All Forum Posts by: John Underwood

Go to Homeaway.com check for properties similar to what you are interested in for areas you want to check and look at their availability calender to see when they have reservations. Check 3 to 5 properties and this should give you a good idea.

John

Shawn,

I would market them on BP, Craiglist, possibly Ebay (I have sold tax lien properties on Ebay with good sucess). Find your local Real Estate club and market to them. I have always sold with a quiet claim deed to an investor with cash. You can also do the leg work and find the previous owners and offer them a couple hundred for their time to sign a Quiet Claim deed to you. There is the title insurance option instead of a Quiet Title. All of this you can do with out an attorney.

You can also fix up and rent any of the properties forever with out doing anything else with the deed.

Lower end properties you could possibly donate to a housing non profit for a tax write off.

John

Ned,

You are correct a QC deed will not help with a state or federal lien. A Quiet Title would need to be done to clean these up to get Title Insurance.

If you have no intentions of selling and are going to rent forever or sell to someone with cash using a QC deed then you don't need a QT.

My understanding from several local lawyers is that Federal or State liens are rarely for closed on.

Knowing what I know now I would be fine with a Tax Deed that has a Fed or State lien as I hold for long term and would personally take the chance they they would never foreclose as long as I got the property at the right price.

John

If your end game is to simply keep the property, rent it forever and not bother with a Quiet Title then this would not be very concerning. Other strategies are to find the previous owners and get a simple Quit Claim Deed from them, get Title insurance instead of a Quiet Title or to sell to a cash buyer with a Quit Claim Deed.

Also if you hold the property for 10 years (hopefully getting rent money the whole time) a Quiet Title Action is much easier.

If there are other liens or mortgages then this adds a another level of complexity, but these can be dealt with also without needing a Quiet Title.

John

you can check to see if there are any recorded liens at your counties Register of Deeds office. You should be able to search these online.

I personally don't do this because I am looking at over 1000 properties after I have narrowed down the list.

Tax deeds are a first priority lien with the exception of a state or federal lien such as from the IRS. Even then the IRS doesn't usually foreclose on their liens. So if your are planning on keeping property and renting it or selling to a cash buyer who understands Tax Deeds using a Quit Claim deed then you should be ok. Mortgages are wiped out as long as the county follows the law and properly notifies all recorded mortgage holders.

My county has even let me know before issuing the Tax deed that their was an IRS lien on a property I was about to get deeded asked me if I still wanted it. I said no and they refunded my money. Knowing what I know now I would have taken the property.

John

why not just start the foreclosure process? He pays or looses property for non payment.

Just my thoughts.

Why should he be rewarded for not paying in the first place?

No way to be first in line that I know of.

It legally has to go to public auction.

If you find a loophole I'd love to know about it.

John

Judy,

Tax lien is superior to an HOA lien so this would be erased.

In SC I would file something like an eviction with the Magistrate for a hold over tenant. I would first contact occupant and see if I can convert them to my tenant. You could also offer them cash for keys but it only cost $50 in SC to have them evicted. It could prevent them from tearing up the place on the way out though.

John

There is so much information on Bigger Pockets in the Short Term Rental Forum.

Read through that and I can help answer any questions you have.

Make sure the area you are interested in allows for short term rentals.

John

First, watch an episode or 2 of vacation house for free on HGTV.

They take all your holding cost; mortgage, insurance, utilities, PM, etc.

Determine the peak rental weeks and calculate how much they need to rent each week of the prime rental season to break even.

You can bump this number up or rent for other events to do better than break even.

For instance my Lake house is near Clemson University so I get top dollar for football game weekends and graduation.

I also get renters in the winter.

If you added a hot tub and have a fire place you may extend your peak season.

Also check other properties in your area on homeaway or VRBO to see what the going rates are for a similar property to see if the numbers make sense.

John