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All Forum Posts by: Thomas Williamson

Thomas Williamson has started 17 posts and replied 262 times.

Post: 401K loan

Thomas WilliamsonPosted
  • Investor
  • atlanta , GA
  • Posts 287
  • Votes 148

I too have used this strategy successfully many times. We finally got to the point where our passive income allowed my wife to quit her job. We took her 401K, created another LLC, and opened up a 401K plan for that LLC and transferred the 401K from the wife's company to our company. After the funds were in our new company, we then used the funds to buy another home.....Keep the velocity of the money going!

Post: Lifestyles Unlimited…your opinions...???

Thomas WilliamsonPosted
  • Investor
  • atlanta , GA
  • Posts 287
  • Votes 148

Eric were you in Los Angeles last February at the syndication event with the Real Estate Guys? You look like someone I met while attending that even. If so, glad to see your still doing well in real estate.

Post: Auction.com / do it yourself foreclosure / need help with this

Thomas WilliamsonPosted
  • Investor
  • atlanta , GA
  • Posts 287
  • Votes 148

Got the title report back on the property I'm interested in. Everything looks good, no issues. So, hopefully I'll be the only bidder or at least the highest on Tuesday. This has been a great education so far.

Post: ATL Flippers: Best Source of Fixers?

Thomas WilliamsonPosted
  • Investor
  • atlanta , GA
  • Posts 287
  • Votes 148

I'm in the process now of preparing for a county auction in east Atlanta next week. The market is really weird around here. I think it depends on where you're trying to flip, or pick up properties. Gwinnett and most north end counties are red hot right now, so I'm looking to Auctions, and may start off market marketing as J suggested.

Post: Auction.com / do it yourself foreclosure / need help with this

Thomas WilliamsonPosted
  • Investor
  • atlanta , GA
  • Posts 287
  • Votes 148

Wow, thanks Dion great info. I don't know why the law firm handling this directs people to Auction.com either. It seemed to really muddy the waters for what should have been a normal sell at the courthouse. Interesting.

Post: Lifestyles Unlimited…your opinions...???

Thomas WilliamsonPosted
  • Investor
  • atlanta , GA
  • Posts 287
  • Votes 148

Here's my take. I'm a current LU member (PIG) member, but I live in Atlanta. I flew out to San Antonio last year (November) to attend the two day class David Fisher gave. During the class we were told if you have under 50,000 then you need to stay with SF investments. If you had 50,000 to 100,000 to invest then you needed go multi-family. I fully intended on buying an apartment complex in central Texas, and still will at some point. I travel to that area at least once a year and love it. At the end of the two day class I signed up for the PIG membership which was 10,000. I strongly regret doing that now. The reasons are after I joined and inquired about multi-family, I was told that 100,000 wasn't enough to get into a decent size complex, and there's no way to manage a smaller one from a distance. I know that was not correct info that I received from the "mentor." I could really use that 10,000 now to put into other deals.

Then there was the Atlanta debacle. I feel for the people in Atlanta that went to the free classes and signed up for memberships based on the fact that they were told repeatedly, "We are coming to Atlanta, it's a done deal, our office will be opening in November of 2013 or December of 2013 at the latest, but we are coming for sure." Then suddenly without warning and e-mail was sent out last week stating things have changed, we're now not coming to Atlanta. Just the day before that e-mail, I sent a message to one of the "mentors" and asked what the status of the Atlanta office was, since they had stopped mentioning it on the radio show. I was told, "Del is coming in February for his class." That person knew full well at that point that the office wasn't going to open, but chose not to say anything.

I just thought the way all of that was handled was very poor and unprofessional. I still intend on working with them at some point to purchase a multi-family in Texas, because I know others who have done that very thing and they seemed to be satisfied with them, and the service they offer when it comes to buying a large multi-family project. But, they live in Texas near their properties as well. For 10,000 you don't get much. I expected a phone call at least at some point to ask what the goals were, how to get there, what help can we provide, etc. etc. But to my surprise, there hasn't been any of that. Once you pay any amount of money, that's it, it's all on you to take action, which is fine I can do that. But don't have any illusions that they're going to bend over backwards to help. An e-mail went out a few days ago from them congratulating a couple on their first multi-family purchase. I sent a response back and asked if the details would be published, or was it simply going to be a case study at a Texas office. I was told it would be a case study later in Texas. That kinda fly's in the face of saying you're a National or International group.

As I've said before, if you live in Texas and close to one of their offices, it may be a good deal at the basic level. But there's a lot of pressure to buy from their realtors, and keep everything in house. If you live outside of Texas, don't spend the money. Everything you need can be found right here on BP. The thing I like about BP versus a lot of other "guru groups" is that members here love sharing their deals and numbers from start to finish with everyone, the good the bad and the ugly. I'm determined that my 10,000 won't be wasted, so in time I will have a large MF in central Texas, it's just a matter or reassessing what I thought would happen, versus what I have to make happen.

Hope this helps.

Post: Auction.com / do it yourself foreclosure / need help with this

Thomas WilliamsonPosted
  • Investor
  • atlanta , GA
  • Posts 287
  • Votes 148

Thanks Rick, nice to get some more local knowledge. I just spoke with a lady from McCalla Raymer. She cleared up the "finish the foreclosure" part for me. She said what she thinks the people at Auction.com were trying to say was if the property is occupied or there's stuff there then you have to deal with that. But as far as the actual foreclosure goes, once it's auctioned at the courthouse, that's it, it's a done deal. She said they'll hold the deed for a little while just to make sure no bankruptcies were filed by the previous owners etc. but outside of that, it's a done deal if you're the winning bidder at the courthouse. She also said she was not allowed to say whether this was a first or second mortgage auction, but since it's going through McCalla Raymer, I'm sure it's got to be for the first. But, that being said, I just ordered a full title search to be completed before the auction to be on the safe side. I'll let everyone know what happens after Tuesday, good luck Rick.

Post: Auction.com / do it yourself foreclosure / need help with this

Thomas WilliamsonPosted
  • Investor
  • atlanta , GA
  • Posts 287
  • Votes 148

Thanks Bill. I'm going to order title today and I'll check on the redemption filings as well. Thanks for the info.

Post: Auction.com / do it yourself foreclosure / need help with this

Thomas WilliamsonPosted
  • Investor
  • atlanta , GA
  • Posts 287
  • Votes 148

Joel my goal is to flip a few for cash for more buy and holds. I checked the meters on both homes and they're not running. The opening bids are so low for a courthouse auction, I was thinking these might be second mortgages as well. I'm going to continue the due diligence and reach out to my attorney. I want to make sure I understand this process thoroughly before putting cash into one of these properties. I'll keep updating the thread as I learn more. Thanks for the input.

Post: Auction.com / do it yourself foreclosure / need help with this

Thomas WilliamsonPosted
  • Investor
  • atlanta , GA
  • Posts 287
  • Votes 148

Thanks everyone for the quick responses, Joel great info as usual. Jeff I think you hit exactly what I was looking for as well. I couldn't figure out how far the bank actually went with the process since I had to continue with the foreclosure process, or at least that's what I was told by Auction.com. Dion, the attorney's office that handles a large majority of foreclosures (Mccalla Raymer) actually seems to be using Auction.com as a distribution site for lack of a better term. Mccalla Raymer list the upcoming foreclosures, but where it states opening bid amount, that's where they direct you to Auction.com, even though it's not an on line bid, it's at the courthouse.

I can't really see how they're making money (Auction.com) that is, because you don't have to pay them anything to attend and bid on the property since it's at the courthouse. Joel if you can chime in on this, I'm assuming that like Jeff says, when you buy it at the courthouse, the heavy lifting has been done, I just take possession and take care of removing any property and people? Sound right? The good thing about these properties I'm interested in is they're vacant. Thanks for the help guys.