[airics]

i was/am paying almost $5,000 a year in property taxes on a rental home in Cleveland. Home is worth 150k... brutal....

[Onlyliveonce]

I paid 12 k taxes for a 300 k home. Don't get much worse than that.

[vtvette]

Originally Posted by airics

Homes are up 30% last 2 years in my development. Same as mine sold 169 in 2010...sold again 2013 for 299.

Same here. We bought in 2011. I'm glad we did. The house next door to us was vacant/bank owned shortly after we moved here. There was a guy who would come around walking his dog and ask about the property on occasion. 2500sq ft home on 1/2 acre on a bluff overlooking a green. He said he'd pay $160,000 or $170,000. Bank sold it for $230,000 then the new owners gutted it and completely remodeled before move in. A crew worked three months straight on the remodel. He said they wayyyyyyyy overpaid for the house but, the sale price was in line with comp's in the area. He also said he's been looking for several years now but everything's either overpriced or garbage.

Sounds like he's just looking for a beautiful house at giveaway prices which just isn't happening anymore.

[aardogfsu]

insane property taxes tend to cripple some landlords into accepting any scab tenant...my uncle has that problem...so eager to rent to the first bug that calls his cell because he's already paying over $100 a week in property tax and it always blows up in his face.

Low taxes here don't put us behind the eight ball to get that income rolling so fast.

[mre0609]

Also, since you are just now graduating, you can expect your own income to go up faster than the general wage level, as your early years in employment will entail significant OTJ training which makes you more valuable year after year.

I have been employed full time at the university where I am attending for almost 8 years. So I also have experience. I haven't made any monetary investment in my graduate education, the school I work for also offers tuition assistance.

[mre0609]

Originally Posted by localinsight

I would look into homepath condos.
They have to be owner occupied so investors wishing to rent & sell (technically) can't purchase them. That is what I did last sept.

Are you talking about the homes that offer homepath renovation mortgages? I've seen those, and would actually prefer a fixer-upper (as long as there's no MAJOR issues...like foundation problems). Can you pm me more details since you said you did one last Sept?

[Michael-MS]

Originally Posted by mre0609

Are you talking about the homes that offer homepath renovation mortgages? I've seen those, and would actually prefer a fixer-upper (as long as there's no MAJOR issues...like foundation problems). Can you pm me more details since you said you did one last Sept?

Homepath is only closed to investors the first 30 days during the "First Look" period. They are also priced at a premium during that time. If you buy one in that First Look period you get some 3% discount at closing but are probably paying a 20% premium on the overall price. It's the price you pay for only having a 5% down payment on your mortgage.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by Michael-MS

Homepath is only closed to investors the first 30 days during the "First Look" period. They are also priced at a premium during that time. If you buy one in that First Look period you get some 3% discount at closing but are probably paying a 20% premium on the overall price. It's the price you pay for only having a 5% down payment on your mortgage.

Nah. Homepaths are generally rationally priced...right on or just below the comps. And the sometimes take below list offers. Particularly if they sit there a couple of weeks.

Once in a while you see one weirdly priced but it then sits there for months after it goes to open bids. They generally come down pretty quickly until someone jumps in.

I think homepath is about the best deal around to anyone who has to bid against the cash buyers...who notoriously pay way too much for their acquisitions.