All Forum Posts by: Mike Sedlacek

Skip Tracer. Google it. It will give you a list of companies. There should be some in Las Vegas I imagine.

Try www.city-data.com

Here in our area a builder would buy the property, knock the house down and put up a new house for around $300,000,  

I would market the property to builders.

The biggest factor in helping you sell your house is the rating of the local schools. So many people that I have talked to asking why they purchased their home was, "Was it because of the school ratings?" And yes that was a major factor for determining where they want to live. SO be sure you look into that because it will determine to a degree how long it takes to sell a property. Proerties sell fast in good school districts.

Go to this Bigger Pockets discussion:

The Best Kept Secret For Bidding On HUD Homes

You will get some great advice on buying HUD homes

I would draw up a sales contract for both properties and ask for a wrap around mortgage covering both properties into one mortgage, and owner finance deal with low down, say 5% at interest rate at 4% amortized over 30 years. Ask your accountant to explain capital gains to you and then you to the seller and how the right deal  structuring can save him money, or ask him to talk to his account on the best way to structure the deal for him.

As far as the listing agreements, you have to ask the seller if he sign an Exclusive Agency Agreement listing with both brokers, that allows him to sell the properties with out paying a commission as long as you approached the seller and not the agent. As long as the real estate agent isn't the procuring cause of the sale.

If the seller signed an Exclusive Right To Sell Agreement then the seller will have to pay the commission regardless if he sold the properties to you without the help of the real estate agent.

File a complaint with the local real estate board. They are required to investigate.

Putting multiple offers on different properties at the same time? What if they all get accepted? Will you lose the earnest money deposit if you back out from multiple offers? Could that cost you several thousand dollars? Are you planning on using the same earnest money deposit check for each offer with a 10 day accept or reject the offer clause, time limit? How are you going to do multiple offers on the same day? Or are you talking about spreading out the offers days apart? 

Can you get financing for properties in Virginia? I just moved to Portsmouth, VA and purchased a HUD foreclosure which I rehabbed and moved in. I couldn't pass it up with purchase price of $44,000 and an assessment of $156,000. Now I will begin looking for properties I can fix and flip. Let me know, thanks.

You guys are something else. When I graduated college at the age of 22 I didn't want to move back to my folks house so the first thing I did was to look for a property that I could buy and move into. I didn't think about being afraid to buy something I  just knew I needed to get out of my folks house. That was a very strong motivation for me. I didn't read any books or view any seminars. There weren't any back in the late 70's. I just started driving around the city and I stopped at buildings that it seemed needed work at I knocked on doors to get info about the owners. Then I started calling them. I had $5,000 to put down, a new full time job that paid me $25,000 annually with less than 2 months on the job. I couldn't get financing as of yet from a bank so all I had left was to find an owner willing to finance me. I found a six family building that was old and in need of repairs. I talked to the owner who was an elderly gentlemen that couldn't keep up with repairs and was willing to talk to me about purchasing his building.  With careful negotiations I promised him I would take good care of the property with his supervision and asked him to finance me for 5 years on a balloon payment and with the option of renewing the owner finance loan for another 5 years. It all worked out and this was the beginning of my investment path. Not that hard to do. During the next 20 years I had purchased a 5 family, 8 family, three 4 family buildings, a 12 family, three single family buildings, and a 50 unit mobile home park on 50 acres of land. Then I teamed up with my 2 brothers and sister and we purchase 7 buildings with a total of 200 rental units and a vacation home in Palm Bay, Fl. 

My advice is, find a property, work the numbers and take the plunge. Once you get started there is the excitement to keep going. Good luck.