All Forum Posts by: Les Goss

I've now owned 5 fourplexes in Colorado Springs and I found all of them by sending post cards to owners of properties in areas I was interested in. You can create and send them easily using usps.com. You can get a list of multifamily owners from a title company. Last I did it they were charging $5 for the service. Tell them which zip codes you are interested in and they can send you a spreadsheet you can upload to the post office web site to create your cards.

Also, visit trulia.com and put in the address of a fourplex you're interested in. Scroll down the page until you come to the crime map. You'll quickly discover areas you'd want to invest in and others you wouldn't want to go near.

Thanks for the replies!

@Barbara Bell I'll let you know when I've got something set up. I'll look forward to meeting you.

@Anndrea Agronovitz Thanks for the interesting suggestion. I've never heard of Meetup subgroups, so I'll have to look into that. I've presented at the CSRES group several times on apartment investing and am good friends with the leader. I'll check with him. There are a couple of other real estate meetup groups I attend, so I can check with their leaders as well.

@Pari Thiagasundaram That's a fun idea! Not sure how to set it up, but I'll let you know if I figure it out. I'm also planning on starting a webinar series, so that may happen first. I'll let you know through LinkedIn.

@Darren Eady I'll look forward to continuing our conversation about notes.

Although I've attended many real estate Meetups and REIA group meetings over the last decade, none deal specifically with notes, and in fact most of the attendees seem to have little knowledge about them.

I understand this is a relatively small niche in the real estate investing world, but I think it might be useful for those of use who are active in the field or interested in learning more about it to meet for our mutual benefit. 

I would be willing to arrange for a place to meet and create the agendas. Please let me know if this sounds like an idea worth pursuing, and include any suggestions you may have.

Thanks!

Jonathan, the advantage of a land contract is that the buyer/borrower does not get the deed until he's paid off the LC. It's kind of like buying a car from a dealer where you pay monthly until the debt is repaid and then they send you the title for the car. If the LC has not been recorded (common) in most places you don't have to foreclose if they don't make payments, but can just evict, a much quicker procedure. Many of the notes I've bought have been LCs, so I view that as a benefit.

Jeff, who have you been using? Was it for performing or nonperforming loans?

Jim, I don't think you can offer a DIL if you don't own the note since you're not in position to foreclose. If it's a nonperforming note in which the borrower has fallen way behind, you may be able to negotiate a good discount from the current note-holder and then move forward. 

It's risky to rent back to someone in default. If they're not making payments now, why would they be consistent with you? I've found that in many cases the rent in the neighborhood is actually more than what someone is paying for a mortgage. Check with rentometer.com once you have a particular property in mind.

With your IRA you may want to consider buying a partial. That way you can buy the next X number of payments without buying the whole note.

Roland, here's a few to consider.

http://www.meetup.com/Real-Estate-Investors-of-Col...

http://www.meetup.com/Colorado-Springs-Real-Estate...

http://www.meetup.com/Colorado-Springs-

http://www.meetup.com/Cashflow-101-Game-Night-Inve...

http://www.meetup.com/flipthesprings/

http://www.meetup.com/ICOR-Colorado-Springs/

http://www.meetup.com/RockyMountainWholesaler/

For anyone else on this thread, I'd like to find some folks who would like to start a group to work on notes. Any takers?

Les

Pari, another factor I consider is the size of the community the property is in. With fewer than 1200 inhabitants, if you get the property back that's a pretty small pool to draw a new buyer from. I target notes in towns with a population of at least 10,000. That's just me, but you should probably have some number below which you will pass. I'd pass.

There are already at least 16 real estate related Meetup groups within 25 miles of CS. What would set this apart? Why another one?