Posts Tagged ‘buying fixer upper houses’

Property Inspection and Due Diligence

Saturday, January 28th, 2012

Although I used my handyman friend to inspect the first fixer upper house that I bought, in later houses I hired a professional property inspector to go through the house and to provide me with a complete inspection report.

The Value of the Inspector’s Report

The inspector’s report can be used to help you negotiate a lower price on the house if they uncover anything in the house that is in need of repair. Hiring a qualified property inspector is a good way to make sure that you are really getting what you pay for in a house.

Due Diligence Allows You to Correct Deficiencies

Once you have made an offer on a house and it had been accepted by the seller, the “due diligence” period begins and you have until the close of escrow (or completion of the sale) to check out the physical and financial condition of the property. If you discover that the property has problems, but you think the deal is still worth pursuing, the seller may be willing to correct any deficiencies, or give you money to complete the necessary work yourself.

Two Key Components of Due Diligence

There are two key components of due diligence process:

1. Review of books and records
In my case, there are usually no records to review. Most of the houses that I buy have been fixer-uppers repossessed by a bank, the Veterans Administration or HUD, and the owner is long gone.

2. The physical inspection
When there is no owner present this makes the physical inspection all the more important.

The due diligence period is your last opportunity to either:

1.) complete the transaction, or

2.) cancel the escrow, have your money returned, and look for another property.

“Carve Out Your Niche” TV Interview Monday

Interview with Mark Maxon Wednesday

Monday, August 10th, 2009

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In his book, Achieving Excellence in Life, author and radio host Mark Maxon states that a foreign-born individual relocating in the United States is four times more likely to acquire a net worth of one million dollars in his working lifetime than a natural born citizen. He identifies the reason for that as conditioning. Growing up in the US, we are taught “Money doesn’t grow on trees; “We can’t afford that, we’re broke;” and “The streets aren’t paved with gold.” While in other countries, people say, “The streets are paved with gold,” and “In America anything is possible.” I find that pretty interesting.

Wednesday, I will have the pleasure of being interviewed by Mark Maxon about my book Fix em Up Rent em Out. I invite you to join us. You can listen to us live at http://themaxonshow.com/, and selecting “click to listen live”.

Details for upcoming radio interviews:

August 12, Mark Maxon, KTALK AM 630, Salt Lake City, Utah, 10:00 am Mountain Time

August 14, Gillian Sutton, KRSN AM 1490, Los Alamos, NM, 7:30 am Mountain Time

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