All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Clyde,

:welcome: to BP.

I took a look at your profile. Short sales are too much work? I have heard that before.

Have you ever tried outsourcing the chase to a firm that will do the work for a fee?

You mention that you are providing private funding. Are you doing so as a hard money lender?

What else can you tell us about you and your background? The stuff that people find interesting and will remember so that we get to know you better.

I live outside the US.

I see nothing from this side of the pond that indicates people think McCain is going to increase anti-American sentiments. His stand on terrorism is very similar to many folks in the world. Granted there are many that think Bush is right. Western Europe vs. folks in the Middle East and Eastern Europe?

For the most part people are following the US race. It is on the UK news all the time. A women, a black and the Republicans. Yes, the focus is on the Democrats. Mostly because a black is kicking around someone many non-US folks actually recognize (Bill's wife).

The race is interesting so it is making the headlines. McCain does get written up as he really is the only Republican left so he is mentioned by name. Most of the major new agencies in the UK (TV, radio and newspapers) have reporters in the US on the campaign trail.

While the discussions have always been good here on BP the new social networking aspects are a big benefit for returning.

I am actively building my list of of colleagues. Many folks who I traded messages. Now I can connect to them and more easily find individuals when I want to go back to a prior conversation. I also use the note function to add little reminders that are specific to a person. Similar to a CRM system lets you put in things to remember the next time you contact someone.

It will take a while to build out the network. Chipping away each day.

Forget the mortgage brokers if that is all they can do.

Many hard money lenders who are worth working with will be very local. They do their own inspections. They will charge interest only or interest plus a few points. It depends on the state laws if it is legal for the actual lender to charge points (1 large state prevents this if you follow the usury rules).

Your costs should be closer to 5 pints and 15% interest over about 6 months. Longer or shorter is possible. Higher or lower is possible.

As I said before private money is likely to be cheaper but it is not the only way to fund a deal. If the deal is good enough and you do not have private funds then see if the numbers work with hard money. Some of the time hard money is less hassle as the person providing it is more experienced. Many hard money lenders are the folks who used to invest but now have more money than they have interest in getting their hands dirty.

If a deal works with 10% money and not with hard money then what is wrong? Either the hard money is really expensive or the deal is pretty thin. If some small overruns would wipe out the profit the deal is too thin.

Jon,

Are you talking about elasticity?

The write up you provided pretty much covers what I was asking.

To some degree you are noting a perfect storm. A few variables coming together at the same time (rates, shift from equities, internet to help promote RE).

As others have said check the local laws for the state.

Things that are common.

1. Inventory all the items. Even the stuff that to you might be junk could be something important to a family. Even more so when you think the people moving out were trying to trip you up.

2. Store and protect the items from damage. You can charge for storage.

3. Send notice to the last known address and otherwise who that you tried to reach the owner.

4. Provide access if the people come back for the items. Unlikely they can be held hostage until you are paid the back rent. Check on this.

5. You might need to have an auction to sell the items after waiting the mandatory period. You need to show that you determined value in an impartial way.

6. Anything that does not sell you can throw away.

The above were the actual rules in one location.

You also can take a practical view of how much will someone want to file a claim against you. Can you document the stuff with photos and other things and then just pay the bugger if they want to file a claim rather than do everything else? Will a judge hold it against you if you push the edges vs. follow the law exactly.

All the more reason to really screen well so you avoid the career tenants who are looking for landlords to scam.

Technically you are selling the contract. You do not want it to appear that you are getting a fee for brokering a deal.

Hence you should have an agreement (contract) with your buyer that they will pay X for your contract. Best is when they pay for the contact independent of if they ever close. If you want to sell them the contract but make the payment due when the transaction closes you can do that.

Like an option. You are selling your rights. You are not selling the property.

Splitting hairs matters if you want to keep things legal.

Note that when you sell on a contract the buyer's lender might have an issue. Your name will not show up on the chain of title for the property. Some lenders care about this.

Hello Victoria from Washougal WA.

You might be able to get your browser or another piece of software to remember the password going forward. That way you can use a strong password.

I used to live in the Portland metro area.

What causes you to be interested in RE investing? Anything about your background you want us to know about? Things you have done and other stuff that helps people remember you?

Just avoid direct ads to the group as this is not the right forum for ads.

It might be hard for folks to reach you until you have 10 posts (so they can PM) or until you are a colleague.

Consider sending them a colleague request of post 10 or more messages (messages that have some value as opposed to any old text).

Check the house rules for how the messaging system works.

Scott,

Thanks for sharing the info.

To all,

it is about time that these changes came through. When someone is drinking too much and they start to come off the drug the worst thing people can do if offer them a bit more to easy the pain.

Most of the conditions above are very similar to how things were before the period of easy money. Investors and others used to have to deal with down payments and other things.

If we want to avoid the excesses of easy credit we need to stop the easy credit. It will be painful for some and even folks who did nothing wrong can get caught in the cross fire. Still prudent lending tends to stay closer to 80% LTV than anything higher. Owner occupants should have some cash invested in their home. Otherwise they should continue renting while building up a down payment.

Some will say a down payment is a struggle. BINGO. If you struggle to get into a place you are much less likely to walk away when you are upside down or the payments are tough.

You are certainly less likely to be upside down when you put 20% down. A bank should not be first in line when there is a dip in prices. Why should they take all the risk and get none of the upside.

I started investing when interest rates were 10.75% on an ARM that adjusted every month. You had to come up with cash to do the deal. Maybe is was someone else's cash (seller financing, personal loan of gift from a family member). It certainly was not a lender in 1st going to 100%.

When the dumb money is out of the market and the people who want to be owners have to save for a house there will be more opportunities for investors and landlords.

If we look at the Case-Shiller graphs the spike in home prices matches pretty well to the period of easy money. The graph tells us that the period of easy money was a one-off and the abnormal period.

Bring back the normal RE market where people did not walk when they felt they might lose some money.