Monthly Archives: June 2011

June 28, 2011 · 4:40 pm

Growing, Expanding and Working out the Details

As the real estate business continues to morph and change to keep up with the current realities I thought I would bring you up to speed on where I (we) are at. And I also want to take a moment to apologize to a few of you who I wasn’t able to get back with these past 60 days because of all that has been going on.

I have been training Melissa Nickerson to come on board to help me stay compliant with all the various real estate requirements that demanded of licensed agents here in Missouri and Kansas. She is working on getting licensed very soon and will be able to help out with any would-be real estate investors because I am and will continue to share with her my knowledge of real estate investing here in Kansas City. Two of me has got to be better than one. 🙂

Melissa is also helping me to launch our property management business. Yes. I’m finally committing 100% to managing investment property for real estate investors looking for professional management. The website isn’t all it could be, yet. But heck. We’ve been busy working. I’ll share more about that in the near future. I have a couple of young and excited agents ready to help me there.

As most of my readers know I specialize in working with real estate investors looking for professional help. Now we will also be able to offer property management services to our listing, buying and counseling services.

And I would also like to remind people that we help people buy and sell “regular” real estate, too. In fact, a real estate investor client was kind enough to recommend me to his folks and we close next Friday on a home over in Raymore, MO.

Thank you all for reading and supporting what I do for a living. I hope you will like some of the changes headed this way.

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Filed under Kansas City Real Estate, Property Management, Real Estate Investing

June 24, 2011 · 8:19 am

Really….I’m not making this up!

HUD – HUD has decided that anyone closing on one of their homes must be present at the closing or send someone in their stead with power of attorney. When I asked why I was told to avoid fraud. Anyone can get a signature and/or a notary. So I asked how to get the Power of Attorney. They are sending a form that the buyer just needs to sign in front of a notary and then fax in. WTF? Isn’t that the same thing?

MoKan Title – If you bank at Bank of America (And we all know my feeling on their contribution to our current situation.) and you ask for a cashier’s check they give you a check that says Official Check. MoKan Title of Kansas City has decided this still isn’t a cashier’s check. For the past 10 days they’ve been trying to get the bank to notarize a letter saying they won’t stop funds and/or otherwise not pay on the check to be sure that the funds are good. Closing the property will be delayed because of this letter, mind you. If they would have just deposited the “Official Check” it would have cleared by now!!!!

Real Estate Agents Love Paperwork – We have agents out there that live for Amendments and Addendums. The contract has a place for the legal description of a property. Is that good enough for some agents? No! They require an additional Legal Description Addendum? Why? The contract also states that should a buyer not complete inspections within the 10 days allowed then they waive their right to inspections. Is that sufficient? No! They want an Inspection Notice saying the exact same thing.

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Filed under Kansas City Real Estate, Misc. Real Estate, News Of The Weird

June 19, 2011 · 8:27 am

Bank Owned Homes

Let’s face it, if you are a real estate investor in today’s market there is a great chance you will be buying a bank owned home. And there are some key differences you need to understand;

Banks really, really don’t care. The file is handled by an asset manager that makes $14/hr either way.
Bank addendums are tedious and written to their total favor. My favorite is the $175.00 re-key fee so many charge for horrible locks.
You may be responsible for turning on the utilities for inspections. Which means deposits and waiting around 4 hours for the water company to come turn the water on. If I’m doing it, expect to pay for my time.
Now some banks are requiring actual copies of actual cashier’s checks just for the offer! Outrageous.

I could go on and on. But the bottom line is there are a different set of obstacles for purchasing a bank owned home. On the other hand, there can be great equity to be had if you know what you are looking for and what to buy.

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Filed under Investment Property

June 13, 2011 · 10:39 am

A Winning Team

I like to point out what is wrong with real estate today. But I am also very aware with what is right. And one of the things that is right, for me anyway, is being a part of a winning team. I just received this broadcast email from our Olathe Keller Williams Realty’s Team Leader:

I just want to take a moment to congratulate you on your production for the month of May and to say “great job!”

The recent Board stats show that market sales are down 28% this May over May of 2010. However, our market center sales are up 3%. That means our associates are beating the competition by 31%!!

That’s pretty impressive, really.

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Filed under Kansas City Real Estate