patrick.net

malcolm

Yes, he's making money. He has a low cost basis. He built the house himself on an undeveloped lot in the early 90s.

My only worry is whether he's loaded it up with funny money mortgage since. But if he got foreclosed I'd consider it a blessing so I could be forced to find a nicer place to live. I really hate this frickin McCrapsion. Worst designed house ever.

I'm learning secondhand how foreclosures affect renters. We know a couple going through it right now. It turns out, at least in California that banks have to do certain things when there is a lease involved. As I find out more details I'm going to pass them along. I find it pretty interesting since we've talked about it and tried to research it. I may have mentioned it before, but didn't expect to find out that the bank has to give them this much notice, or do this or that.

So you suspect he is having some financial problems. From what you are saying that would be a real waste. It is unbelievable how people that far ahead in the game manage to screw themselves up. There's just no reason, unless something tragic happened. Companies are still advertising mortgages to go on a vacation.

Are you looking to rent somewhere else or are you going to wait for the first notice to be nailed to the door before you start?

We're looking to buy soon. We've been actively writing lowball offers again after along lull. Unlike a year ago, this time we're getting serious counter offers. None good enough to consider yet. But getting closer.

We're also going to try doing a couple short sales and/or auction bids. We had to break down and bring on an agent to access the whole "private market" in Marin. There is a huge inventory of "off market", "pocket listing" and "private deals". Only an insider agent gets you access. But this guy is good and he's very positive on REO, short sales, and auctions. So we're actively involved in all that.

It's a real pain in the ass because it eats up so much time. Unfortunately, renting has been a serious burden given our circumstances the past 3 years. I had to move mom back east with other relatives as her situation degenerated so she can't climb stairs any longer (but like most of her generation would rather sit stranded on the stairwell half a day than admit she needs help).

So now we're stuck trying to lead the market pricing mechanism by getting involved in the more aggressive side of potential deals. Currently, my best bragging point is an offer we wrote for $550K less than the previous owners paid in 2005, during a feeding frenzy overbid which they "won" by overbidding $200K. They countered ... at $300K less than they paid! But I need that other quarter mil or else they can choke on their mortgage.

Good luck with your offers.
I know it's tough watching parents age. My mom has been drinking 'Mone Ve'sp? which my sister sells, and it seems to have really helped her out. I think there may be something to some of these natural remedies.