Brand New Guy Looking For Timely Help
Howdy everyone,
First I want to say that I have always been interested in this type of thing, first obviously to make some money, and hopefully work myself out of a job, secondly because I wanted to help others in a bad situation. But as many of us know, life tends to get in the way.
Well, without making this a big long story, life has taken a strange turn on me. My girlfriend and I just learned that her mother has basically just dropped the ball on her house. She just stopped paying several months back, and now has moved in with her daughter (my girlfriend). Last week she got served her forclosure papers, and we were sitting there just stunned that she was going to let this place go.
Anyway, I am still learning details, but by the middle of this week, we (the girlfriend and I) will have written permission from her mother to do whatever we can with the property.
Here are the numbers I know. There are at least two mortgages and a lien against the property totaling approx $76K. I figure about 20K in repairs and clean up (this does not take into account that we can do alot of it ourselves). The house itself should be worth somewhere over $150K.
I just joined this forum and I have been very impressed with what I have read, and the willingness of people to help each other, that is a wonderful spirit, and something I pray continues. I obviously am looking for some help on this, but Im afraid Im pressed for time. Its one heck of a way to get immersed into this, but Im up to the challenge.
Im looking for some advice, encouragement, and anything else positive at this point.
Some specifics IM looking for before I even really know what Im asking for are the following:
How do I find out the real value of the property without forking out a bunch of money out of my pocke that I might not ever see back?
Since I will have the same control as the 'owner' here in a few days, is there anything I can do with the bank to hold them back a little since the girlfriend and I are willing to try and work something out with it?
Where am I going to find a lender that is going to move FAST, work with a NOVICE, and someone without good CREDIT.
These seem like very tall obstacales, but again, I am willing to take on this challenge.
Thanks again for everything, and everyone keep up their great attitude (at least what I have seen on here 
Timothy
Hi Tatinney
For property values you could try www.homeradar.com or www.dataquick.com (the latter is not free, but offers a free trial). There are a few other sites. Not the best information, but a starting point. A realtor would be able to get good comparible sales prices for you, if you know one.
I am not an expert at this type of deal, but it sounds like there is a lot of equity to play with. Did your girlfriend's mother try to sell it at all? Is there something that makes it difficult to sell?
You could lease option the property. The option money they pay you could get the mortgage up to date, and their monthly rent could make the monthly payments and hopefully cover any other expenses.
I don't know what the timeframe is, but if you are in a hurry you may want to hurry to find a buyer, not a lender. If you offer to finance the sale you should be able to find someone fairly quickly. Just make sure that you get a good deposit/option money up front so you can get the mortgage up to date.
If you want to be both fair to your girlfriend's mother and make a fair profit for yourself consider lease optioning the property from her, and then you lease option it to someone else.
Good luck.
Marcher,
Thanks for your reply, I will answer what I can.
We would like to sell the property, and obviously realize some of the equity in it. As for her mom, its kind of hard to explain, at least for me, because I cant fathom the behavior, but basicaly, she just decided she didnt want anything to do with it. As near as we can tell, she wasnt behind on anything when she just decided she wasnt going to 'play the game' anymore. The property is just abandoned, and she is perfectly willing to just let the bank have it.
Again, we would like to realize as much equitly as we can, and are willing to do what we need to, as well as learn, because this is something that I have wanted to do for some time, and now I have been thrown into it (not unwillingly)
I am going to check out those sites you posted, thanks again for your help.
Timothy
With the equity that is there you could offer a good discount for a quick cash sale. Investors could be interested.
The reason I bring up offering seller financing or a LO is that you might be able to find someone who would like to avoid bank qualifying quickly. They can give you the money you need to get the mortgage up to date, and keep it there. You won't see the profit for 12 months or so, but that's better than losing the deal if you can't find a cash buyer in a hurry.
I have several thoughts for you:
1. In the state of Iowa, abandoned properties have special provisions of the forclosure code that speeds up the process of foreclosure
2. Look into and consider purchasing the property subject 2 the existing mortgages. You say that your girlfriend's mother is willing to let the bank have it back. Talk to her and tell her that you would like to buy the house and take over making her mortgage payments. You'll catch up missed payments and likely stop foreclosure.
3. You should possibly be concerned with the mental state of your girlfriends mother. Make sure that she is within your state's threshold to be able to legally deed you the property. You may consider getting your girlfriend full power of attorney and yourself partial POA so that she can sign you the deed and that you can look into her mortgages and lien.
You have an excellent situation on your hand. Make sure not to burn bridges and make people feel taken advantage of. Dealing with a girlfriend is hard and I doubt I would ever do it. However, this is too good to pass up. Good luck and feel free to come back to me and/or the rest of TCI with any questions and support.
As far as the mental health of mom, that is something both the g/f and I have questioned, but that is neither here nor there at the moment.
I have spent the last two days combing the internet for all the information I can find, and of course there are tons of places out there that are willing to take your money.
As far as the bank speeding up the process, Im not sure, I think she has been ignoring them for sometime, and there is not much time left.
I would love to take over the payments, but I have no idea where I would come up with the money to get it caught up, any suggestions?
As for dealing with the g/f / mother thing, there really isnt any worry, like I said, she is resigned to letting the bank have it. If we step in, we might be able to prevent that (not that she cares) and maybe do a little something for ourselves, and that is the goal.
I believe I have a good oppurtunity here, just unsure how to proceed, thats why I am here getting the advice of the wonderful (and obviously night owls such as myself) people in this forum.
Thanks again
Sorry to hear about your problem. It sounds like you have enough equity to do a 60-65% LTV loan. As long as you have a job I think a lender would work with you. There are some lenders that work with foreclosure properties. See if the loan is assumable. But if you got to get rid of it fast look in the newspapers for "We Buy Houses For Cash". If you have time just put it on the market and sell it for the maximum price. Good Luck
Tatinney,
If you email me I would be willing to try and help. My financial resources are very good so if this is really a family deal and you have some clear objective on what you would like to accomplish then get ahold of me and I can at least run a title report and get the facts on the property and we can try to come up with a solution that is beneficial to all parties. Hope to hear from you soon.