Love Letters. Real Estate

[2manyrocks]

Unless you would actually sell, be careful that could create a binding contract if they accept.

 

[2manyrocks]

I just received another one today. About $300,000 shy of appraised value

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My MIL received a very similar letter from some group in Arkansas. She might have fallen for it at her age except my wife checked and told her it appeared way under market.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've had binding contract in escrow with all contingencies signed off...

Sellers wife decides she is not signing...

Cutting to the chase they ended up getting divorced

I just had the unfortunate luck of being dragged into it through my accepted offer to their agent.

Long story short I was out $160 in legal fees appraisal and inspections.

Lawyer said we can go for specific performance at a minimum of 10k legal on a 130k purchase price...

I found a better property and moved on...

 

[2manyrocks]

It happens.

There is a local fraudster whose own lawyer told me the guy had cheated every bank in Nashville. Sign a real estate or lease contract with him and spend legal fees trying to get out from his next chapter 11.

 

[ultrarunner]

One of our retired after 45 years and sold the medical building to a lawyer...

5 years now and still litigating

The lawyer is know for offering too dollar and then come back post sale...

Even winning us losing because if the time and expense.

 

[2manyrocks]

Ugh, sorry. I know one like that, too.

 

[dmccarty]

Apparently real estate is hot around here, or someone is dreaming. 53 acres, has a new medium double wide on it, a couple of junky out buildings. 30 acres tillable, the rest touted as hunting ground. $850,000.

We have really prime farm ground in this area that is selling for top dollar, this isn’t it. Top dollar for this ground MIGHT be $450,000. Let’s say the double wide adds $50,000(it doesn’t), that puts it at $500,000. They have a sale by owners sign up touting the ground in a hand scratched paragraph with a sharpie and “serious inquiries only” at the end. Should I send them a love letter saying how badly I want their place?

I recently visited my barber who has to be getting close to 90. He had a partner, who died a few years back, who was in his 80's. They, and their families have lived in the county for generations, pretty much know all of the families that have lived in the county for generations, and I think they know where the skeletons buried the skeletons.

I tell the wife I pay the barber to find out what is going on in the area and/or get a history lesson. I just happen to get a haircut as part of the transaction.

The barber and I were talking about real estate prices and other going ons. There is a two acre tract with an old mobile home, I think he said it was a double wide, that is asking $400,000. Sounded like one was paying $200,000 an acre and would have to get rid of the mobile home. It is all about Location, Location, Location. The land is near some major development but will someone actually buy it?

Decades ago, in a nearby town, a huge strip mall was built. There is a strip of land wedged between the strip mall and a major roadway but the land could only be accessed from the road that went around the strip mall. The strip of land is long and narrow but big enough for a mobile home and a large dog kennel. The land is best used for a buffer or maybe a fast food place. Maybe because the parcel is towards the end of the strip mall and the fast food places are near the entrance so a restaurant at the end of the mall might not do very well. I don't know for sure, but I suspect the owner of the land held out for a lottery type price, but the developer did not see the value in the parcel and did not buy. Now the owner is wedged between the busy ring road around the strip mall and a major highway. I would go nuts with the noise. When it becomes time to sell, I suspect finding a buyer is going to be difficult.

In a nearby city, there is a nice house on a couple of acres of land. Years ago, a developer bought the land that wraps around this parcel and built a subdivision. The subdivision has quite a bit of road frontage and is wrapped around three sides of the house parcel. I always wondered if the people in the house had owned the land sold to the subdivision and if they got an offer to sell their parcel to the developer. I could see that that house and land could be too expensive to buy, then tear down the house, and add the land to the subdivision, but I do not really know.

Anyway, that house and acreage is up for sale by auction, which strikes me as someone hoping to get a lottery winning sale price. One of the problems with the parcel is the road is currently two lanes but will eventually be four or five lanes. When that road expansion happens, much of the land is going to be taken. I don't think the land is large enough to tear down the house, and it is a large, nice house, to build a multi unit development or if it would make money sense to do so. Having said that, there seems to be plenty of people who have no problem buying a house next to a busy road, that will be expanded at the cost of their yard, and are ok with the noise. See it all of the time.

I do wonder if the house going for auction will be like the guy with a double wide and kennel and be difficult to sell at the desired price. Not sure the two acre parcel with a double wide in my town will sell for desired $400,000 but I suspect it had a better chance than the house at auction.

Later,
Dan

 

[California]

... sold the medical building to a lawyer... 5 years now and still litigating

Similar experience. Sold the 4-plex I had renovated. I got a good down payment that retired what I owed on it. I carried the new loan to my buyer at 9% receiving monthly payments sufficient to finally buy a nice family home.

A year later my elderly buyer listed it with a broker, who bought it for himself in partnership with a bankruptcy-specialist attorney. My initial buyer remained responsible for the payments to me while he never received payments on the second loan he carried from those two snakes. After a while he told me he couldn't afford to continue paying me when he was no longer receiving the rental income on the property so go ahead and foreclose on my first loan and take back the property.

I called the broker-buyer, got his wife, and yelled at her. She claimed innocence. I said your name is on the title, I'm talking to you, start making the payments timely. She hung up on me. But that created the pressure to get her husband concerned.

My wife carried baby, crying, into the attorney's office and demanded payment. No result except that made an impression on his secretary and the client waiting to see him. He mailed a single months-late check.

Next month nothing so I went to see the attorney. BS response so asked him to make a partial payment right now, whatever was in his wallet in that moment. He said he had nothing so I asked his secretary to please loan him whatever she was carrying so he could make a partial payment. That made an impression on the client sitting opposite the secretary!

Attorney said follow me downstairs to the bank lobby and I'll give you a certified check. I was afraid he was going to throw me down the stairs. Bank cashier said sorry, insufficient funds for the cashier check she had drafted. He got the money from a different account and handed me a check covering the late payments.

Next month nothing so I filed foreclosure. That got their attention after the Legal Notice was published in the local paper. They paid me current and said I had embarrassed them. I said, great!

Next time they were late I threatened to publish foreclosure again, they folded. Broker called me and asked what it would take to retire the first loan due to me, pay it off entirely, so he could sell and break his partnership with the trash attorney. I got a windfall of funds I had expected to see only as monthly payments.

I never paid an attorney to pursue those idiots, took care of it myself. Aside from the nuisance of late payments, I never lost anything on the whole deal.

Watch out for snake attorneys.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've found showing up in person sometimes works wonders...

 

[Larry Caldwell]

The switch has been flipped on the housing market. It's now nobody's market, on its way to being a buyer's market. Nobody is offering over asking price for a home, and inventories are rising everywhere. Mortgage rates have doubled, which scraped a lot of people off the qualification stack.

When I eventually get around to selling this place, I plan on offering it with a narrative. My wife and I have designed and built a lifestyle rather than a house. We are big on outdoor living, so we have a deck, a patio, and a gazebo. You can find sun or shade any time, and stay dry if it's raining. I keep the brush whacked back along the deer tracks, so there are "improved" hiking trails that include a tree bridge across the creek, similar to a tree house but for walking. There is a gorgeous kitchen with double French doors that open onto the deck for a large expanded dining area. There is an 8' electric front projection screen recessed into the living room ceiling, and the room has concealed wiring for theater surround sound. The THX certified sound system won't go with the house, but there is room for one.

This is not a mansion. It's a humble 1740 sf ranch style with a 1.5-car attached garage on 90 acres with a 2160 sf office and shop and a ratty old 1300 sf barn that isn't good for much but dry storage. Two generous sized half-covered dog kennels, and a combination wood shed/garden shed complete the amenities. It's not going to impress the social elite, but if somebody is looking for a delightful place to live, it's pretty good. I'm hoping to be able to sell the lifestyle as a feature. The shop was built to offer a possible home business location, and would be ideal for a small fab or repair shop. There is gravity feed water to the house and the bathroom in the shop, and with wood heat the comfort level of the house does not change when a winter storm takes out the power.

People are clueless. Without a description, anyone just walking through with a realtor would miss a lot. Somebody will have to pony up big bucks for this place. Sale price may never be relevant if my wife and I die here, but if I lose my wife I won't stay, and my wife feels the same. It's too much for a single old man or woman. Selling it would pay for a lot of assisted living.