All Forum Posts by: Pat L.

I decided a long time ago that when my passive income eclipsed my 9-5 I would retire.
That being done, RE became a very addictive but fulfilling pursuit.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the many years we have been in it,
& we have many new 'friends' who now OWN their homes outright because of the lending etc we offered. We still get thank you cards from rent-to-owns that paid off their properties & have invested with us on other projects.

BUT the best day was when I told my aging Father-in-Law that my wife didn't need to work.

The wife's financially struggling cousin asked me to go with him to a "find it, fix it, flip it", RE seminar.

He shows up in a fully loaded 5.3, 4x4, 2013 Silverado, with a $399+ a month pmt.
"Why the NEW truck" I ask
"I am going to need it if I get into rehabbing" :) :) :)

I am dying to know if you're going to
"Just do it" :)
The adventure could turn into an interesting blog !!!

We just did a 2300 sq ft home & installed a new hi eff fce & a/c for $3800 ???

Given the excessive rental stock available in your area I would be inclined to unload a break even property.

On a cape we did the large front windows were the old single pane double hung.
We had a company here just make two pieces of glass sealed for insulation for each opening.
The glass was also tinted.
Then we framed the glass inserts in with jamb extensions etc. it looked great & saved us a lot on special order prices.
Another one we replaced all the windows with those we could find at a contractors excess stock depot. I was there today & couldn't believe the pricing. A 5x6 Jeld Wen was down to $35.
We were getting windows for $30-$98 depending on the size. I put in a 6x8 three pane in the dining room for $198. Admittedly we had to increase the opening in the wall somewhat but as we were going to reside it we ended up replacing every window.

We also had to be aware of the egress codes as we were replacing 2nd storey windows.
It made a huge difference to their heating bills.

We have several friends who are up there in age & we recommend they lease, because a number of times in the last couple of years we have had to unload financed estate vehicles that in most cases were 'under water'.

A good friend bought his 'spoiled' daughter a nice salvage title SUV & had it repaired.
Several years later she & the BF went to trade it on a new Camero they were going to finance.
When she was denied the trade because of the title she had the audacity to complain to her father. " I can't believe you GAVE me a truck that I can't TRADE"
We still laugh about it & she still drives it!!!!

Yes ours does & it's a pain in the a$$ as they will send the broker pictures of 'issues' & threaten to cancel.
One of the biggest issues is uneven sidewalks or cracks. even though the city owns it???
Large dogs, trampolines are immediate causes for cancellation.
It's getting tougher to get investment insurance even with the 'bandit rates' they rape you with.

We did one built in 1830
The years of plumbing retrofits & the tree root infested sewer pipe was a nightmare !!!
But it was neat to see the hand hewn beams.

No Marie
I owned the property but had sold it to these buyers with $8,000 down & held the first mortgage. After they abandoned it I initiated the foreclosure. Within 6 months they realized their credit had taken a BIG hit & they wanted to resolve it asap., hence the belated deed-in-lieu of.

as an aside......
I bought this SFH (out of foreclosure for $15,000 cash) 12 years ago & have since taken it back deed-in-lieu of & resold it 4 times.
Truckers love it because of the 800 ft deep lot with a turn around & 2 large garages with wood burning stoves.
It's in a commercial area, has absolutely NO redeeming qualities & lacks any form of curb appeal but it has sold consistently for $32,000-$42,000 plus costs, (I add in my legal costs to take it back).
I have never spent any money on it, but over the years the various 'owners' have replaced the roof, the furnace, HW tanks, new kitchen & added a 20x20 Florida room. The current owner just put in an above ground pool. I never advertise it for sale I just drop a flyer off at the local trucking companies & it sells immediately.

It's an 'old cash whore' of a building that always comes back to haunt me :)

I am in NY but here are two instances I dealt with.
First property was commercial & I put it into foreclosure for arrears on the note I held.
My mortgage note addendum specified rent assignments & I collected for two years until the foreclosure was resolved. ( They paid us off)

Single family home abandoned by the borrowers & moved out of state.
I had a potential buyer enter the property & maintain it (middle of winter) but until we got the deed in lieu of signed ( took 6 months ) I was strongly advised by my attorney that I could NOT legally collect any rents or consideration from the occupant. I just added the equivalent of the free accommodation to his purchase price.

Personally if you can remove yourself from any civil liability I would go through with it just for the experience & the unique but potential gain.
Keep us posted & good luck.