All Forum Posts by: James Bell

I haven't see any evidence of them buying retail here. I'm going to have to ask around and see if they are. I have no problem with them buying retail! Tides and rising boats....

In the last year in the Denver Market a few very large Investment entities have been showing up at the trustee sales and buying heavily. Most have address from Malibu CA, and Scottsdale AZ. Their representative comes in with a couple of million in checks every week and outbid even the heaviest of local investors. They are buying mostly lower end SF houses but I've noticed they will purchase high end houses at times. I haven't done any follow up with what they are doing with these properties. When I have some time I might just look into that. I do know they have bought a few stinkers for way to much and this makes me wonder how they evaluate their deals. I don't think they do much actual looking, but I don't really know for sure. Luckily for me, they haven't showed up at my main county of interest......yet.

An update. I got auction.com to get the legal description added. You would have to be out of your mind to buy a property without the legal description. Auction.com will try to strong arm you into signing, but hold your ground. They caved when I said I wouldn't do the deal without the legal and had a little AZ state law to help me. The fees are ridiculous. The staff don't know much about real estate or real estate law. They stick to their scripts and you have to fight through the 1st layer to talk to someone with any knowledge or ability to get things done.

This is a very inexpensive property and the fees are almost 20% of the property price. The escrow company they are using is in CA and not very communicative. They don't offer any title insurance on many of these deals. Do your due diligence before hand and know what you are buying. In this case I was able to buy title insurance. I will have the deal closed on Friday.

This is the 3rd deal I've had with auction.com. The other two were much easier deals and were more standard deal, sold with Warranty deeds and title insurance. This blind buying isn't for the weak at heart. I can't imagine myself doing this on any property over $50K. Way to much risk. On this particular property I paid $19K and I figure the place is worth around $65K in good condition. Is it? Good question. Because this is an AZ house I fear termite damage more than anything. I will update when I find out.

Wow, I'm dealing with Auction.com on one of their real estate wonders and I just have to shake my head. They want me to sign a contract without a legal description! The representative claims most of their deals don't have one in the contract....... Dealing with them is shady enough, but this one takes the cake. Of course it's a Nationstar property......No legal, no deal......

Two years ago I would have to have put granite and hardwood in a low end house just to sell it. Today, as our market has improved, I will easily sell the same house with carpet and laminate counters tops. Supply and demand.....

Every new agent I know of late has used "American Real Estate College" and i think they all did the online course. I believe most of them went that route because it is inexpensive. But, you get what you pay for. I'd ask a connected employing broker for their input. To bad the Shwayder School is no more. It was a really good real estate education.

I'm looking at a deal in Colorado that has a bunch of markers screaming "BEWARE!" at me. Unrecorded deed, refusal to use state real estate commission contracts and general evasiveness when answering questions. Has anyone done any deals with Nationstar Mortgage or Housepad LLP? I'm starting to believe they may be the same entity or closely connected.

I'm better off, I have a strong cash position and have been able to make some great deals because of the economic conditions. I also believe that most self motivated people are going to do well no matter what the conditions are. Some people get it, others *****, whine and will never quite get it. JMHO.