All Forum Posts by: Ryan R.

What's strange is that the county doesn't show any liens associated with this property, at least their online records don't.

Also, the taxes are all paid up to date, 2012. I would assume that if these are city liens, as the title company indicated, they would show on the tax records, unless they were accrued since last year, in which they should be for mowing etc. Hopefully.

That's why this surprised me. The country records looked clean and the taxes were all paid up through October of last year (when our county collects property taxes).

Patrick L., these are the kind of stories I don't want to hear..LOL.

I reviewed the addendum and contract and didn't find anything that mentions liens specifically. Of course there are numerous paragraphs that vaguely excuse the seller from any costs associated with the home, and I'm sure these liens will fall into them.

We shall see.

Thanks Wayne Brooks. The house has been bank owned for less than a year, so I'm hoping it is just mowing fees or something simple.

Not sure who is responsible for the liens yet; that's what concerns me.

I'm in the process of buying an REO SFH and have just been informed from the title company that there are liens from the city on schedule C. They haven't gotten the amounts yet but just wondering what I should be ready for.?.

I told the agent that if they are too much, we may have to renegotiate or ask them to refund our earnest money and back out. This is a cash deal.

This is exactly what he told me about his license. " it's an OSHA/MSHA licence through the federal government, so Texas won't show it, but they do recognise it, because of the higher standards required for it."

He told me that he pulls permits so obviously Texas recognizes his license. This thread is ridiculous with all the speculation. Either he has his license, is legit, and can pull the permit, or he is full of crap and I'll tell him to scram.

The fact is, there are good and bad electricians and some of them advertise on craigslist and some of them work for local companies. To say that all electricians on craigslist are worthless, is a bit naive. Just as saying that all electricians who work for local companies do good work.

I'm going to take a wild guess that the ARMY trains people to become electricians. I doubt that master electricians get their license and then enlist. It's probably more like the ARMY has alot of need for electricians so they train their own from within. The other alternative is that the ARMY has no electricians.

I'll update when I meet this guy but I'm not going to just assume he's a hack becuase he's from Ft. Hood and claims to not be a BS'r and not charge what a standard company would charge.

I used to install home theater systems when I was in college as a side job while I worked at Circuit City. And I can tell you that the "legit" companies around town would charge a ridicuous amount of money for simpe jobs. And believe it or not, they often did POOR work. This business of rehabbing is about finding as many ways to save money as possible. If I can get quality work for a few hundred dollars less than the guy in the phone book, you better believe I'm going to do it.

Brian, so you're suggesting that everybody in this area is worthless? Maybe I should hire an electrician out of Austin and pay him a premium; because Nobody around here is worth their salt........

I can understand your frustration with the Ft. Hood area though, they receive a lot of low-educated, questionable characters who join the ARMY to get out of trouble or because they have no other options. I've lived in this area all my life so I'm no amateur to these types of people.

Perhaps this guy is legit. His license is legit. He said he has no problem pulling permits. Between material and labor mark-up, I don't think his claim of beating anybody's bid by 35% is that far of a stretch. I'll find out soon.

Mubasher Riaz, what are the comps? How much equity will you have if you purchase it and rehab it? As others have said, you have left out a lot of information. Run some numbers and tell us why this seems like a good deal. The biggest question I always want to know is how long will it take to recoup my investment.

I'd recommend getting it sealed up though. The longer its exposed to air/moisture the more problems can occur.

These are pretty common for a home of that age. As long as the bricks aren't cracked, that is a good sign. How does the wall look vertically? If you get to the end of the wall and look down this area, is the wall still flat and straight up? Are the two sections on each side of the stair step cracks moving in different directions, one out and one in?

Also, I like to physically push on the wall and see if there is any deflection. Start up high and see if the wall moves. If it moves, it's only going to get worse sooner than later. If it is still solid, you can fill the cracks with mortar or other products and it should be okay.