All Forum Posts by: Ken M.

 Negative and unhelpful. I also asked Pace’s community on Facebook. 

Can a lender foreclose on a home if the owner is deceased and probate has not been opened? Or is it required that probate be initiated, and PR's assigned before the foreclosure can take place?

Real estate broker here — I facilitated a subto transaction in 2023 with a VA loan in California.

The seller of that property now wants to buy a new home. However, the lender is including her payment on the property she sold, because the loan is still in her name.

I was always told that “after 12 months of payments through a third party payment processor, the loan will fall off of the seller’s credit.” Pace Morby himself told me this at a conference. 

What am I missing? How do we fix this?

Hi all, 

I have numerous leads where the homeowners declared chapter 7 bankruptcy 5-10 years ago. Since then, they have severed all ties with the homes. And only recently has the foreclosure proceedings begun. 

The lender is not looking to collect any debt from them as that has all been relieved. The lender is simply looking to repossess the property through the foreclosure process.

Are the homeowners at all affected if the home forecloses at this point?  Will their credit be affected?  Could they short sale their home at this time?

Thank you everyone for your input! I got another bid for under 10k with a 3 year warranty on labor, 10 years on parts. I am replacing the entire system (Goodman 2-ton 13.4 SEER2 Gas/Electric). This doesn’t include any needed ductwork (TBD). I replaced the capacitor last year for almost $500 (because it only goes kaput during a heatwave and you need it asap). I don’t want to spend more money on a control board for something else to break during another heat wave. All of my renters are working professionals and I try to treat them (& my property) well. This is a small single family home and to answer someone, rent is $2300 and cashflow $500 (before this new HVAC system). 

Hi all, 

I have numerous leads where the homeowners declared chapter 7 bankruptcy 5-10 years ago. Since then, they have severed all ties with the homes. And only recently has the foreclosure proceedings begun. 

The lender is not looking to collect any debt from them as that has all been relieved. The lender is simply looking to repossess the property through the foreclosure process.

Are the homeowners at all affected if the home forecloses at this point?  Will their credit be affected?  Could they short sale their home at this time?

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐞 ‘𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬’ 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐥
“I’m not a sales person.”
Neither are most of the investors closing creative deals right now.
The idea that you need to be slick, pushy, or persuasive to succeed in real estate?
Total myth.
What you really need is:
An offer that solves a problem. That problem is often unwanted or unmanageable debt.
A simple conversation that clarifies how your solution addresses that debt. For example, monthly income that covers their monthly expense.
The ability to listen more than you talk.
Sellers aren’t looking for a pitch. They’re looking for help.
Creative strategies are help when done right.
Most of the new investors I know with start off nervous, awkward, and uncertain.  I certainly did.
A few weeks later, I was having confident, low-pressure conversations with sellers.  You will too.
It’s not magic. It’s reps, feedback, and guidance.
You don’t need sales skills. You need people skills.
If you’ve been holding back because you’re “not good at sales,” DM me. I'll send you an audio file of my conversation with a homeowner who had a vacant $2.1M condo. 

Thanks everyone for the generous advice and actionable steps I can take! 

@Claudia Buchegger, I appreciate your insight into the traveling nurse markets. It’s interesting to know that FF is not reflective of true vacancy. 
@Ken M. do you have a recommended method to look up this info? I quickly checked a big chain and it wasn’t very clear what the vacancy was. 
@Nick Maugeri You’re right, the financials have to make sense. I think I can reasonably get $1000 more per month with MTR but would incur $400 more utility expense per month. I’m a long distance investor so I’d need to figure out the logistics as well as my current PM only manages LTR. I’d probably first try out self managing with a single unit when there is a natural turnover, as @Miguel Del Mazo suggested. 

Hello BP Folks!

Has anyone accepted tenants for a SFH who have a gross income of only 2.2X the rent or 2.4X the rent, and did that work out well for you?

I hired a new property manager for my rental property in California (SFH, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 car garage, fenced in yard), and told her my screening criteria were: Gross Income at least 3x the rent, credit score at least 600, good landlord references. Asking rent currently is: $2300/month. After 2 weeks, she presented me with an applicant with income 2.2X the rent and then a week later someone with income of 2.4X the rent. I declined them both. When I told the PM, "She makes 2.2X the rent," she said, "They're close to 3X the rent."

In looking at Zillow ads for another PM company, I noticed that this company is asking for a minimum gross income of 2.8X the rent.  

Is this the new normal?  What happened to the old standard of gross income of 3X the rent? 

It feels too risky to me to take someone that you know from the beginning is going to be paying almost 50% of their gross income on rent and utilities, plus they might have credit card debt too.

I told the PM to lower the rent to $2200/month, and she said it's still going to be hard to find someone that makes $6600/month.

What to do? What are your minimum income requirements?

Thanks in advance for your input! :) 

First,  
YES - I plan to reach out today to a real estate attorney. 

Looking for advice and if anyone has encountered this before just to get some preliminary data before making phone calls to lawyers. 

I have, under contract, a single family home that is a short sale.  The sale contract was fully signed and my agent was informed that the primary lender accepted the offer.  The offer more than covers the outstanding 1st lien, based upon what I've seen in the county mortgage records online. 
Closing day came and went - and then suddenly a day or two after the closing date was to occur I receive notice that the seller "needs to send a cancellation notice, as there is suddenly a 2nd lien who won't agree to the sale."  
Rumor is that the 2nd lien is a general contractor, but I find zero record of this in the county websites.  

I've already paid for liability and flood insurance (had to be paid before close, I paid it 24 hours before the closing date) and now I'm being asked to sign a document basically mutually agreeing to cancel the sale.  I'll now need to fight to get the insurance cancelled and refunded, and something just seems very fishy about this whole situation.  
I do not understand the following: 

- How can there suddenly be a 2nd lien, with no evidence of such on the county websites, and how could the seller have agreed to the sale and executed the sale contract fully to begin with, stating that the short sale was accepted a month ago if he had evidence of this second lien?  

- Doesn't the execution of the sale contract bind the seller to sell me this property?  Once he signed and accepted this offer - he can't suddenly decide that he needs more money to close out a 2nd lien.  If that were the case -   he should have never accepted the offer to begin with, correct?  In FL law, there are only certain reasons why a seller can cancel a contract (buyer can't get financing, force majeure, mutual agreement of both parties, title issues, etc)

- Can this 2nd position lien holder prevent the sale of the property, even though the sale was allegedly agreed upon by the primary lien holder?  Again - I see no evidence of a 2nd lien in the county websites, but apparently its a G.C. who did work on the home. 

- Can I still force this sale or somehow recover damages from this seller?  I'm certain I won't get every penny of my insurance payment back (had to pay 6 months in advance), I've had GCs and builders out to the space to give quotes, I did a sewer line camera inspection, etc. 
I know some of this is the cost of doing business as a real estate investor (sewer main inspection, for instance) - so I'm not concerned about that.  I' m more concerned with the $2400 in insurance costs, the seemingly fishy way this is all going down, and the lack of transparency around this sudden "2nd lien".  

I also plan to call the title company this am and see what info they have.  

Does anyone have any suggestions, information, tips, etc? 

Thanks!!