All Forum Posts by: James H.

Bruce, I just sent you a private message with the address.  The answer to most of your questions is "yes."  Live answering.  Text.  Flexible appointment times.  Yes, we would pay Realtor commissions.

You mentioned a sign.  We had one for about 10 days - before it got stolen.  I got one call from the sign.  It was a gentleman who claimed that he was currently paying $900 for a 2 bedroom in the same area.  (I do not believe that.)  I told him that I would suggest he not move because he is getting a bargain. :-)

Looking for suggestions...

We have a two bedroom condo in North Dallas (North of LBJ) in a decent neighborhood.  We bought it two years ago, fixed it up a bit, and put it in the market.  We got about 5 serious calls per day and had it rented within a week.  The tenant moved out at the end of June.

On July 3, we put the condo on Zillow, Cozy (which lists it on Realtor.com), and several other sites.  We have gotten 2 to 3 inquiries per week since then and just 3 showings.  The vast majority of inquiries are not serious and 75% of the showing appointments have not shown up - even though we exchange texts about an hour before the showing to confirm.

Our asking price for rent is $100 more than it was two years ago, which is still $25 lower than the two bedrooms at the apartment complex across the street.  (The complex across the street is not nearly as nice.)  At one point, we lowered the rent back to where it was two years ago.  But, that week, we got no calls at all!

On Sunday of this week, we posted the condo to Craigslist.  We verified that the listing as posted.  But, we got no calls from Craigslist.

Suggestions?  Has the rental market slowed this much?

Jim

"Steve Buys Homes"

I am interested in contacting estates about abandoned homes and am also interested in contacting landlords who have just had to evict tenants.

I went to the JP court of a judge who presided over an eviction that we had to do last year.  I spoke to the staff and even to the judge.  Both told me that there are no records of court cases that the JP has presided over.  Does anyone find this odd?  I would have thought that the office would at least keep a calendar for the judge so that cases are not double booked.  And I would have thought that such information would be available either online or with a FOIA request. 

The second question is about death and probate records.  I notice that many abandoned homes are owned by people who have passed away and that many of them have no relatives listed on their obituaries.  Without that information, how can I find out who the administrator of an estate is?  

Jim

This is a crazy question...

I have a 17 year old who is going to college in NY.  He is a freshman at a community college and is working on an Associates degree in Business.  Before he went off to college, he was very involved in our rental/rehab business and is quite good at being able to evaluate properties for rehab scope/cost, marketability, etc. 

He would like to get a real estate license as soon as he turns 18 and would like to work with one or more brokerages to do research (tax records, mortgage records, CMAs, etc.)  And he is also interested in working with investors to write/negotiate aggressive offers.  He would like to get started as soon as he can get licensed.  Is it possible for him to take classes for credit now and then write the exams after his 18th birthday?  How about classes and exam now - and just hold off until his 18th birthday to actually apply for a license?


Jim