All Forum Posts by: Michael Lauther

I would add that often the first attempt at a modification fails. and the lenders are changing thier parameters every day. while she may not qualify for the "Obama PLan" the banks have thier own in house plans that do the job quite nicely. the point was made that the home is not underwater but from where i stand it is very close and if the bank were to foreclose they would take a loss as well as run up legal fees. there is so much more to consider on this womens behalf but i do concurr that there is not an investment opportunity here.

someone should tell me how to spell check my posts, im a terrible speller and cant type as fast as i need to.

there are some critical missing pieces to this puzzle. modifications have been done in similar situations and they depend on many factors.
first , the reason for the homeowners falling behind and can the homeowner now afford to payl
If the lender can mitigate their loss they may be willing to lower the interest rate, extend the lenght of the mortgage to 40 years . I have seen lenders lower the interest rates to as low as 2% temporarily and even use a balloon coming do at the end of the term which will not accrue interst for the life of the loan. I have helped many of my financial planning clients who have got themselves into this type of financial bind. if anyone is intersted in more elaboration of what i have personally seen i would be glad to post it. in this case i do not believe the modifaction route has been adequately explored.

I sighned up for Direct Buy for $5000 here in NY. I did so because i was building my home and believed i would save a bundle on the kitchen and baths alone. I must say that the staff had been very helpful but in the end I found better value outside of thier manufacturers. I have since checked prices on furniture but find that they are only competitive on much higher end furniture. not at all competative on electronics and only marginally competitive on tile. I found a great Pool contracter associated with them and to date that is the only purchase I have arranged through Direct buy. Essentially I wasted the 5K so far but i am still a member and as per agreement i can only purchase merchandise for my own use or as a gift etc, not for commercial use etc..

This has been said before but the SFR provides more opportunity for diversification. Market conditions can and do change over time and the SFR gives the investor an opportunity to spread the risk accross more markets. This extra margin of safety would make the SFR my choice.

This thread sparked more interest than i would have imagined. perhaps a forum on known scams and how to potentially avoid them would be helpful. No names therefore no legal mess. I am always concerned about pitfalls that may be inherant in any deal but a place to go to see how others have been scammed and how to avoid future scams would be a place i would visit often.

Eric, thanks for your reply. I am currently working on a deal that cant be done unless we hold the property so in my mind if they will fund the deal on a nonrecourse basis then my funds are not at risk. I am new to flipping but if we are buying Bank owned Properties we need cash and if an end buyer needs to purchase with conventional financing the seller needs to hold title for 30 to 90 days. am I stating the nature of the problem correctly ? I am comfortabe putting up my own money to buy rent and hold but have been reluctant to commit my limited funds to buy fix and flip. there apears to be no risk on my part if i can find a partner to put up the initial funds.

Currently all my activity is with my self directed IRA..I find there are specific issues to be considered, UBIT, non recourse loans, use of "GO Zone Credits" Ect. and have had conversations with other BP members as to how they would affect specific deals. I would suggest that a forum such as this would attract new members to BP and give us all an opportunity to partner with cash buyers. My ultimate goal after investing as much of My IRA as profitably as possible is to find other investors in my situation and partner with them. Bigger Pockets can be the beneficary of this mostly untapped market. I have already had conversations about BP with other
Equity Trust self directed IRA holders who are actively looking to invest in real estate.

I have been told that Aegis funding in conjuction with Fixaflip funding offer a program that provides 100% transactional funding on A to B, B to C deals up to 90 days on a voint venture basis and nonrecourse loan. As I understand it they can get as much as 15 - 20% as the fee for 90 days less on shorter time frames.

this would solve several seasoning issues. does anyone have any information on this? And am I correct didnt Aegis funding go Bankrupt a few years ago? I have passed up several opportunities in NY due to seasoning issues and think this may be too good to be true.

Bill, you have pointed out some valid real life concerns about buying invesment property. From Katrinas description the property is in good repair and in a quality market but may not be one an investor would be interested in as a buy and hold landlord. in todays market we make money when we buy a property at a deep discount and have an adequate exit plan. In this case it may turn out that at the offering price considered a reasonable rent would not cover expenses.