All Forum Posts by: Tom Mole

Thanks so much guys. 

I've played with most of these resources on a regular basis, but some were new to me. MapLiv, HomeSnap and ZIPskinny really have my juices flowing. I'll be putting them through the paces tonight about 2:00 am. 

Thanks again. You guys rock!

@Matt Sauls  and @Gerry Medina, You should look up my good friend Vince Motel. He's a realtor in the IE and an active investor. It's up to you each to decide if Vince would meet your professional criteria, but I know Vince and I'd start there.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to put his phone number here, but I'm sure the moderator will edit it, if that's not kosher.

Tell him that his friend, Tom Mole recommended him.

All the best.

@Andy Kaye, what dark purple doesn't seem like the best color to you? Maybe add some gold accents and install a toilet that looks like basketball hoop. That would be a slamdunk!

OK, so you hate dark purple. So do I. What gets into these people? How does anyone ever think dark purple looks good. Oh well, no accounting for taste (or lack of taste in this case).

Let's assume your preparing this bathroom for rental. I'd take a look at the accent colors then go pick out a nice earthtone or neutral color in high gloss. Renter's aren't likely to care a great deal. High gloss is usually easier to clean and tends to brighten the room some.

Perhaps you're looking to rehab for sale. In that case I'd look at who I was planning to market to then I'd try to make the bathroom a little better than they'd normally expect. For lower income market I'd do a cleaner job of what needs to be done to make it rent ready. For the middle income market I'd make sure that colors matched, I might defer to a satin finish and I'd be inclined to replace dated counters, floors and shower doors. For the high end I'd get a designer and do what they told me to do.

Whatever it takes to reach your highest profitability, not highest price nor lowest price either. 

All the best.

@Andres Rossini, are you looking for commercial property (read apartments with 5+ units)? If so, use a CCIM agent when you use an agent at all. Otherwise, while CCIM doesn't hurt anything, it just doesn't matter for residential. 

As @J Scott pointed out HUD foreclosures are special. You need a special realtor to make those offers. For typical bank foreclosures you don't usually need a realtor at all provided that you know what you're doing. 

Usually you won't know about REO's unless a realtor markets it. In that case deal with that broker and make your offer.

If you're willing to go directly to the homeowners in preforeclosure, you should be able to skip all realtors altogether. 

I find those homeowners to be a skiddish lot. There are two types homeowners in foreclosure; the delusional and the jaded. It may seem easier to talk to a realtor, but there's usually more profit in deal directly with the homeowner. If you learn how to develop rapport and lead them to understand that you're helping them resolve their nasty problem, you'll find more profitable deals not diluted by realtor commissions.

How you negotiate a foreclosure facing auction depends a great deal on whether there's any equity. If the homeowner owes more than the house is worth, I'd suggest to pass on that until you get a little more experience.

If the homeowner has some equity, you have the potential for a deal. Find out what the owner needs, then find a way to meet his needs at the lowest price point. Show him how, while you'll make some small profit, this solution is all about easing his pain. Make the offer, close the deal and get a renter in there.

Generally, in a case like this a realtor will add cost, competition and commissions. Nothing there that you need in your business. That being said, if you're not comfortable filling out the paperwork yourself and you think a realtor would give a confident feeling, then by all means hire a buyer's agent.

In this case a buyer's agent is PAID by the BUYER, meaning you and thus has a fiduciary responsibility to you. Most agents were never trained to do this, so interview a lot of them until you find someone who "gets" your vision. Pay this agent well and often. Let this agent close the homeowner, if you're uncomfortable with that. Let him fill out the paperwork and get the escrow started.

This post is really long, but perhaps it will help you.

All the best.

@Andy Hailey, HUD is weird. They don't act like a traditional, emotion motivated seller. They're more like a machine. Their counters are designed to convince you to pay more than you need to in order to get your offer accepted. They will often accept much less than you'd think.

The funny thing is that they don't seem to care. Repeated lowball offers don't piss them off. I know a few investors who, after getting a counter, simply resubmit their prevous offer plus $1 until they get accepted.

Do you plan to keep doing HUD foreclosures? If so, take a look at some of the posts in the HUD, VA and Tax Sales forum (and by "some", I mean "all") There's a lot of expertise out there to tap.

I hope this helps.

All the best.

@Account Closed, I understand that you don't want to be a nuisance, but really what if you're a gentleman and the seller accepts someone else's offer. Perhaps that other buyer was a bit more persistent or a little more creative. Whatever, he will have gotten the attention of the buyer.

What if you called every day until the phone is NOT answered by a machine. Whenever the machine answers you just logged the call and hang up without a message. About once a week you leave a message something like, "Hey, I'm trying to reach about your property at 123 Main St. in Pennsylvania. Please call me at 555 555-5555. It's important." That's all you need to say.

Try putting his house up for sale on Craigslist, then send him a message saying that you saw "his" Craigslist add and you know someone who might be interested in buying his house. (Kinda underhanded, I know, but better than bandit signs.) 

There are all kind of ways to get in the guy to talk to you, even if he's just calling to yell at you. At this point you're just trying to get a conversation started. Once you're talking you downplay the nuisance stuff and get talking about what you can do for Mr Buyer.

I gotta run right now, but there a lot more details. Let me know if this helps.

All the best.

@DJ Cummins, check out Randy Hughes at Land Trusts Made Simple. I've seen him in person and asked a lot of questions. He knows his stuff. I'd like to hear what you think of Mr. Land Trust.

All the best.

An LLC is an excellent entity for many things in real estate. It's just not the only thing. Your CPA can probably tell you why to incorporate instead of using an LLC for tax reasons. Your asset protection attorney probably would want you to set up a structured combinations of entities, but only once you have enough assets to protect.

Right now you are looking for one property. Insurance should cover most casualties you're likely to face at this point, as @Curt Davis indicated. Insurance is limited however and often another form of asset protection is warranted. How likely is the threat of you getting sued?

A land trust is an entity that can, among other things, obscure the identities of the actual owners. This can be important to protect you from frivolous lawsuits. Only the trustee needs to be identified in public records. A good asset protection guy can delve into the pros and cons for your situation.

The main thing is getting started. Talk about your deal. What are the particulars? Why do you think it has been on the market for 2 years? What makes it look like a good deal at this point?

All the best.

An LLC should help to prevent your personal assets from being used to satisfy a judgement against your investment property and can help differentiate your personal property from business property should the business ever dissolve. A corporation may be an even better idea in some cases. You really need to sit down with your tax and asset protection attorney to go over your specific concerns. I do applaud you for having the foresight to do so.

Hi @DJ Cummins,

It sounds like you have quite a thorough plan. The short answer is, yes, an LLC can help to protect yourself. Is it the best way to do that? I don't know. I depends on what you're hoping to protect against.

You probably want to talk to an asset protection and tax attorney. An LLC can be sued just like any actual person. The attack could come from a tenant, a past owner, a future owner, the government, a fellow partner...almost anywhere. You have to know what you're protecting against. The more you worry, the more complicated it becomes. That translates into time and money, so be reasonable. Remember what Mark Twain said, "You can make a thing foolproof, but you can't make it damned foolproof".

Frankly, based on what you've said, I'd send the wife out shopping right now with one caveat, she should not "fall in love" with anything but you, sir. NEVER fall in love with a deal. That said, get started with your business. You're ducks are better aligned than most of us. If you're serious about wanting to get started, then take a break from preparing.

Where are you looking for your investment property? Particularly, in what state? Each state has its own Department of Corporations with there own costs and rules. You already plan to talk to an attorney, so do that. You'll get everything you can think of and a lot more.

You'll do well to get started while you continue to prepare. You can always put your property into an LLC, corporation, land trust, whatever later. Congratulations on being so organized and well prepared.

All the best.