Archive for the 'General' Category

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Jun 25 2007

Bidding on REO Properties

Posted by: Michelle Odessey, in Evaluating Deals, Deal Evaluation, REO, General

REO Question:

Dear Michelle,Thank you for this email. Here is a question I have for you.

Staying in touch with [the] REO [department] at a mortgage company after the [auction at the] court house steps could work to secure a property before it goes to a local realtor[, Right?].

In NC, the price jumps 5% with each bid after the courthouse steps. From your experience, can one contact a mortgage company immediately after the bid reinstatement period with a lower bid–one closer to the amount for which the bank took back the property, thereby cutting off the 5% jump in price.

(This assumes there have been no bids save for the bank’s on the property.)

Michelle’s Response:

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Comments 3 Comments »

May 21 2007

Divorce, State Laws, Retirement, Reverse Mortgages

Posted by: Michelle Odessey, in Reverse Mortgages, Retirement, Divorce, General

Below is an email I received a couple days ago from one of our subscribers and I wanted to share my response to her and see what your comments were too.

From: Ami Gomez
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2007 4:20 PM
To: Michelle@InvestorWealth.com
Subject: Case Scenario

Hi Michelle,

First, thank you for the valuable info I’m receiving from you via email. I’m gaining knowledge and wisdom from it being an investor.

I’d like to ask for advice on exit strategy on this scenario:

My Uncle is 70 years old, Retired from Navy and Civil Service
Assets: Home worth $700,000 paid off (Bought at $46,000)
Savings/Checkings/CDs: $40,000
Fixed Annual Income: $40,223

His wife of 49 years wants a divorce, currently in process. Wants to get half share of the community property. So, here’s the debating question: Sell or Hold the fully paid off home?
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Comments 3 Comments »

May 15 2007

Where do I begin in my real estate investing??

Posted by: Michelle Odessey, in mentorship program, General

That is the question I get asked most, whether folks send me an email or they pick up the phone and call.  And my answer to this question has evolved, with Richard and my investing experience, and with the real estate trends of our times.

As most of you know, hind-sight is 20/20.  And after eight years of real estate investing and four years of working with the best in the business and training numerous real estate investors, I can tell you that ‘your formula for success’ depends on your individual goals and your individual situation.
So, for me to give you, or anyone, a definitive answer – I would really need to spend some time with you individually.  However, there are some basic ideas that every investor should be considering.  So, I’ve decided to do a short series on ‘Where do I begin?’

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Feb 07 2007

Marketing Plans that Work-Part 1

Posted by: Michelle Odessey, in Marketing, Find Motivated Sellers, Single-Family Properties, Short Sales, Pre-Foreclosures & REOs, General

I remember when Richard & I began our real estate investing business – now seven years ago, one of the first seminars we attended was one exclusively on marketing. We learned twenty ways from Sunday how to do business cards, even more on bandit signs, thirty different newspaper ads, post cards, letters, flyers . . .. We were ready to go!

First of all we were both still at our full-time jobs so we opted for ‘newspaper ads’. Most of you know we live in Atlanta so our only logical option was the Atlanta Journal Constitution. MONEY WASTED! No responses that brought us anything that even resembled a motivated seller.

Next we decided to do the ‘work all week and then spend our weekends putting out signs’. The signs seemed reasonably priced, we felt good about the size, color, website, etc. AND we actually got phone calls from them. However, after the first 10 calls or so we then realized we needed to organize all our prospects. We then ‘thought the next important thing to do’ was to get a handle on which signs (street corners) produced the most calls so we could ‘target our marketing’.

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Comments 5 Comments »

Feb 07 2007

“SUBJECT TO” What??

Posted by: Michelle Odessey, in Single-Family Properties, Multi-Family Properties, General

“Subject To” is a term used when ‘buying’ a property, subject to the existing financing. Which means you don’t have to get new financing, or private money, or even hard money. 

The transaction part can usually be done for as little as $10.00.

Which means you are ‘buying’ the house subject to the existing mortgage(s) that the homeowner currently has on the property.  You are taking over the existing

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Comments 2 Comments »

Feb 06 2007

Short Time for Short Sale?-Part 1

Posted by: Michelle Odessey, in Marketing, Short Sales, Pre-Foreclosures & REOs, General

Honing the skill of a successful, short sales real estate investor begins with knowing your ‘market’ and knowing the best ‘marketing approach’, and planning your marketing campaign. That begins with knowing what the heck the game is in your state.

What If your list source is made available to you only 21 to 30 days BEFORE all the properties on the list go to sale – what’s your best marketing plan?

For Example:

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Comments 22 Comments »

Jan 29 2007

WHAT IS A SHORT SALE??

Posted by: Michelle Odessey, in Buying Notes, Short Sales, Pre-Foreclosures & REOs, General

A Short Sale is when the ‘bank’ (lender) agrees to take less than the amount actually owed by the ‘mortgagee’ (the home owner, the debtor). 

Now there are some disctinctions here you should know - A ‘Short Sale’ is not the same as ‘Buying the Note’ at a discount.  When you are going after the Short Sale, your intention is to either (1) Get the property to hold and rent or lease option, or (2) Do what is called a ‘Quick Turn’ of the property (sell it to a new family OR another investor who will be; rehabbing to sell retail, or renting out).  In other words you will be expecting to realize your profit sooner rather than later.

Discounting the Note, makes you the new ‘bank’.  We can talk in depth about this in another entry here but suffice it to say for now “as the bank” you get the payments over time making ‘allota’ money on your money invested in the note AND/OR continue the foreclosure if that is why you found the note to begin with.  (I promise, more later on this . . .).

If you are interested in learning more about short sales and shifting your focus to this niche specifically, contact Peggy in my office about our mentoring programs.  Our office hours are 10a - 5p Eastern Time and our phone is 770-338-2797. 

 

Comments 3 Comments »

Jan 29 2007

WHAT IS A LAND CONTRACT OR AGREEMENT FOR DEED??

Posted by: Michelle Odessey, in How To Sell Properties, General

A Land Contract is the same as an Agreement For Deed or Contract For Deed.  It is a contract between the buyer and seller of a property, where the “seller” holds the title or deed to the property until all agreed payments have been made in full.  Think of it like a car loan.  You get a loan on your new car. The car dealer (or financing institution) will hold the title on your car until you pay off the loan, then you get the title to the car. 

This is the same thing here with real estate.  The seller of the property will hold the deed to the property until the buyer pays off the “loan”, then the seller will transfer the deed to the buyer. 

Peggy Parks

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Jan 19 2007

WHY WOULD I EVER WANT TO BE A LANDLORD??

Posted by: Michelle Odessey, in Property Management, General

My answer to that question is “ABSOLUTELY.”  The things I always hear on the negative issues of landlording are calls in the middle of the night and tenants.  When you have good properties in good neighborhoods, you find good tenants who pay on time and take care of your property and don’t call you.  Sure, there may be the occasional ( the hot water tank is leaking or the air conditioner stopped working)  So what!!  You are there to fix your OWN property so fix it.  Sure, it may take an hour of your time ( or not).  You just call the repair person.  They come to fix it and send you a bill.  And it’s over.  Is it really all that big of a deal??  I have never in my 20 years of landlording got a call in the middle of the night. I have a voice mail and I turn my cell phone off at night.  99.9% of the repairs are called in on the voice mail or called to my cell during the day  and not an emergency and can be handled within 24 hours.  
The other issue is tenants that do not pay their rent on time or don’t pay the rent at all.  Like I said before, when you have the right properties, you get the right tenants and don’t have that issue.  Sure , I have tenants that may pay late.  They understand our policy and they lose their rent discount and pays the additional daily rent until we receive their rent payment.  As long as they communicate this to me and pay as agreed, is it really so bad you get MORE MONEY for waiting another week on the rent!  If a tenant doesn’t pay the rent, you don’t wait a month or two before taking action.  This is a business.  If you don’t get the rent, take the action and start the dispossessory. 
The tenants are “working” for you so you don’t have to work for your money.  The rental income is “passive income”  so the tax benefits are better as well as deducting the expenses and the property.  Great tax benefits for owning rental properties!  I love landlording!! 
 

Peggy Parks

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Nov 15 2006

Multi-Family Properties Stream of Income

Posted by: Michelle Odessey, in Multi-Family Properties, General

Have you started your Multi-Family Properties stream of income yet?

We have - And, for those of you out there who have been with us for a long time, you know I am ‘nervous Nelly’ when it comes to starting anything new. (I’ll have to post an entry here with the ‘first’ real estate investing deal we ever did for those of you who are new to InvestorWealth.com.)

Anyway, here are the stats/specs on our latest multi-family deal that is in the works. (Prop your jaw up before reading this!) (more…)

Comments 5 Comments »

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