All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Bill hit on a good point. When I was a young man in the military, my squad leader told me [in ref to shining boots], "take care of your boots and your boots will take care of you", we did a lot of walking back then. This has always stuck with me and to this day I buy good leather shoes and shine them myself. The leather always outlasts the heel and sole.

My first experience on the courthouse steps was a bust. No one was there. I asked the county clerk what the deal was and she said they were held between 11-4 at the whim of the lawyer selling the property, other than that she didn't know anything else. That didn't sound quite right, sit for five hours and wait for someone to show up, crazy. The day wasn't a total bust; I did meet a local broker who, like me, was there to learn. We exchanged info and have kept in contact.

Yesterday I went to another in the other county I operate in. I arrive to find a guy set up with a computer and printer, good. He was happy to see me since I was the first to arrive, sadly not there to bid. Another gentleman arrived about 30 mins later, I thought great, I get to meet another investor but not so quick, he's the auctioneer. So eleven o'clock arrives and the three of us begin the auction, right, no bidders present but as part of the legal process they have to go through the motions.

Two properties were auctioned and it was interesting to watch it go down. It turned out to be an excellent adventure, being the only one there, the auctioneer and auction rep spent a considerable amount of time BS'ing with me about how the process works.

During the auction the auctioneer kept bidding on behalf of the beneficiary so I asked what that was all about. The beneficiary, the bank, has to purchase the property in order to gain title from the foreclosee. So the auctioneer told me to always listen for an odd bid from the beneficiary to indicate their top bid, the loan balance. For example, one of the homes started at 30k, moved up to 35K, then 40K, then 42,920 and that's where it was sold to the beneficiary. The auctioneer told me it would have been mine for 42,921.

Turns out these guys are from auction.com and have recently started running the auctions in my two counties and were trying to make it a better experience. They said the auction the previous week had been canceled at the last minute. All in all it was a great experience.

Question, what are some techniques for learning the banks position in a property prior to it hitting the auction block?

Cheers

What do your competitors wear? Mimic success. I personally like khaki pants and a white collared shirt. I keep a brown sports jacket and tie on hand encase I need to step it up. Navy pants and sport jacket works really well also.

@Stephanie Dupuis , I used to feel the same way about using the net and texting on my phone, my old dumb phone. When I converted over to an iPhone 4S all of that went out the window. I text a lot these days because it's just easier sometimes rather than getting tied up in a 2 or 3 min, sometimes 10 min, phone call.

Agents with little to no investor experience sometimes have the view investors operate on the dark side of real estate. The statement may have been based on this faulty premise. Re-education camp.

@Stephanie Dupuis, my vote is for Apple. Definitely talk with other agents about carrier coverage. We have one carrier with several dead areas.

Most importantly, talk with your local association about which device works best with your MLS. Your MLS may have a phone app that works on only one platform or works better on one than the another. Same goes for whatever lock box system your association uses.

Good luck!

You should go to the Michigan real estate commission website and find the actual requirements before spending money in Illinois.

Check to see if Michigan and Illinois have reciprocity. It may not take much to pickup your Michigan license. Good luck!

I can't comment on your specific situation but IMO a tax professional is well worth the expense. I tried using turbotax online this passed year and had myself a pretty decent estimated return but there were a couple of things I wasn't sure about. Due to time constraints I let my CPA do my taxes. My return more than doubled over the turbotax estimate. Regardless of the reason for the difference, I would have lost a considerable amount had I stayed with TT. Plus the pain and time saved is a bonus. I won't venture down that road again. Good luck.

Most of your team should be in the area you plan to invest. For example, agents usually only have access to their local MLS. There are a lot of reasons for using locals, remember, all real estate is local. You should first do extensive market research to find an area which supports your goals, then start interviewing locals for your team.