and experience of other investors. A few of the questions require a five second Google search instead of a post that wastes everyone's time.

If someone has to ask who signs a lease or what comps are, I don't know how they will find a deal, put together the financing to purchase it, or ever make it in this business.

It would be like if I went on a medical forum and said I would like to be a surgeon and then asked what a scalpel is.

I think the Octomom was recently foreclosed on. She could use a house like that.

Corey Dutton My opinion is that the only time you should ever do business with a lawyer is if you are their client and they are working for you. In a deal like this, if any little thing goes wrong you will end up in court. That is what lawyers are indoctrinated to do from day one - litigate. It is best to avoid them at all times because their job is to lie. Watch any trial and see how many lies are told by the lawyers. They are never under oath and will say anything to get their desired result.

You should also make sure the security deposit is/was transferred to you. This is very important.

Vincent D. Thanks about the logo. Too many people view it as an evil word these days. I'm proud to be a capitalist.

I have been hearing about tougher inspections too. I just had one where the inspector wrote up a bunch of little stuff that shouldn't even matter.

I should probably add that I'm ok with these changes. I think the program should be ended altogether and people could pay their own rent. Maybe they could seek employment the way most others do.

I'm just curious if anyone else has seen these changes in their area.

HUD claims that they guarantee clear title. The closing agent that closes HUD sales in my area does not sell title insurance. You need to buy it elsewhere. If you are getting a mortgage, your mortgage company will require a title policy to protect them. If you are paying cash, there is no requirement to buy a title policy.

I never used to buy title insurance when I bought HUD houses, and I had no problem re-selling them. Since all of this robo-signing came to light, I now purchase title insurance. I've been told by several people that I'm wasting my money, but I don't want any problems down the road.

I will say that I've purchased almost 100 houses and I've never had a title problem after closing. I have had several times where a bill showed up after closing - either a grass cutting bill from the city, delinquent water, snow removal, etc. In those cases, the HUD closing agent missed the fee, but got HUD to pay those charges. It did take a while to get it taken care of.

I would recommend that you buy the insurance, even though you are not required to.

I have a tenant that is on Section 8 and her lease expires at the end of October. I just received word from Section 8 that the portion of the rent that she pays is almost going to triple for the next lease. The tenant called me saying she can't afford it and Section 8 wants her to move.

I called her case worker and was told that everyone on Section 8 is being downsized. My tenant has 2 kids and a grandchild in a three bedroom house. The worker told me that they want two people in each bedroom, regardless of age or gender. I said, "What if a 40 year old woman has a 16 year old son? What kind of voucher would she get?" She told me that she would get a one bedroom voucher. My tenant is being downsized to a two bedroom. She can stay in the three bedroom if she pays the extra amount, but she might not be able to afford it.

I asked the worker if this is nationwide. She said she wasn't sure. She told me that she is friends with someone who works at a different Section 8 office two miles away and they are doing the same thing. Has anyone else heard of this?

I've sold kitchen cabinets, old appliances, brick pavers, doors, and once a built in ironing board that I removed. I've also recycled lots of 2x4's. You would be suprised how many people will pay for stuff that you might throw away.

I used to have to pay to get rid of broken concrete, but if you put it on CL, someone will come get it for free. I gave away an old concrete double laundry tub that you see in old houses. Some guy wanted it to plant flowers in. He removed it from the basement too. It weighed a lot.

When I first started buying houses, it was a lot more time consuming than it is now. There are a lot of things that I don't like in a house - like built before 1940, flat roofs, heat that is other than gas forced air, additions that aren't done right (most additions are a mess). Before there were pictures on the computer, you would have to drive to the house and then see that it has a flat roof or is next to a methadone clinic. Now, you can look at multiple pictures without leaving your desk.

I like to go look at 10-15 houses, one after the other. If the house is junk, I'm gone in two minutes. If I like it, I will give it a good once over and write down what it needs along with an estimate of how much it will cost to fix.

I might look at 20 houses and only be interested in a couple. If I were you, I would go look at a bunch and if there's one or two that you like, then come back with your dad or a friend who knows a lot about construction and have another look. That way, you're not wasting their time looking at garbage.