realtor.com is actually for HOMEBUYERS to browse whats availabe out there...its not for realtors (they have much better online listing services they subscribe to) There are NOT any "special prices" on realtor.com, those are the asking prices for those properties! Unless you live in a very competive real estate market, you can offer less than the asking price ....

Has anyone here converted their primary residence into a rental property? I'll be doing this shortly myself, and I'm wondering what's going to happen to my home owners insurance premiums on my current house. I presume insurance companies will consider the rental a greater risk since it's not owner occupied. But then the homeowner's belongings won't be covered in the rental, so I didn't know how the two factors played out.

Daniel, thanks for the data point. Regarding capital gains, I've read the same thing. Unless my long term plans change though (and they always have ), we'll probably try to hang onto our current home as a rental until we're old and gray. What I'm thinking of doing when we do decide to sell it off is to move back into our current house for a couple years first, then make the sale. Sure, it'll be a PITA to move, but to keep the IRS' grubby mitts off my money, I think it's worth it!

glenndc, 60 days locks on mortgage rates are fairly commonplace, though you take a little hit on either the rate or the points when you lock that far in advance. I did this myself actually on a home I'm closing on at the end of January, as rates in December were on the move up. I'm not positive on this, but I think you need to have a contract on a house before you can lock in a rate. I get the impression you are looking to lock in on a mortgage rate first and then go looking for a house to buy afterwards. I don't think it works that way. Can anyone more knowledgeable confirm this?

SIS's guess on Fed dropping before raising is confirmed as likely by this mornings WSJ.

SIS is correct about FIXED mortgages, which make sense for most people UNLESS you will be reselling your house within a couple of years. Many VARIABLE mortgage products are tied to 1 year notes or even the prime (e.g. netbank), and the prime is directly correlated with the fed discount rate.

It depends on several factors.

I don't like to show the place while it's undergoing heavy re-hab. Many folks don't have the vision to see beyond the ladders, paint buckets etc.

Also how is the rent/vacancy factor in your area? Clearly the lower the vacancy factor the heavier the demand and the closer to March 1st you can show and get a good tenant.

I also like to leave a short message about the unit and then hold an open house. Beats running out to the place dozens of times, often to find a no-show.

Figure that many people give notice, or receive notice, the 1st of the month, so that's when they go looking for new digs.

Whatever you do be sure to check the credit/background, check photo ID, do a pre-move-in inspection (I video tape mine), and get cash (not a check) deposit & first month rent before handing over the key.

The open house is not just for convenience, it helps that the prospective renters see that there are others interested in the unit, supply and demand. Stimulate the demand.

Something I'm starting to do is to make the rent due on the 25th of the month.

This way if the rent is late I can serve a 3 day notice on the 28th, and if that doesn't get the desired results I can file an eviction notice on the 1st and be first in line on the court docket.

BTW I do not handle the actual eviction, that chore gets farmed out to a lawfirm that specializes in evictions. Fortunately I've only had to do that once.

Nice tip on rent due date, MaxMojo.

SIS, now that you've done this 5 times inside of a couple of years, what have you learned? Anything you would do differently if you could do it over again?

Good point. People sould point out where they live when giving info about real estate. I'm in SoCal.

Every state and locale may have different rules & regs.

BTW I signed up my first foreclosure yesterday! Property has a fixed FMV (fair market value) of approx $160k, picked it up for $130k. Needs about $6k fix-up and $5k in arrears. Still have to jump through a few more hoops before it's mine...

-Trustor (seller) has 5 days to change mind.
-Benificiary (lender) has to agree to postpone auction date (set for 1/29)
-Have to research title (his mom was joint tenant & died, I think that means he has clear title in that regard).
-Have to get seller to place prop in trust, then assign my corp. 100% beneficial interest.
-Gotta to figure out what I'm doing!

Suck,

I can relate to the sorrow of not buying more, it hurts to think of the deals I passed up for silly reasons. But that was then...

I've been to several auctions, but haven't bought there yet. There are usually pros,and they are intimidating, and I'm pretty sure I've seen them gang up on newcomers. But they don't get all the deals, at $120K+ a pop, even they run out of cash.

The main problems with buying at sale is that you really need to know what you're doing. Although it may seem like a senior loan being foreclosed, you might actually be bidding on a junior loan. Also there may be a junioir IRS lien, although that isn't too big a problem as long as you don't dump money into the prop before the IRS right of redemrtion expires (120 days?)

Also you usually don't have an opportunity to inspect the property.

But buying directly from the owner also has its pitfalls.

You're dealing with people going through a very difficult, emotional time. That can be very draining.

Also you're buying the property and all it's loans and liens. You better be pretty certain that there aren't any hidden encumbrances. The only real, practical way to do this is to go down to the county courthouse and do the research yourself. Paying for a complete prelim on every potential deal will break you fast.


I didn't see the notice in a newspaper, I'm subscribing to a listing service and download the info. Saves a bit of time since it lists many of the other loans on the property.

BTW if you ever need a good loan broker, mine is great. Unlike most he reveals all his fees. Most lenders hide their take from YSP (yeild spread premiums) and load up junk fees. The back end point spread is especially evil since these are not clearly evident on either the good faith estimate or the actual closing forms.