All Forum Posts by: Ken Henson

Purchased a run down property through tax sale (in Texas). This was a homestead property so did not want to do any improvements on property until redemption period was up (2 years). About 11 months I was contacted & notified that the previous owner would be exercising his right to reclaim his property. I thought cool, I will be getting my 25% return, not bad... Now the previous owner is saying that all the damage that was done to the property was done while I was in possession and wants me to pay for repairs. The house was in bad shape when I took possession, and while I did nothing to improve the property I also did not cause any damage to the property. Can this guy really get me to pay for these repairs???

Recently put a fixer upper under contract. I was all sent to close when my lender calls me to tell me that they are not going to finance the property because the appraiser labeled the property "below average". This is not the first fixer upper I've financed with this company but apparently they are getting tougher. My loan is for $59000. The lenders own appraisal stated the property "as is value" is $91,000, so there is plenty of equity in the property. ARV of property is approx. $110,000. The property is in Arlington Texas, in a very nice area. Has anyone else had the same problem and does anyone know of a lender who works quickly and would be willing to loan on such a property. Thanks.

Does anyone have experience doing short sales in Texas. Been trying to get a few done but not luck.

Its seems that FHA loans have some type of rule about not loaning money on flipped properties (dumb I know). Anyway, I have run into this problem about 4 times, all with different lenders. On two of them the buyers were willing to go conventional but I lost the other two contracts. I live in a border city, with many first time home buyers so many people need the reduced down payment and assistance with closing so conventional loans don't always work. Is there a way around this rule???

I have been running into trouble selling my properties because I owned them less than 90 days. I am currently buying property in Texas but the last two properties I sold I have ran into lenders not willing to loan the money to buyers becuase the amount of time I have owned my properties (usually less than 30days), and one lender even stated that I purchased my property to cheeply???? Has anyone run into the same problem.

First I would like to thank everyone from biggerpockets for all their help. Ive never had an question go unanswered and every answer has helped me move forward in my real estate investing drive. Thanks again.

This might seem like a dumb question to some but here it is. I am from Texas and understand that there are serious restrictions on lease options. I spoke to a broker I work with from time to time and he recommended I use a lease to purchase. What is the difference? Are there the same restrictions on lease to puchase deals as on lease options?

REI, thanks to the reply. Let me give you an example of my last deal. I purchased a single family home for 60k. My total out of pocket at closing including 10% down, closing cost, taxes, insurance... was $6333.91 at 7.18% interest rate. I think this is an excellent deal because the lender pays for most of my fees. I was just inquiring if there are any other lenders out there that can offer this type of financing. Again thanks.

Ive been flipping properties, using a lender who at one time only required 5% down with decent interest rates and they cover most fees. Now they want 10% (still not a bad deal), but my last couple of deals have been nothing but trouble, closing late, added fees, missing paperwork... I was wondering if anyone knows of another lender that allows flipping.

I pulled a pre-forclosure property off foreclosure by working with the lender (required me to pay one months payment). The property owners agreed to the purchase price, signed the contract and everything seemed fine. Now the owners are no- responsive, wont allow the appraiser to inspect the property...What are my options in this situation.

Here is pretty much how the conversation goes with the attorneys and title companies:
Me: "I would like to transfer title to a residential property while keeping the existing loan in place.
Them: "Most loans today are not assumable"
Me: I understand that, I just want you to transfer title for me"
Them: If you do transfer title and the lender finds out they can call the loan"
Me: Thats ok if they do because by the time the find out and call the loan if they call the loan the property will be sold. And if for some reason I cant sell the property in time I have the ability to pay the loan off.
Them: Hey that pretty good. But we (title company) cant transfer title because you will not be able to get title insurance. You need to talk to an attorney who can handle this."
So after getting a few referrals to attorneys I'm off to talk to them. They pretty much say they don't feel comfortable with their name on a title that does not have insurance. They talk about conflict of interest when they serve as the trustee.
Here in el paso there are thousands of attorneys but very few real estate attorneys and most of them serve as trustees to these foreclosures. Could that be a reason why they do not want to help? or am I saying something wrong?
There are no REI clubs here in el paso the closest seems to be in NM and I'm sure the laws and process are different.