All Forum Posts by: Steve Babiak

Originally posted by Marc Freislinger:

I hover a lot... But I can learn a lot more from you guys than you can from me I'm sure.

Marc,

I think you may be missing the point that Rich was trying to make. He wants all those who are new / inexperienced / uncertain to ask their questions in posts to the forums. It's the only way to get an answer from the BP nation.

So don't just hover or linger - ask away and interact.

Jeffrey,

I have a workaround for the thing you do not like. I use this link to access the most recent forum posts:
http://www.biggerpockets.com/posts/recent/filter

And then I see the number of replies; 20 replies fit on one page. If there are more than a certain multiple of 20 in the reply count, I will click on the time of the link (it says something like updated "1 hour ago" in the right hand "Last Reply" column) from that most recent post on a thread; it takes you to the page that has that post, so you don't have to flip past all the pages on the thread you've already seen.

Don't forget to vote on this post if it works for you!

You will probably need to learn: "NEXT!"

Upload to a service such as google docs, and then place the link to each doc here; although you are new to the site and below the 10 post min to use the URL feature, the text of the link would probably be allowed since you aren't selling something.

I just tried to give Josh a vote, but my vote button is broken for now. I know it will be working again at some point ...

That said, the one thing I would add to Josh's post is to give the site managers reports of anything that is malfunctioning on the site. They can't fix what they don't know about; think of BP as "landlord" and users as "tenants", and those of you who have complained about tenants not reporting problems should be able to understand this (like the roof leak that turns into a collapsed ceiling).

Josh might be a bit overwhelmed if that really happens, but if it leads to improvements ...

Regarding sheriff sales in the S.E. PA area, I happen to know the "local REIA expert" on this topic, and he will be presenting at the REIA meeting in October of 2009.

Dennis has accurate info on the payment terms; it does vary by county in PA.

And there is much more to doing sheriff sales successfully then a zillow and drive-by.

kiduno99, I have guest passes to the REIA, so I did a colleague request to you; accept it and PM me and I will send a guest pass via US postal mail to you.

The link for that site gets asking price, estimates rents, and gives a projected cashflow (I saw negative numbers on some I just checked, so it's not just rose-colored stuff); here's a clickable link:
http://www.finestexpert.com/

Of course, like all of the automated valuations, you better know the area comps to be sure the values given are accurate. Ditto for rents.

I just saw some rents that blew me away. Where the rent for 3 bed 1 ba was higher than for 3 bed 2 bath - I know in that area where I searched that the 2 bath should be more.

Since the year on the original post was 2005, I'm betting this tenant has already been evicted, or this landlord is no longer landlording...

Originally posted by Rich Weese:

...
Most have no ulterior motives.
...

And those that do will almost without a doubt be flagged by somebody and challenged to provide substance, or reported for abuse and then moderators intervene to clean up the post.

And don't worry so much bout Josh's feelings - he's had to become one of those thicker skinned types.

If the seller has engaged the services of a realtor to list a property for sale on the MLS, then you certainly can have your own realtor send you those listings, arrange for the access to the building via the lockbox, and then you have your realtor present your offers to the seller's realtor.

Try it. I do just that.

And the seller's listing agreement will have the commission in it; your realtor gets paid at closing from that commission. You don't pay the realtor directly.