All Forum Posts by: Jody Schnurrenberger

I don't know anything about investing in that area, but I own out-of-state property.  Now, keep in mind, I bought it while living there, THEN moved later, so my situation was a little different.  I get the impression that some folks on here actually buy stuff without looking at it in person (though I could be wrong).  THAT is not for me.  I'm looking at investing in another city that I don't live it...about 4 hrs away.  I plan to travel to see properties.  To me, buying will be the trickiest part for you.

Regarding having a PM, I did even before because I'm disorganized and too nice to ever evict someone.  I've always had PMs.  Are they good?  Well...mine are okay, but not great.  I'm actually looking to move away from them to another PM company, though I don't yet know who.  They take forever to fix stuff and I discovered (remember, I'm disorganized) that after 8 years, my property rent was still the same.  HUH?  Granted, you probably shouldn't raise it without consulting with me, but you should, IMO, suggest I raise it when it's been a couple of years and you know I could be getting more.  On the good side, they are the cheapest in town.  On the bad side, well, you sometimes get what you pay for.  Though I will say, they are very nice.  :-)  But whether you have a good or a bad one, you probably don't know if you aren't visiting the property.  I try to get there every year.  That's when I see they haven't done something we discussed last year or whatever.  I also call a few times a year to check on things, see if they (at least will claim they) are working on stuff we discussed, etc.

Don't get scared.  I'm sure my case is unique.  But do check on them from time to time...

No one else has answered, so I thought I'd help a touch. Sadly, I can't help much. My best advice is to do a search on BP. I've seen that question asked several times, but I wasn't interested, so I can't tell you what the answer was. But I know one of the responses broke down all these other fees you have to pay to keep your license like fees to view the MLS and such. There were like 6-8 fees, as I recall. Some you might not need, like liability insurance. But others you do. Do you NEED a RE license. No. Could it benefit you? Quite possibly. Should you get one? Research.

Good luck!  :-)

Oh, and maybe bring a copy of your credit score to put his mind at ease...unless it's low, then do NOT bring a copy of your credit score.  ;-)

I don't have any personal experience with this, but no one else has offered help, so I say, "What's the worst that can happen?  He says No?"  Go for it and good luck!  :-)

Good question.  I don't know, but maybe when I bump this thread up, someone will answer this go around.  I want to know, too.  :-)

I can't, but you can do a search on BP to find one.  :-)

So...I'm a newbie. What's "JV" stand for? lol I tried googling it, but there's actually a company called JV Properties, so that wasn't helpful. lol

My only suggestions are to post in various forums here like Goals, Business, and Real Estate Professionals and to search the BP site for agents in your area and ask them.  Good luck with your new endeavors! 

@Jay Hinrichs, there seem to be some things about foreclosures I didn't realize.  I'm happy to say, I don't have personal experience with this.

Are you 100% sure that if they sell and settle with the bank before they lose the property that it's not better on their credit rating?  It sure seems like it should be.  They got too far behind, but then they made it right with the bank.  That's got to be better than the bank being forced to take the property away.

Also, I didn't realize they got the overages from the foreclosure sale.  I thought they just lost the property and that was it.  Sucks to be them.

I don't want to be a bad person, so maybe I'll stick to regular foreclosure sales if I ever go that direction. I've always just bought off the MLS, though I'm starting to see that might not be the best way...cue Driving for Dollars, Craigslist, etc.

But I certainly agree that if you did this regularly, you would end up having to evict some of them before the year was up.  They got into financial trouble for a reason.  I wonder if they'd go for the idea of getting financial counseling as a part of the deal...just a thought...  While some people honestly had a sudden and very severe hardship(s), many simply live beyond their means and one problem causes a whole mess in their precariously balanced finances.

I like your thinking, @Paul Bowers.  It is a way of giving back to those who work behind the scenes to provide this wonderful community for us.  Because without them, this place wouldn't be half as amazing.  And without Pro members, they wouldn't be there, so...Great point!