All Forum Posts by: Stephen Seaberry

Hi BP,

So after a few weeks of researching, I've settled on farming in NE DC and PG County Maryland to fix/flip. Is anyone currently investing in that area and, if so, what are your thoughts on the outlook for those areas?

I do have a concern with the distance I live from that area. I live in Woodbridge, VA (about 30 minutes if I use the Express Lanes) and I've listed to J. Scott and others on Podcast that champion staying within an area no more than 10 to 15 minutes drive time from your home. The market in NE DC and PG County seems very promising, however, and I think it could be worth it.

I am prospecting a house in a similar situation. I used the county website, guy is an out of state absentee. I googled his name and got his landline and the county records had his out of state address. Talked to his spouse and will follow up with a letter. The advise I got was don't get attached to the house but don't give up either if you think it fits your criteria and a deal could happen. Good luck

@Shawn Root I got the owners name from the county records. Did a Google search and he's one of the few remaining people in the world that is listed in the white pages lol. It didn't work twice though, attempts to repeat this process hasn't worked out since. I'll be sending him a letter this weekend and following up win a phone call mid next week.

@Rick H.

That was a good kick in the butt, I appreciate it. I want to believe I'm not attached to this property, but I can't for the life of me figure out why they'd let the prop fall into so much distress, have that much equity, and not want to cash out.

Back to the grind, I'll update with how it plays out.

Good morning BP,

So, I drive by this distressed property everyday on my way to work. It hasn't been landscaped in a while and there is a notice on the door from the county saying they need to upkeep their lawn. It is clearly distressed and, in speaking to a neighbor, they said its been abandoned for going on 2 years (no tenants to speak of). I did some research on it and found out it was purchased in the 80s for $85K and is comp'd at about $240K. It is in one person's name (this is important for where I'm going with this). I found out the owner's contact info and he is an out of state absentee. After a week of fighting off rejection fear (this is literally my first attempt to buy a house other than my own that I live in), I just called the number I had for the owner. A woman picked up (the owner is a male). The conversation went as follows:

Me: Hi, may I please speak with (owner)?

Woman: He's not available can I take a message?

Me: Yes, my name is Stephen and I drive past his property every day on my way to work. I noticed there was a for sale sign in the yard and wanted to discuss potentially buying it.

Woman: There was a for sale sign?

Me: Yes ma'am.

Woman: There shouldn't be a for sale sign, its not for sale.

Me: Interesting, well, do you  know if he'd be interested in selling it?

Woman: No, he's not!

I ended the conversation without leaving my contact info or gathering more information. My thoughts on it are that since she's not on the county records as the owner, her word is not the final say regarding selling or not selling. I don't want to necessarily call back (at least from my number), but I do want to talk to the actual owner per the property records. I do know that I should have just left a message and asked for him to call me back (hence, I bombed the call). And, I shouldn't have disclosed anything but general information as the reason for my call (i.e., yes, I wanted to discuss his property at 1234 Any Town Ave, can you please have him give me a call at his earliest convenience?)

If calling back is not the best approach, I'm thinking about sending a post card with my agent's card. Any best practiced verbiage I should include in said post card would be helpful. In a way, this is a good thing. If he's conveying to her that he doesn't want to sell it, I figure either that is the truth and no one is prospecting him or he does want to sell and he's just not telling her (assuming she's a confidant like his wife or common law).

BLUF: I'm looking for suggestions on how to follow up this botched call. Is a follow up from a different number with, perhaps, my wife the best approach? Or should I send a card to his out of state address?

A good bit of motivation to end my week. Congrats

@Michael Garnto

That's how I understand it to mean, but there's this "reasonable time frame" clause that I figure provides wiggle room.

HI BP,

Ok, so heres the scenario:

My wife and I both have VA COEs, as we both served and are now out of the military. We bought our first house in September 2014. At the time we bought the house, we used my wife's COE and I cosigned. What wasn't accounted for in the loan approval was my retirement pay, my disability pay, and my wife's new job. This is in excess of $6K/month in addition to the income used to get the first approval. So I think we would be good in the debt-to-income ratio area considering the estimated mortgage on the prop in question would be $1,100 per month.

Scanning Zillow, I came across a house around the corner from me that is substantially under value and I'd hate to let it pass.

Ideally, I would like to use my COE to purchase this home to tie it up for later. My concern is I'm cosigned on my wife's loan and this may reflect negatively with lenders. With it being April, I figured we may be able to draw out closing to June and then fulfill the "reasonable timeframe" occupancy requirement by September 2015 (one year from the time we bought our current property).

Has anyone had a similar experience or have insight in how this deal may go if I apply for a loan? I rather not get the hard inquiry if there isn't a snowballs chance of success. Thanks in advance.

P.S. Conventional loan is out of the question, I don't have the score...yet. We have between $20K and $30K in equity (but I don't know if that is an option since we've only been in the prop for 6 months).

@Account Closed What resources do you recommend for seeing what other flippers have purchased for?

@Larry Fried

 Thank you for the advice. I read the Beginners Guide as well as listened to the accompanying podcast. I will set up keyword alerts tonight. I See you're from Oregon. Hopefully my guys (TB Bucs) pick up Mariota in the 1st Round, he did a lot of good work for the Ducks.