So I went doorknocking today and made some good progress with one homeowner. The house has dogs and cats all over. It’s a complete mess (dog & cat crap all over, the whole nine yards)…mostly cosmetic though. The ladies situation is her husband left her and is living in another state. His name is on the mortgage, but they are now starting to address her name on the foreclosure mailings. To keep brief here are bullet points with the details:
-She has no job
-She wants to sell the house (supposively her husband does too)
-She believes the last payment was in May.
-Her husband says to sell it,but she has trouble getting paperwork from his attorney. He also calls from private numbers (she gave me the last number he called from which wasnt blocked however)
-The government is willing to give her 1k a month towards rent
-She’d like to stay in the area but knows she prob can’t afford another house.
-A contractor came in and offered her 160k
I left her a packet which gives all her options (these are of no help considering how much time has gone by since last payment, yet she was impressed compared to how the contractor presented himself). I asked her how much she’d be willing to take now. Her response was $300k with uncertainty. I mentioned that was closer to retail price without needing any repairs. I then went on to explain how my partners usually offer about 70% of FMV to leave room for repairs and profit. I told her I might be by with my partner to take another look and to estimate how much we can give her.
Now, what information should I get, what questions should I ask, and what should I tell her regarding this situation? This is the next step which I’m facing for the first time.
Thanks in advance,
Ryan
edit: she also mentioned she’d like to stay and rent if someone were to buy it. i know some investors say no, you should get them out…however is this situation differnet considering iher husbands name is on the mortgage…not hers?
well as i recall you are a realtor so pull a cma on the property find out what current fmv is and what arv would be if fixed up…as far as the repairs if you have a partner that knows is stuff on repair cost by all means at this time set up a time to go back and look it over…find out her story as far as if she doesnt sell it to you for the price you want what does she plan to do …if going to list it for wat …ok now subtract 6% from that number …how much are mortgage payments how long is the avg dom if 6 months now subtract whatever mortg payments would be for 6 month along with taxes and insurance for her…what are the repair cost subtract those …now you need to make a profit ask her what she thinks you should make for helping her subtract that …basically as you remember how johnnm posted what he says to sellers on mentortolunch thats a good way to get down top offer you can allow
thanks for the reply WW. Yes from other posts I understand that is the process. I’m trying to find out how I’m to go about making the offer and to who? Her husband, who left, is the person who’s name is on the mortgage. He skipped town. Without his signature, permission, or whatever…she won’t be able to sell the house. As she mentioned, she doenst have an exact number to locate him. She has spoken with his attorneys…do I contact them? Try to speak with him directly?
You need to find out whose name(s) are on the title. He must be willing to sell to you if his name is on title.
You will need to have his signature to speak with the lender or Trustee who is foreclosing. Since she is getting letters, she must be on the title and she can get the payoff information, etc. from the Trustee.
You can always to a skip trace through ZabaSearch to find him.
You will also want to order a judgement report on whoever is on title to make sure that there aren’t more amounts to pay in addition to the mortgage. I usually do a pre-lim title & lien as well as judgement report.
Once you have received these numbers, done your comps and inspected the property for rehab costs, you should be able to make an offer that will make it a win-win for everyone.
You will need to have his signature to speak with the lender or Trustee who is foreclosing. Since she is getting letters, she must be on the title and she can get the payoff information, etc. from the Trustee.
The tax records show his name only. According to her, his name only is on them. They were sending letters with his name on it, but now that he skipped town they are addressing her now.
Who should I try to contact to get his signature (him or his attorney)?
What should I do when I first talk to him? Explain that I spoke with his wife/exwife and that I’m interested in purchasing the home? My guess is, he might want to make this a difficutl situation considering he just left town and isnt paying child support.
You can always to a skip trace through ZabaSearch to find him.
You will also want to order a judgement report on whoever is on title to make sure that there aren't more amounts to pay in addition to the mortgage. I usually do a pre-lim title & lien as well as judgement report.
please elaborate, i thought this woudl be covered in a lien search. Can I find this out when I do my lien search at the county clerks office?
Once you have received these numbers, done your comps and inspected the property for rehab costs, you should be able to make an offer that will make it a win-win for everyone.
should I be making an offer to purchase,or attempting to assume payments? I know there are various methods but I’m not quite sure which route to take at the moemnt. the lady said she’d like to stay there and rent it out if someone were to buy, but i know most investors advise against this. Is there any other questions I should ask and info I should find out during my next phone discussoin wth this lady? I’m don’t have a clear path in which I should pursue and I’d like to get the balling rolling ASAP.
Here is some more details she gave during our phone discussion tonight:
-About $166k left on mortgage
-montly payments $1600-$1700
-bank is Nathonal City bank
-she says she is about $7k behind in payments, but if payments stopped in May we are looking at around $12k
-mortgage is an FHA 30 yr fixed
-only his name is on the deed
-the husband doesn’t want her to have a dime. she claims the attorney told her she is entitled to some of the money.
-I asked if she’d be willing sell the house for what is own. She said no, she wants some moving money and a new(ish) car 2005/06 Hyundai. “He can have whatever money from the estate” she added.
This seems like a complicated situation. I’m going to try and negotiate with the husband, however if we come to an agreement I don’t plan on tossing this lady out on the street. On the same note, I don’t believe I would be tossing a brand new car her way either. Also, I’m not sure if the FHA loan makes this a bad deal. What do you think?
thanks again,
Ryan
ps - I’ll be trying to contact the husband tomorrow to try and negotiate with him considering he’s the one I shoudl be dealing with
Based on your last post above, it sounds like the homeowners are in denial. She wants a brand new car AND moving money? You really need to sit her down and show her the reality of the situation. If this goes to foreclosure, not only will she NOT have moving money, not only will she NOT have a new car, but she will also have a black mark against her name to boot. After trying to enlighten her, I would then speak to the husband separately and give him the same dialog as the same is probably true for him as well.
You shouldn’t even be dealing with her at all if she can’t be more beneficial to you. The husbands name is on the deed as sole owner so deal with him from now on. Whatever she is entitled to is between her and the husband. What is he looking for, what is FMV and if the house only needs cosmetics then what do you think is the current value? just curious
I don’t know what he’s looking for. I failed to find that out (see next post). I think the FMV (this is a guestimate w/out havnig an inspector in) is about $280k in it’s current condition.
I spoke with the husband, and it didn’t go so well. Here’s a general idea of how the convo went:
Me: “Hi Dave, this is Ryan. I called last night regarding the situation of your home”
Him: “Yes?”
Me: “I went to your home this past weekend looking for you, and I spoke with your wife for a little while. She mentioned the scenario of how you left. I understand your name is on the deed so I should be talking to you”
Him: “I was kicked out, and a restraining order was filed, but ok…I can’t even come to that state, so you tell me how we can do this?”
Me: “Really?, ahh I see, it seems like a tough situation…I’m not completey sure, we’ll leave that to the attorney’s. As you know I’m interesting in your house. What is your plan to do with it? What do you want to get out of it?”
Him: “Well what do you want out of it? I know the house is worth about $300k”
Me: “300k is a little closer to retail value in fixed up condition. I’m a realtor by the way.”
Him: “Well how much you looking for?”
Me: “To be honest, I don’t want to give you a number without inspecting the house first. The house needs some repairs, there’s about what? … 167k left on the mortgage, 12k in missed payme–”
Him:“–C’mon, don’t bullst me here. You called with a number in mind"
Me: “Honestly, I don’t want to give you a number and then find out there are some major repairs that need to be made. I wouldn’t want to disappoint y–”
Him: "Nah, yah see. You’re bullshting me. You know were she lives, go talk to her and go f*** yourself” Hangs up
Well I can see some mistakes I made above. Saying he “left” should have been put another way. And I guess I should have given him a number, but I was doing my best to work off of what his number would have been. I guess 300k was that number, but I was looking to work with his bottom line. I can also see that I did a poor job at finding out what a solution for him would be. I attempted the route that he would be saving his credit. His reply was that his credit was already shot. I missed that somewhere in the dialogue, but it was mentioned.
So there it is, too bad I didn’t hear from you Stacey before I made the call…maybe I could have avoided some mistakes and had better luck ;] … oh well this is how I’m going to learn.
On that note, I’d like to hear some comments, criticism, and some input of how I should deal with this guy on the next call…No I’m not giving up!
Thanks again,
Ryan
edit: Also during the conversation somwere, he mentioned the first mortgage is in his name, when the refinanced her name wound up on the mortgage.
These folks are in total denial and all they can think about is how much they hate each other. I would leave my name and contact information with both of them and when the full realization hits them, they may be a little more willing to try to save something. Probably though, they are both just stubborn enough to lose everything just so the other doesn’t get anything!