All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Being new at this I wanted to just throw this out there & get a little feedback. I bought my first foreclosure at the sheriffs auction today. I looked at the house before hand by just peeking in windows to see what it looked like. Could not get inside. Being it was a quad level I could see down in the lower level and noticed that all the drywall had been removed from the ceiling and was very dirty. Main level wasn't too bad. I made a call to the local water & sewer utility to see about any delinquent bills, which there were some, but the lady I talked to said that there was an unusual amount of water usage in March and that the water had been turned off at the street so it looked like there must have been some kind of water leak. My thought was that there is a hot tub sitting right next to the house & they didn't properly drain it or something and it froze up causing the pipe to burst inside. This house has been sitting empty for quite a while. Apparently someone noticed this happened & attempted to clean up the mess. My concern now is whether this damaged the furnace or water heater & I won't know that until I can get inside which won't be until confirmation of the sheriffs sale in about a month. I'm excited about getting my first property but scared at the same time for what this might entail. The other investors at the sale who were bidding against me seemed to think it was more serious & quit their bidding @ $92,200. I bid $92,300 & got it. ARV is $140,000. I think there's still enough room in there even if it did need a new furnace or something but I still have fears about this. Have any others of you had any fears like this and is there anything I can do during my waiting period to alleviate some of these fears?

Just a question about something listed on Zillow: When looking at a pre-foreclosure, I've noticed it will sometimes say under the legal section: Notice of Default: null on "date". What does that exactly mean?

Just a question about something listed on Zillow: When looking at a pre-foreclosure, I've noticed it will sometimes say under the legal section: Notice of Default: null on "date". What does that exactly mean?

Just a general question in regards to sheriff's sales. If a property is sold on sheriff's auction for more than what is owed, what happens to the excess money? Who gets it?

I can go back to her and tell her that I won't be living in the property, that's not a problem. But where do I find the laws that relate to working with seller's in a foreclosure so I know exactly what the laws are? I'm not sure where to look for that. I do have the cash available to buy this house right away.

In still looking for my first deal, I've come across a pre-foreclosure with the sheriff's auction coming up in just over a week. I stopped by the house today and discovered that the owner (wife) was still living in the house. My partner and I knocked on the door and she answered. We went about asking her if she was interested in selling her home. We didn't mention anything about it being in foreclosure; we talked about looking at it for ourselves to live in. She immediately said yes and when asking what she wanted for it she said to come in and take a look at it first and see what we think, that it needs a lot of work. Major smells and dirty too. The foreclosure notice says that the balance owed is $65,533 and the tax assessment is $127,800 which is think is high for the condition this house is in. It was last sold for $103,000 in 2001. Other homes in the the area are priced around $115-$130,000. She did make a comment that they were wanting to get around $75-80,000 which I think is too high given the repairs needed. I'm estimating around $15,000 or so. I wanted to offer her something around $67,500 so that it would cover the outstanding balance and give them a little in their pocket and I would pay the closing costs. Is that a fair offer? I don't want to offend the owner but I want to make sure I get a deal too given the amount of work involved. I want to get this house under contract before the sheriff's auction and it will be a cash deal but my question is did I make a mistake in making her think I wanted it for myself? My thought was if I approached her as an investor she wouldn't be so willing to talk to us about it but I'm wondering if that will come back to bite me in some way. I have formed an LLC for flipping properties that I would normally put the house in but if I told her it was a personal residence I can't really put the company name on it. Can it be transferred by quit claim deed after purchasing it? Thanks for your help.

Sorry, what's EMD?

My ARV came from the realtor that showed me the property and other comps. He also said holding period in this particular area of homes and time of year are 90 days max. I ran through all the costs based on my list of what needs repair and getting prices on those items from the store and factoring in some other things based on estimates from contractors. The money I'm using is coming from my brother, some from savings, some from another business that I own and the balance from my home equity line of credit. The only monthly payment I will have is from the interest on the HELOC and utilities. The remaining funds won't be paid until the house sells. I have calculated interest and other costs, such as taxes and insurance for a 6 month holding period. I have also factored in a profit sharing for my brother of 10% of profit, which I'm willing to do just for letting me use his money. This wouldn't be possible to do without him and his money which I'm thankful for. If he's willing to help me make money to get started, I'm willing to pay him.

up what? offer or costs?

I will be doing a lot of the work myself with some help from my partner but will have a little to contract out but not much. This deal is mostly cosmetic stuff. It is technically my first deal as my other one was quite a few years ago and I lived in it at the time so it's not comparable. I did build in a small contingency for such things as mistakes, suprises, ect. Asking price is $102,000 which is what i offered, cash deal, but all the offer were very close if not the same as mine. ARV is approx $150,000 with repair costs of $10,000. I've factored in the holding costs and reselling costs too.