I played Monopoly for the first time with Olivia this past year. Here I was giving her tips about real estate investing, thinking I’ve got so much good advice to share. (We’ve owned a rental for many years and I have my real estate license.) Wouldn’t ya know it, my 12 year old kicked my butt.I went after the expensive properties and overextended. She played it safer, buying up cheaper properties. Something to be said for being a slumlord, I suppose.

When a property gets foreclosed on, and it's the first lien holder that is doing the foreclosing, then the second and third and fourth (etc.) will get wiped out at the foreclosure auction. What an investor will do is to buy/tie up the property from the defaulting owner and see if he can discount the first and second. The second will most likely agree to a small amount (usually 7-10 percent) because they will lose everything once the property gets foreclosed on. The first will usually accept a 20 percent hit.

Now what you quoted is that the second note holder was stating that he will own the property by buying it from the person in default and take over the first position's loan payments and make it current. Therefore, he is not interested in selling his note to the investors. The investors in that example were idiots for not controling the property first or the owner didn't want to sell. The investors were hoping to buy the second note at a discount and bid at the auction and own the property with at least 15 k equity plus whatever the homeowner had in equity.

You can buy any note by approaching the lending institution that holds the note and making an offer to buy it. You will need cash to do so.

Also, to clear up the quoted reference, you can purchase property "subject to" existing liens/loans. Taking property "subject to" means that you will take over the payments, but the old owner is still responsible for the loan(s). So if you stop paying the mortgage/trust deed, the lending institution will go after the old owner and start foreclosing on the property. Buying property "subject to" existing loans is one way where someone with no money and/or credit can get into a home and own it. The second note holder was buying the property from the defaulting owner using the "subject to" clause.

I either confused you or helped you. Either way, I just saved you hundreds of dollars in late night real estate infomercials!

E-mail me if you have any questions.

Regards

You're stuck. The 1039 rules refer to a "like kind" exchange, which if you start with real estate, ends up in real estate. But you have options: (a) Get a management company to run the place; they usually charge about 10% of the rent. (b) Sell the duplex, and put the proceeds into vacant land via a 1039 exchange. Basically no management hassles. (c) Sell the duplex, and buy rental property close to your new digs with a 1039 exchange. Then you can manage it yourself.

Congratulations on researching before you make the jump! You can invest in real estate using other people's money whether or not you are a real estate agent. The only advantage the license gives you is access to a multiple listing service. You can also choose not to get your license and have real estate agents bring deals to you – FREE! They only get paid when you close on a deal. Seller financing is one of our specialties. When a seller financing deal happens, you can raise capital or borrow money to invest, and then when you sell or rent the property, you make enough to pay back what you owe and keep a profit. All with NO money out of your pocket. (that's a simplified outline but that's how seller financing works). Keep doing the research, but focus on what's for sale and what's selling in the area you're interested in. Knock on the doors, ask about the properties. The more you know about the area homes, the better prepared you will be to evaluate whether or not a deal is a good one or not.