Those new to real estate investing often fail to take action
because they don't have much cash. The truth is that the very
best investors got their start when they had little or no money.
When you start at the bottom you have to work harder and
smarter. You have to make every penny count... and in doing so
you learn how to put together the most profitable deals.
Right now one of the very best ways for newbies to get started
is to buy property by taking over the payments of an existing
loan. It's called buying "subject to" existing financing.
The new investor can generate income to make the mortgage
payments by quickly leasing the property. Lease payments often
will cover the mortgage payments.
Here's something most investors overlook when buying "sub2" and
why they lose around $1,000 each time they do a deal.
We often buy properties "subject to" the underlying mortgage.
That simply means we give the motivated seller a little money
(if he is really motivated no cash is needed) and take over the
payments of the loan that's already in place.
We have title to the property, but the seller's name stays on
the mortgage loan.
This a popular way of buying property from motivated sellers. It
allows the investor to buy many properties with very little
cash. It also places a severe responsibility on the investor to
stay current with the mortgage payments. You must be a good
landlord and keep the rent payments rolling in.
Here's where most investors fail to pick up that one thousand
dollar that is just waiting to be claimed.
When the investor sells that property they often are not aware
that they can get a check from the original lender for the cash
that has accumulated in the loan's impound account.
That is the money collected monthly by the lender to pay the
taxes and insurance. It often adds up to around a grand or more
and it's easy to get if you know what you're doing.
When you buy a property "subject to" the underlying mortgage,
always get all the owners of the property to sign a Limited
Power of Attorney giving you control of anything having to do
with the property in the future. That way you don't need their
cooperation later, when they've left the area and can't found.
Finally, after you've held the property while it appreciated in
value, you are ready to sell and cash out.
When you have found a buyer and you are arranging the close,
send the lender a request that any balance in the impound
account be sent to you or your company. Always send along copies
of the Powers of Attorney so the lender knows you have the
authority to make the request.
Sometimes they will honor your request and sometimes they won't.
More importantly, instruct the escrow officer or attorney
handling the closing of your sale to ask for the impounds. They
will give the pay off instructions to the lender and the lender
usually will follow those instructions without question.
On a recent deal we received a check from a lender for the
impounds in the amount of $1,357.00. Yeah!.. Happy dance!
Was there a catch? The check from the lender for the impound
funds was made payable to the two original sellers whose names
were on the loan. It looked like this...
Pay To The Order Of: John J. Seller, Paris W. Seller c/o The
Author's Investment Corp.
Was that trouble? No! Remember we had a separate Power of
Attorney for each of these individuals. We took the check and
the POAs to our bank. We explained the situation and here's what
the bank officer had us do...
On the back of the check, we signed the name of each seller.
After those signatures we wrote:
By_________________ (and signed our own name).
Then we signed our company name and again (By______) and then we
signed our own name and position in the company.
That was it! An easy way to pocket $1,357.00 that too many
investors leave on the table.
Now YOU will never walk away from that extra thousand or so
dollars!
About the author:
Mark Walters is an Investor and manager of the Real Estate
Investor Base Camp at
http://www.CashFlowInstitute.com
