All Forum Posts by: Carol Venolia

@Aaron Hall  I finally followed your advice CORRECTLY and it worked! (re @)   ;-)

Thank you for your input, @Aaron (I don't think that @ thing worked)! Good points about communication and enforcement. And there you are in Santa Rosa, too!

John, the potential tenant sent me an email saying that he's a "215 patient" and has two dogs, and would either of those be a problem?

Kimberly, thanks for that link!

Thank you so much, Marcia and Bradley! (I forgot how to tag someone--please remind me?) I do have a "no smoking" clause in my lease, but not a "no growing" clause. Can someone please recommend language for that? And maybe it's a good idea to mention other drug operations? Thanks!

In itself, that's fine; it's legal here in California. But I'm wondering if there are grey areas I should know about? In particular, the house I'm advertising is right across the street from a high school. Know of any issues there?

Thanks for any insights you can offer! I see "related forum discussions" above, and I'll check them out now.

Lots of good advice here. Also, when you're deciding where to move mobiles to, check on what government body issues move-on permits. I was a bit surprised to find that some mobile home lots I bought are under the jurisdiction of the county, not the state--and that the county permit fees total over $15K. Also, the county requires an engineered permanent foundation and won't allow a mobile over 15 years old to be moved in or through that county--probably because of the fall-apart thing Jeremy mentioned. All those costs have to be factored in.

Hi Frank,

I've participated in 7 tax deed sales in Northern CA in the past year, and was successful in buying two properties. I learned what I know from a very helpful and affordable DVD that I bought at

http://www.larryweingarten.com/page/store (scroll down to Tax Deed Sales video)

I haven't done Sacramento County, but I always go to the County Recorder's office to research title, liens, and other encumbrances before bidding. I used to do that weeks before the auction, but I learned that most of the properties get withdrawn before the auction starts, so now I do my research on the first day of the auction. You can't do most of the necessary research online; you have to go in and use the Recorder's computer system to do your research. Every county's system is different, too, so there's a small fun learning curve.

I'm not sure what you mean by "clean and fast." It's crucial to view each property to make sure what's there, and that takes time, driving all over the county. Since it's not legal to trespass, it's not "clean" in that you have to use a lot of tricks to guess at the condition of the property. You also need to guess at what it will cost to repair a place, then run your numbers about the maximum you can bid on each property and still make money in the end.

The auction itself is pretty clean and fast; they usually last 4 days if they're on **********, and most of that action is at the very end and in overtime. Then YOU have to be fast; there's very little time to pay in full for whatever you bought. Finally, it takes a month or two to receive the recorded deed.

All that said, I love the process. I enjoy the Wild West nature of this scene; I like doing the research and the drive-bys; and I enjoy the bidding--except that all too often I come away empty-handed. I suspect that lots of bidders aren't crunching numbers; they bid way too much too often.

Best of luck to you!

Hi Trevor,

I'm just getting into investing in a small town (pop. 3,500) in the Sierra foothills here in California. I'm buying, fixing, and renting. As I approach being ready to rent this cute cottage, I've asked some locals about the best way to advertise my rental. In addition to mentioning Craig's List, several have said "Word of mouth! Just tell everyone you interact with--grocery checkers, bankers, etc--and you'll have lots of people calling you." There's a fun thing about small-town investing I hadn't thought of.

Furthermore, this particular small town is a bit economically depressed. That could be considered bad, but it also means that lots of folks aren't well enough off to buy, so there's a high demand for rentals and they don't stay vacant long.

Don't know if those items are relevant to your little town, but they're what I've noticed around here.

Best of luck!

A friend of mine recently used Hardi-Board to replace damaged skirting on a mobile he bought. It's a fiber-cement board product made by the James Hardie company.

Paul T, Bill, and Joshua, thanks much for your input!