All Forum Posts by: Tim Lindstrom

I had a tenant pass away.  His family came and got everything they wanted out of the house.  What do I, or can I do, with the remaining personal property?  There is a lot of furniture, but mostly junk left in the unit.

Can I just have a clean-out company remove everything, or do I need to have the family sign something first giving up their rights to his belongings?

@Cliff T.

I took him to small claims court.  I didn't get a lawyer.  I knew the pictures I had, and the email trail would be enough to prove my case.

I just filled out a form that I picked up at the courthouse, and they did the rest.  They setup a date, and summoned him to court.

I know I will have to talk to someone who specializes in self-directed IRAs,  but thought I'd float this question on BP first.

Would I be able to use my self-directed IRA to loan money to my girlfriend, to purchase a duplex, if I don't have any financial gain, except the interest my loan will earn?

Does this meet the requirement of "arms length" transactions?

Thanks James.   I think I'm going to try and wholesale the property first (this will be my first time).   I bought it knowing it was a hoarder house,  but didn't realize how much stuff they can cram into a house.  Until you've seen one in person,  it's hard to imagine the scope of the clean-up.  I hope to find someone who has experience with hoarder houses, and wants to take it off my hands. 

I just bought a house, and would like to change the house number.  I think the current address might turn off some potential renters/buyers (haven't decided if I'm going to fix it up and keep it,  or wholesale it).

The house number is 666.  Does anyone know how easy/difficult it is to change the house number?  I don't know where to even start.

@Derrick K.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience.  I wouldn't stop dealing with banks because of this.  You just need to deal with them differently.   I never ask for anything to be fixed.  I always ask for a reduction in price instead.  If you ask for things to be fixed, it will most likely get done as cheaply as possible.

If you find another good bank owned deal,  don't let this experience scare you away from making some money.

@Ray Lai

I don't want to deal with that.  I like having other people doing the paperwork, the demo, rehab, maintenance, etc...

I like finding the deals and negotiating, then I place tenants and collect the rent after everything in between is done.

Perfectly acceptable.  I use a realtor for purchases I find via my direct mail campaign.  I pay a flat fee of $500 for the realtor to write up the contract, get it eSigned, and handle any issues that come up in closing.  THis is after I negotiate the price with the seller.  Well worth the $500 for me.

@Jason Brown,  My initial mailing (first piece) gets about a 3% response rate, but I have yet to make a deal on a first response.  Every subsequent mailing after the first gets 1-2% response.  Most are people who want too much, or aren't really motivated.  All of my deals (only landed 5 so far, after a year of mailing) have come after mailing to a prospect 4-6 times.

@Jason Brown,  I stagger my mailings throughout the month.  I send out mailers every week,  and haven't noticed any particular set of mailers getting more responses then other times of the month.

My mailers are different from your though...

I send out typed letters with hand written envelopes (thinking of moving to printed envelopes with a handwritten font).

I only mail to houses I find while driving for dollars.  I add new houses every week, and am mailing over 1200 monthly now.