All Forum Posts by: Albert Hasson

Joey, my homes are in solid middle/upper middle class neighborhoods. Tenants are all former homeowners. Rents range from $110-1800. No, unfortunately rents do not come close to replacing my work income. When home prices double from where I bought them I would consider selling. In the mean time I will enjoy the monthly income.

My wife and I manage 18 sfh's and I work full time. Some days we spend an hour or two managing the homes, many days we don't even think about it. I use my realtor to list the rentals and screen the tenants, I have many tenants I have never even met yet I am always at 95-100% occupancy with no significant rent payment issues. The key is screening the tenant. I get credit. Report, bank statements and pay stubs. If anything looks suspect I pass and wait for the right tenant. If you offer a nice product and provide good customer service your homes will stay rented with very few hassles.

Flagstar, citibank and seterus. I don't think being upside down is required but I am not sure. I refinanced using HARP 2 with Flagstar and Citibank but I used Grand Bank for the loan serviced by Seterus.

If he found your property via Craigslist it's likely a scam. Who has a "trustee" anyway?

Here in Phoenix even non real estate investors are realizing that inventory is down, prices up.

I was able to refi 3 underwater properties with HARP 2.0 in the last 6 months. Fairly straightforward, no appraisal required, very little documentation needed but it took a while. Longest one took over 3 months to close.
Good luck

Steven, check out lead story today on azcentral.com. It specifically addresses your question. If you get me your e mail I can forward it to you.

Steven, to answer your question, yes, home builders are selling homes at a very brisk pace due to the low inventory of REO's and the furious competition for short sales.

Steven, I understand your argument but I don't think it's likely that one day everybody who bought a rental house in the past few years is going to sell all at once. There are going to be many like myself who will hold them for 10 or more years. Others who are looking to make a quick profit may sell over the next few years but certainly not all at once. Here in Phoenix we are up 25% from our low last August and rising at a 3% monthly rate, yes monthly rate. Inventory is so low now it's unbelievable. There is tremendous pent up demand for housing so any inventory released by investors in the next few years will definitely be absorbed IMHO

James, I like the numbers on this deal. If I could find 170k properties that rent for $1700/mo here in Phoenix I would jump on them. Have you looked at smaller square footage homes in the same development and run the numbers? I would pay a little extra for additional tile=less carpet to replace every few years.
Word of caution, make sure the 170 is all inclusive. Does that include backyard landscaping? That could be very expensive. Also, if the 170 is the most basic home with absolutely no upgrades that could hurt you in rentability and resale.