Finding Equity - Posted by T.E

Real Estate Investing
1

Posted by ScottE on March 26, 2000 at 19:19:59:

Joe,
You mentioned that you do your homework AFTER you sign up the property. What kind of escape clauses do you put in if the deal doesn’t look good?

Thanks!

Scott

2

Finding Equity - Posted by T.E

Posted by T.E on March 26, 2000 at 15:22:23:

Is there a way to find out the equity of a house without even talking to the owner. I’d like to know as much about a property as I can before I decide to pursue a deal that might be a possible flip candidate. Thanks to all.

3

For Quickie Research - Posted by messerb

Posted by messerb on March 27, 2000 at 11:00:48:

I agree with Joe that you don’t want to spend alot of time doing research until you know you have a motivated seller. When I’m calling sellers out of the newspaper, I only do research after I’ve found a motivated seller.

When a seller calls us (by responding to our ad and leaving a detailed msg with our Answering Service), I have a good sense of their motivation level. I will do a little quick research before calling them back. The “quickie research” that you can do is hit two web sites for some general info:

  1. www.homepricecheck.com: Will give you an idea of comparable sales and may even tell you what the seller paid for the home, if they bought it recently.

  2. www.octitle.com: Can sometimes give you the seller’s original loan balance when they bought the home. Also has comps and some limited tax info.

Neither will give you current equity. But with 5 minutes of time, you can find out quite a bit.

Monique

4

Re: Finding Equity - Posted by JoeKaiser

Posted by JoeKaiser on March 26, 2000 at 16:16:51:

Why bother?

Finding equity is not the problem, finding a hot-to-go seller is the tough part.

Not only that, you’d spent your time looking at properties you’ll likely never have a chance to buy anyway.

It’s a whole lot more efficient to find that seller who needs to sell, sign it up and then (and only then) do your homework. I know, it sounds a little backwards and you end up having to pass on the ones where the numbers don’t ultimately pan out, but it makes the best use of your time.

Remember, if you’re going to the trouble of researching a property, it’s nice to know that if the numbers work out, you get to go ahead and buy the darn thing.

Joe