Profit in Abandoned Homes

The one distressed property market that most real estate investors ignore is abandoned homes. Abandoned properties are identifiable as those which are boarded up, or they may simply have a very poorly maintained exterior. While these homes require some leg work, you can pick-up some extremely profitable properties just by driving around your area.

Simply cruise areas of interest, jotting down the addresses of boarded up or poorly maintained properties. After accumulating a sizable list (at least 10 properties), travel to the Tax Collector’s Office in the city where the properties are located. Once in the office, inform the attendant that you need to access the names of owners of your list of properties. Some Tax Collector Offices will supply you the names from their computer, while others will give you tax books from which you will have to find the names yourself. But the job is easy.

Using a property’s address, look into “the block & lot book” to find the property’s block and lot number. Block and lot numbers are legal descriptions tax departments use for properties. After finding the block and lot numbers, look into the tax books and there you will find the owners of the respective properties. The tax book is listed by block number; so once you locate the block number in question, scroll down until you find the property’s lot number. Having found the owners’ names and addresses, it’s time to send them a letter.

For more details on buying abandoned homes, plus sample letters, get a copy of my foreclosure training guide.

Assigning Contracts

Here's a powerful concept which only a small percentage of real estate investors practice, though will multiply your money making options, and allow you to buy and sell property for no money down. The concept? Assigning your real estate contract to other investors.

Truth is, it sounds harder and more confusing than it is. Let’s say you come across an excellent deal on a property. You agreed to purchase the property for $50,000 from a homeowner. After studying the value of other properties in the area, you know that this property can easily sell for $110,000 after all repairs are completed. So what you do? Do you buy the property yourself, fix it, and wait to resell it one to three months later? There is another option: you can assign the contract to an investor for a finder’s fee.

Before you can decide which decision is best, you obviously need to become informed as to what assigning a contract entails. Referring to the sample sales contract on page 167 of my foreclosure course, this contract specifies the agreement I have with a particular homeowner to purchase his home.

The annotation #1 states, “And/Or Assigns” indicates that I may, if I choose, assign this contract to another investor for an assignment fee. The amount of the fee is entirely up to me, and is largely dependent on what the property will bear. I cannot stress enough how important “And/Or Assigns” is to a real estate investor. It gives you the choice and power to either keep the property for yourself or sell/assign the contract to another investor.

I never fail to include “And/Or Assigns” after my company name. Though I may be 100% sure that I will keep a property for myself, I still put that phrase on my contract. Why? You should be asking “Why not?”

By selling or assigning the contract to another investor, you can make a quick profit with NO MONEY DOWN! Don’t get me wrong, 99.9% of the properties I go under contract with I keep for myself. But there are times when I have so many properties coming in that just can’t handle them all. This is when I assign the contract to another.

Just to give you an idea of the profit potential involved, the last two properties I assigned to other investors, I profited $8,000 and $12,000 — and it required zero work! All I did was sign the contract with the homeowner, found an investor, signed an assignment agreement with the investor, and 30 days later I was $12,000 richer! Is that awesome or what?

This is the laziest way to make a fortune in distressed property! A number of individuals who have taken my course specialize only in Assigning Contracts to Investors. Why? Because the only work required is locating properties. There is no applying for financing, no making sure that all repairs are completed, and no finding buyers. Best of all, IT’S FAST. You will get paid when the investor/assignee actually purchases the property, and that usually takes 20-45 days.

For more details on this method and many more, pick up a copy of my easy-to-understand training manual for real estate investors.

Real Estate Investment Financing

Just wanted to let everyone know that my application site is ready for those needing investment financing for their real estate deals.

Identifying distressed properties and foreclosures is the easiest part of this business, however, you're gonna need financing arrangements prepared in advance. You should always have your funding source established before ever making offers on real estate ...by researching financing options ahead of time.

Be sure to visit my hard money lender source and see the application checklist.

Best Foreclosure Opportunities

Here's an inside tip: many of the best opportunities lie in other distressed properties that NEED TO BE SOLD FAST… for example, divorces, probates, and abandoned properties. These homes aren’t listed on any of the foreclosure listing services, or even at the county courthouse.

My real estate training program goes into painstaking detail to teach you how to find these jewels – and then how tie up the purchase rights for 50 - 70 cents on the dollar.

See my course information page for more details.

Fast Cash Foreclosure Blog!

Steve Maletos here; Welcome to my Foreclosure Blog! Feel free to comment on and ask questions about any of the posts. I want to help you get the best information needed to profit from foreclosure real estate.

I'll be adding more content regularly so come back soon.

Yours for successful real estate investing,

Steve Maletos
Investing In Real Estate Foreclosures