All Forum Posts by: John Underwood

Steve,

I live in the greater Greenville area (Greer).

If you need any help let me know and I will do what I can.

I have rental property in Greenville and plenty of Real Estate Contacts for the area.

John

Steve,

I am a novice in this area. I will follow your posts with interest.

One question I have is did you order an appraisal of the property prior to taking the plunge on this note? Maybe this is not typically done with Note buying?

Is subject property close to you where you can or could have driven by property? If not what area is the property located?

John

Sandy,

In my county you can look at the tax department on the county Web site.

It actually says "Sold at tax auction" in red if taxes were paid via tax sale.

I agree that the county delinquent tax office can look this information up for if you cut find it on your county Website.

John

Sarah,

Go to homeaway.com and search for properties in the same area as the place you would like to purchase.

Look for similar amenities as the house you might buy. You can filter on this.

Look at their availability calendar and see how full they stay and their rates.

Then look at your mortgage, utilities, taxes, insurance, management, repairs etc and see if the numbers would work for you.

Also if you've never seen the HGTV show "Vacation House for Free" check it out.

are there any draws outside of the peak season? Skiing, festivals, universities etc where you could expect to get some additional rents?

One clue is to look at pricing of similar houses on Homeaway and see if they have some elevated rates for events. This might indicate there is some demand for special events.

John

John,

There is no title insurance. However and mortgages or liens (except Federal ones) are wiped out as long as the county properly notified all of them that are recorded.

A tax deed is still considered to have a cloud on the title until you do a Quiet Title action or buy Title Insurance yourself.

I have never had one of my Tax Deeds overturned and I did have to go to court one time. Judge looked at my deed and ruled that I owned it. Case closed.

Yes it has become very competitive nut you can still find some deals. Also smaller counties have less competition as the big money goes to the larger counties with more liens for sale.

If you have never been to a tax lien auction I would recommend you go at least as a spectator one year to see how high or low properties are going for and get a feel for how the auction works.

John

Jay,

Great question.

Most of the properties I have gotten deeds to have tenants not owner occupants.

They are not surprised, they see notices attached to house.

They are happy they don't have to move. I still have some of these people years later as tenants.

One owner occupant paid rent for a while but I ended up having to evict him after I tried my best to work with him for over a year.

Another owner occupant pays like clockwork. I got a lease signed and a key via their attorney and I have never been inside of the house. I have not needed to spend a penny on repairs either. I told them I would sell it back to them after they paid on time for at least a year at 10% below market value. So we will see if they end up trying to get a mortgage to buy the house. It will already have paid off my initial investment after the first year. I made them sign a Quit Claim deed to me before I would sign a lease with them.

Getting 4 more houses that were not redeemed at the end of 2015. Just keep checking the mailbox for the county to send me the deeds! I might sell one of the houses after getting Quit Claim Deeds from previous owners (divorced, walked away from property) That will make the other 3 houses completely free.

I love Charleston too. I lived their for 9 years while I was in the Navy.

John

Great article thanks for sharing.

They mention having to foreclose on the property after the redemption period is up and the owner did not redeem the property.

In SC if this happens the deed to the property will just show up in your mailbox. No foreclosure required.

Then you send a letter to the occupant, unless it is vacant of course, and let them know how to start paying rent to their new landlord. Most people want to stay and willingly sign a lease with you and start paying rent.

John

Homeaway.com also. This is the parent company of VRBO.

I have my property on Homeaway.com but it will show up on searches on VRBO also.

I used flipkey.com for awhile but dropped it because Homeaway keeps my house pretty full.

John

Ed,

You are correct in that a quit claim deed from the previous owner/s give you clear title to the property.

They are not deeding something to you that they no longer owner.

They are just providing proof that that are quitting any claim to the property which in effect removes the cloud from the title.

This is what several lawyers have told me.

John

I agree with Dexter.

I wouldn't use the word eviction unless they refuse to leave.

Definitely provide a written 30 day letter.

This should be fine for the month to month person. 

Question I have is if you need to honor the lease that the other person is on.

You could get the 2 units up and ready and keep collecting rent on the unit that has the lease. Just let this person know in writing that you will not be renewing their lease.

You could also mix and and match and do part of the units with leases and the other part as vacation rental u til you verify their is enough demand on the vacation rental side. 

I have a vacation rental and many regular rentals. Their is an off season where your vacation rental demand will drop off and you will have no income from the triplex.

Start the conversation being nice and helpful to your new tenants and don't pull out the stick (eviction) or even mention it until you have to.

John