All Forum Posts by: Matt R.

I'm not sure, but I think it could mean that the bank is paying the property tax.  Some mortgages require the payer to pay the property tax to the bank, along with the principal and interest payments on the loan.  At the end of the year (or whenever it's due), the bank writes the check to the county for the property taxes.  The bank gives the bank's address to the county, so the bank gets the property tax bill.

The good reason for this that the bank will give is "this way, we can make sure the property taxes get paid".  The real reason is that they want to make interest on the tax money.

You wouldn't have to make the improvements if you were selling it "as is", but you should probably be careful to be clear about any claims you make.  For instance, if you talk to the city and they tell you "the zoning is OK for a B&B, but you'd need to add 3 more parking spaces", then you can't just say "zoned for B&B" and leave it at that... you should tell prospective buyers about the additional requirement from the city.  Who knows, maybe they have the cash to do the additional work, and will appreciate the information.

If you do have something like that, you should also see if you have an option where the buyer *doesn't* have to do anything major - you can present that as an "easy" option to the buyer.  "If you rehab it as a single-family, you don't have to get a zoning change from the city" - something like that.

Just logged in again and they seem to be visible now.  They appear in a slightly darker grey bar at the top of the white box with the main page content.

Thanks!

If it's real classic - like before the 1920s, which usually means it's out of copyright in the US - check out Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/ .  They have all the Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Charles Dickens that you want, all for free.  You can get it as HTML (to read in a browser), epub, Kindle, or plain text.  

I am not affiliated with them; I just think it's a neat project.

Interesting.  I dug a little more and it's in the HTML source, but the section for it is buried behind the top menu bar (Dashboard, Community, Education...) for me, which is why I think I don't see it.

(This probably only makes sense to BP's web design people.  :) )

I do embedded stuff.  If airplanes aren't crashing into each other... you're welcome.  :D

Google says there are converters from PDF to those ebook formats, including some online ones.  I don't know if any of them are better or worse, but they do exist.

At the October MAREI meeting, a company called "RealProtect" was one of the vendors. They say they have policies to cover rental properties and rehabs. I *think* you might have to be an REI member to qualify, though.

I have not bought any insurance from them; I just know they exist.

Did the breadcrumbs on individual forum threads go away?

What I mean is, with the previous design, there was a note of which forum it was posted in.  This was at the top of the thread, just under the thread title.  For this thread it would have looked like:

General Info > Questions about BiggerPockets and Official Site Announcements

I don't see this anymore with the new layout.

I'm on Firefox 38 if that matters.  (I know that's not the latest, but I need it to be compatible with something else.)

You might also check in the "ask about a real estate company" forum here.  Lots of questions about lenders of all kinds in there.

Check to see if the local police department has a crime map online - most larger cities have this now. When you're looking at it, be aware of what the city limits are; usually they only show crimes within their jurisdiction.  This sometimes make it look like there is zero crime in a certain area, when really it's just outside of the city limits.  Also, figure out how to select what types of crimes show on the map.  There will *always* be clusters of vehicle break-ins and vandalism around apartments, even high-end apartments... if you're not used to this, it will look horrible the first time you see it on the crime map.  What I usually do is only display the really heavy stuff - murder, armed robbery, etc - to get a better idea of how rough a neighborhood is.

Some stuff from another post I wrote, about actually visiting the neighborhood:

Do other houses have bars on the windows or "cages" over the outside A/C units? Are houses reasonably well kept up (lawns mowed, painted this century, lack of dead cars in the driveway, etc?) If any of the neighbors are out and about, tell them you're thinking of buying a house around there, and ask about the neighborhood. Are the city/county-provided things in good shape - like have the streets been paved lately? Traffic signs present and not 50 years old?

One thing I've noticed in several metropolitan areas is that once a neighborhood is sufficiently sketchy, the stores will stop being well-known national or regional brands, and become things you've never heard of. Like, if the gas stations are Phillips 66, Texaco, Shell, BP, Hess -> good. If all you can find is "Bob's Cheap Gas" -> not so good. Grocery and convenience stores are a little more regional.  If you can identify the regional "premium" convenience store - the local equivalent of probably Wawa (in NJ) or Quiktrip (around me), look at where their store locations are. Closer to the proposed property is better.

I hope this helps!