<p>my bad, I was under the impression that auction.com ballroom auctions does not have to pay all hammer price on the spot!</p>
<p>can you refer me a “person” or “school” that teaches due diligence of titles in the foreclosure auctions?</p>
<p>I saw a lot of ppl research in the county recording office, are those ppl working on title search?</p>
<p>The people that are in the County Recording Office are usually ‘paid’ workers for data companies that are pulling information on Notice of Defaults as soon as they get scanned (about a day later). Or maybe they are pulling data for other reasons. They basically camp there all day. Most title companies and other data companies pay for automatic ‘tapes’ of data, but they only get it once a week. That’s why you will see a lot of Internet sites lag a week or more to get accurate data.</p>
<p>People who do small volume or are just starting out with researching foreclosures have to go down to the Recorder’s Office to pull the documents to view them. I used to do that for the first year and it was unbelievably time consuming. I now have a relationship with my title company and I can email them and get documents (as long as they are over a week old) sent to me via email immediately. They have been the most important relationship that I made.</p>
<p>I was mentored by Ward Hanigan (foreclosure.com). He teaches only one on one and it is very expensive. I wanted to make sure I really knew what I was doing, especially with title searches. After working with him, I paid a local title search person to ‘test’ me after their work hours to make sure I had retained everything really well.</p>
<p>The problem of buying stuff on the steps or even in the ball room is that too many properties got canceled or postponed. Few years ago, I went to several and worked my axx off only to find all the properties were canceled. I have a friend in LA who used to buy on the steps and she could only buy one house per year. It took too much efforts to gain little. In Northern CA, if you want to cover all 7 counties’s steps, you will be running around all day for nothing.</p>
<p>The friend in LA, now she buys most of her properties from MLS and only in her designated areas. She is a buy and hold person, with a lot of funds so she doesn’t mind to pay a little more.</p>
<p>I was laughing my heads off and is amazed that those people in the “property wars” TV show that they can easily buy properties on the steps and have the KEYS to the door as soon as the auction is over. Most of the foreclosure sales are owner occupied and most of the sales are canceled. You just don’t drive the property 5 minutes before the auction and examine it.</p>
<p>What kind of reality the show is trying to portray? and the information they provided is very misleading.</p>
<p>
It’s entertainment, not a documentary. It would be pretty boring if they spent 80% of the time evicting people.</p>
<p>I remember back in the early days of This Old House, they used to keep track of what everything would have actually cost, and showed it to the homeowner at the end. Until one time, the owner nearly had a heart attack right on camera. After that they stopped pretending they were doing renovations that ordinary people could do.</p>
<p>Ok
Just made an offer off Mls. Took me 5 min to make up my mind, sight unseen. I did not even drive the property, my reasons:</p>
<p>5 min from home
Offer price 220k list price 219k short sale owner occupied
Comp across street 350k Same size house.
Acceptable neighborhood drive through every day</p>
<p>I will inspect it tomorrow unless there is a serious foundation defect I will buy it no matter what at that price</p>
<p>Wish me luck</p>
<p>DW has pretty much given up on short sales. The banks are not interested in making them happen, so they delay delay delay, never get back to you, then after a few months it’s been so long they make you do all the paperwork all over again. I don’t know if she’s ever closed a short sale. And most buyer are unwilling to wait 6+ months to see if the bank will take it.</p>
<p>^^that is why I said wish me luck >:) </p>
<p>LUCK!</p>
<p>“What Buyer should ask about a flipped home?”</p>
<p><a href=“A Beginner's Guide To Flipping Houses | Bankrate”>http://www.bankrate.com/finance/real-estate/buying-flipped-home-questions-1.aspx</a></p>
<p>I assume a lot of ppl will look into these points so I will be prepared to answer as well.</p>
<p>Yes, buying at the courthouse steps is a FULL TIME job. Every now and then someone will show up and stand around and try to ask me a bunch of questions. I just don’t even have the time to try to explain to them how much work it is, and how huge the risk is. I actually drive about thirty to fifty homes on the weekends and take notes. That narrows it down to about 10 that I am interested in and then there is a lot of legwork after that. 90% of the time the property is postponed or cancelled, sometimes after I have been standing around for hours.</p>
<p>There is no such thing as someone handing you the keys when you buy a foreclosed home and there is a large chance that it is occupied.</p>
<p>I’m guessing on the TV shows that their ‘entrance’ is several weeks after the actual auction date and the buyers have had keys made and removed occupants. Although the Utah TV show shows them breaking into the houses, but they are always empty??? </p>
<p>Regarding the actual auction footage… I think that is staged also because of the way that the bidders are standing and their actions. However, it is perfectly legal to video an auction and many people do. Sometimes pissed off owners come down and try to take pictures and videos of the ‘illegal’ takeover of their properties. Other times TV news comes down and tapes a little bit of it. It is public and they are allowed.</p>
<p>Boy can I tell you some stories after standing at these auctions in rain and heat for many many years.</p>
<p>Artlover, I think I also got lucky lucky lucky today. But I don’t want to jinx it until I know for sure so I will share #21 tomorrow.</p>
<p>That’s a good list of questions for any buyer.</p>
<p>I love this thread! Good luck, coralbrook!</p>
<p>Hope you have good news coralbrook. I’m excited to hear what area your next property will be in!</p>
<p>In the list of items to review for a flip they seem to be concentrating on making sure there are permits for all the work. In my experience over the last five years I have only had two buyers ask if there was a permit. One was a valid request because I had built a brand new master bedroom/bath addition and they needed the signed permit to confirm the new square footage to the bank appraiser. It sometimes takes over 6 months for additional square footage to feed through the government systems and show on title reports, etc.</p>
<p>The other buyer asked I f there was a permit for a new electrical panel - and I didn’t have a permit for upgrading the panel. They just dropped it because their home inspector confirmed the work was high quality and to code. I do use a licensed electrician and provide his phone nbr if there are any issues. It seems to be related to the local market - it just isn’t a big deal in our market. I think the reason is because buyers in our market get a lot of home inspections, sometimes several inspections for different aspects of the home such as pool, plumbing, roof, etc.</p>
<h1>21 - original Spanish bungalow in historical neighborhood.</h1>
<p>There is a neighborhood in our market that is hot hot hot. Located near Downtown with homes built in the 1920s with a lot of character, either original Craftsman or original Spanish. I have tried for many years to get one of these original homes but they get many multiple offers and you have to be careful because these homes require a lot of work to renovate back to superior condition. The heavy hitters have this market cornered, I just cannot get a break trying to get into the neighborhood.</p>
<p>I was able to get one at auction about 1 1/2 yrs ago, but it wasn’t really a Craftsman or Spanish. It was a 2/1 900sf on the fringe of the hot neighborhood but it had a huge lot. I went all out and pulled permits to add a large master suite to the house. It was my first experience doing a full construction addition but the $50,000 cost to build added $75,000 value to the home. It was a profitable experience.</p>
<p>On Monday I got a call from an ‘assistant’ to a realtor that I know. She told me that her realtor had just taken a listing from an elderly woman who needed to sell her home. It is in original condition and has no heat source, so they needed an all cash buyer. For once I was getting the insider tip!!! I just couldn’t believe my luck, house is not listed yet. I drove the house, it is exactly what everyone wants. Original Spanish, only a 2 bdrm/1 bath 900sf house with very small lot. But it has a lot of detail, original woodwork, coved ceilings, gorgeous original windows, etc.</p>
<p>I made a very strong offer yesterday afternoon straight through the listing agents. No contingencies, the lady does not have to deal with any strangers in her house, no For Sale sign in front (she is very security conscious). I offered to close in 10 days all cash and then let her Rent Back for up to 60 days so that she can move at her own pace and use her cash to settle into her new home. The listing agents had already set an Asking Price, but they worked with me to create my offer and advised me on the price. They are going to get a full 6% commission if they bring the buyer so I know they will work very hard to get my offer accepted before it ever goes into the MLS.</p>
<p>Wish me luck, I couldn’t even sleep last night!!</p>
<p>I will - good luck - sounds like a lovely house.</p>