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Pay Down The Credit Cards or Buy An Investment Property?(2) Chris over at Kansas City Real Estate Investing has a great post that many people don’t think about. Go on over and check out why it may be better to pay down your credit cards than to Buy An Investment Property. Have you always wanted to buy investment property, but never knew where to start? Don’t Wait! Get Started now. |
Foreclosures and Then Some(0)Everything you ever wanted to know about Foreclosures, but was afraid to ask!Previously, I have written a couple posts about foreclosures, especially how they relate to investment properties. Most of my topic was information I have gleaned from training and talking with other agents. I came across a monster of a resource regarding foreclosures. It includes websites, articles, tutorials, and more-100 sites in all. Go and check it out over at International Listings. It is called the The Foreclosure Investor’s Cheat Sheet: 100 Useful Web Resources |
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Tenant Application-Red Flag Example(3) Here is an example of a recent email exchange that I had with someone interested in my 2 bedroom plus loft, new construction townhouse in Forest Lake, MN. I was using Craig’s List to rent this property. I decided to post the exchange so you can notice the interesting way they are trying to avoid having to complete a rental application and why red flags were going off everywhere [note the grammar and spelling errors are from the original text]: Prospect: Hi. Me and my fiance’ are very intrested in your town home. When will it be available for renting? We just had our first child and need the space asap. Let me know, also quick note we would be willing to pay a few months up front if you’d take 1100 a month plus we got a dog. But we like what we saw so please let us know. Me: Prospect: Me: I am OK with bad credit as long as you have good income (paying in advance will cover that also). Prospect: Me: A single credit check run for a rental application is going to do nothing to your credit. Even if it was run 10 times, your credit recovers quickly from those type of checks. Plus, unless you are planning to open new credit line in near future, it doesn’t matter anyway. Attached is a copy of my rental policies for your review. Prospect: Me: Clearly this person is trying to hide something. Why else would they not want to fill out a rental application for an apartment they claim they are interested in? Plus, why not simply tell me what the problem is (felony, evictions, collections). I will not be renting to this person! |
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Done With Short Sales(5) I probably look at 100 investment properties per week on a busy week. These days, 90% of the properties I tour are bank owned or REO properties. Every so often one comes up that is a short sale. Initially, I was pretty excited by short sales. Here were properties that were often in better condition, selling at REO pricing, and had less rules for submitting offers than foreclosures. In the last couple months, though, my attitude and mood toward Short Sales has changed dramatically. Here is why:
Of the last 5 purchase agreements I have written for short sales, 4 have ended in complete frustration. Knock on wood, but one is going OK to date (but we submitted it 4 weeks ago). Although I will submit any offer, I am advising my customers to avoid short sales at this point. Have you always wanted to buy investment property, but never knew where to start? Don’t Wait! Get Started now. Scott Ficek is a Minnesota Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Advantage Plus in Minneapolis and helps new and seasoned investors with their Property Investment. He owns and manages almost 30 investment property units from single family to multi-family. Find his website at www.minnesotainvestmentrealestate.com or receive his blog via your RSS Feed or in your Email. |
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Don’t Just Let Yourself In To Your Investment Property(2) Amy Dickinson is a great read over at the Star Tribune. She writes a column called Rent in the Homes section and takes email questions from readers and answers them. I suppose you could say she is kind of like a Dear Abby for renters and landlords! A recent one article I found funny and tragic at the same time. It seems the landlord is actually a little too quick and helpful to fix things. He barely knocks before he uses his key to enter the apartment (one time catching the renter in a towel, just out of the shower). See the question and Amy’s response here.
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Stupid Property Repairs #4.5(0) After last week’s Stupid Property Repair #4, it seems to be the week for notches out of doors. This next one I just found at very nice, but vacant single family house in St. Paul. This property could be a good investment for a single family rental as it was priced at $165k. I have seen my share of small bathrooms and creative layout. I have even seen the bathroom door almost touch the toilet, but this one seems extreme. I didn’t take the picture, but that notch is so wide that you can actually see into the bathroom when the door is closed! |
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Copyright, Scott Ficek-2011 Re/Max Advantage Plus MN Real Estate Team 17850 Kenwood Trail Lakeville, Mn 55044 952-898-5800
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