Team Thayer Property Servicing

1. Have a strategy (and allies) The real world isn’t always candy-themed. Unless you’re playing a game where you rely on the luck of the dice to move you along, you’re going to need a strategy. Are you coming in hot and trying to build an early lead? Or are you lying a little low, waiting to see how the game unfolds, and then striking at precisely the right moment? The exact same thing applies to house hunting. Bold and aggressive?  Buy low on a fixer-upper  and make something amazing out of it. More conservative? Prepare for the long haul to find the right match that you’re willing to pay a premium on. Get your strategy straight with the help of an ally in the form of a  real estate agent  — a third party who’s not directly playing the game but is there when you need guidance. Check those boxes, and you’re on the way to winning this thing. 2. Sometimes you need a little luck Sometimes in the real estate world, you can do everything right but still f...

Should Investors Have a Real Estate Attorney? Having a real estate lawyer is a wise choice to provide valuable assistance and general advice for anything throughout the fix and flip process that investors may be unclear about, according to a recent report from RealtyTrac. According to the report, there are five specific problem areas that investors would benefit from having legal counsel in. These include: creating entity documents, reviewing loan documents, evaluating purchase and sales contracts, understanding the closing process, and dealing with title issues. When starting a real estate investing business, the report states that one of the first pieces of legal trouble investors can potentially fall into is creating entity documents. The report also states that because many investors choose to fill out these documents themselves, attorneys tend to find that the information provided is insufficient. The report notes that an attorney will make sure all these documents and p...

New York lawmakers are working to increase the protections put in place for reverse-mortgage borrowers in the foreclosure process, according to a recent report from the  New York Post. The report states that Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein (D-Brooklyn) and Senator Jeff Klein (D-Bronx/Westchester) have introduced bills whose purpose is to provide reverse-mortgage holders with the same protections as first-mortgage borrowers during a foreclosure. “We need to extend the consumer protections that exist for homeowners facing foreclosure to this most vulnerable population,” Weinstein said in the report. “Sometimes they are getting foreclosed upon over small amounts … losing their home … the major asset they’ve worked all their lives for, because the law doesn’t protect them, and obviously lenders are taking advantage of them.” In these bills, there are two key changes according to the report. The first of these changes is the requirement for a written notification, including a n...

As home prices continue to rise, the number of underwater borrowers has fallen over the years significantly to the point where 92 percent of all mortgaged properties are in positive equity territory, according to  a recent report from Fannie Mae . Fannie Mae reports that in the first quarter of this year, 46.7 million properties had positive equity levels, while 4 million borrowers were underwater, or owed more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. They have attributed their data collection to be sourced from CoreLogic. They state that factors they believe can lead to negative equity include a decline in a home’s value, an increase in mortgage debt, or both factors combined. The report notes that out of 176 cities that CoreLogic tracks, San Francisco topped those with the highest percentage of homes in positive equity territory in the first quarter of 2016. Additionally, the home equity positions of some of the 10 biggest cities have seen dramatic improvements w...

Distressed sales, which include REO and short sales, accounted for 8.4 percent of total home sales nationally in May 2016, according to a recent report from  CoreLogic . This was a decrease of 2.1 percentage points from May 2015 as well as a decrease of 1 percentage point from April 2016. The report states that within the distressed category, REO sales accounted for 5.4 percent of total home sales in May 2016 and short sales accounted for 3 percent. CoreLogic also shows that the REO sales share was 1.7 percentage points below that of May 2015. It is also the lowest for the month of May since 2007. Additionally, the short sales share fell below 4 percent in mid-2014 and has remained in the 3-4 percent range since then. CoreLogic says that at its peak in January 2009, distressed sales totaled 32.4 percent of all sales with REO sales representing 27.9 percent of that share. They state that while distressed sales play an important role in clearing the housing market of foreclosed...

Fix and flip home expenses don’t need to be as big of a burden on your next rehab as you may think, at least if you try these tricks on your next deal: 1. Find The Right Property While far from ground breaking, I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention that the right property could go a long way in cutting fix and flip home expenses. If for nothing else, your intentions will dictate the appropriate exit strategy; if a lot of work needs to be done on a respective property, your expenses will essentially increase exponentially. On the other hand, finding and acquiring the right property that aligns with your specific exit strategy will prevent you from paying an exorbitant amount in fix and flip home expenses. Consider this; a turnkey property will require little to no expenses to turn over. The alternative, however, is a home that needs extensive work, otherwise known as a “gut.” Homes that you know will require a lot of work will inevitably come with more costs. That sai...

If you’ve got several leads waiting to turn into potential deals, you can’t wait for one to suddenly come knocking at your door. Successful real estate house flippers have one trait in common: they place an emphasis on proper planning. Once you’ve secured a deal, you must decide what kind of rehab you will perform. Will you conduct a few simple cosmetic upgrades (like these  10 rehab projects you finish in one weekend )? Or, is the home nice enough to sell after  an easy prehab ? Are there structural damages that will require you to carry out more major renovations? Will you focus on implementing environmentally friendly renovations  – also known as “greenhabbing” – so that you  qualify for certain tax benefits ? Once you’ve determined your strategy, it is important to ask yourself these specific questions before diving into the construction action: What are the current market conditions in my area? What does my ideal buyer look like? Does my marketing cam...

Tuesday’s  CoreLogic   May 2016 National Foreclosure Report  provides further evidence that the housing market may be reaching a “new normal.” The report showed that foreclosure inventory as well as completed foreclosures continued to declined in May 2016 from where it stood the prior year in May 2015. Despite the decline, the foreclosure rate (1 percent) remains twice that of the national long-term average (0.5 percent). This is due to the individual rates on a state level and is not, in fact, conducive to the progress already made nationally. The foreclosure inventory declined by 24.5 percent and completed foreclosures declined by 6.9 percent compared with May 2015. Additionally, the number of completed foreclosures nationwide decreased to 38,000 in May 2016 from 41,000 in May 2015. These results also represent a decrease of 67.9 percent from the peak of 117,813 completed foreclosures in September 2010. The national foreclosure inventory held approximately ...

If you really, really want the house, here’s how to play ball. The old adage “money talks” rings true in real estate. After the stock market crash in 2008, homebuyers with all-cash offers quickly became sellers’ most sought-after suitors. All-cash, after all, means no mortgage, and no loan means no need to rely on lenders. So now that the market has heated up again, bidding wars are the new normal, from  Eugene, Or, real estate  to  homes for sale in Portland, Or . Unfortunately, it’s common for a seller to favor an all-cash offer over an offer from a buyer whose deal hinges on a mortgage approval. “If you’re shopping for a home, there’s a good chance you’ll be competing with all-cash offers,” says  Justin Thayer , president of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association. “As of February 2014, 43% of all offers were all-cash! Couple that with the fact that it’s a seller’s market out there, and it can be very difficult — and competitive — to get the house you wa...