I heard this morning that 1.1 million Americans will be losing their homes this year to rising interest rates on homes. this means that there'll be a lot of foreclosures.

would it be smart for me to start looking at some foreclosures and buy a house before we're really desperate and need one?


what do i need to know?

As with most "easy money" or bargains. It's not as easy as it looks. Go to a few auctions to see what it's all about and check out realtytrac.com.

In desirable areas people will simply sell their property instead of foreclosing. If the loan is worth more then the house the banks will not sell at a loss at the auction so you can't pick up a deal that way either. The best way is get to them at the very beginning of the foreclosure process because they may be looking for a quick sell or to contact the bank right after a failed auction sale to see if they are willing to go down in price.

There were homes that went for as little as $8,000 in Detroit last week but that's because people are leaving the city in droves.

ETA: You need to have access to enough cash for the entire sale amount. You're able to get a mortgage only after you already paid for it in full with cash. So if you don;t have someone that will lend you the cash for a few months until you can get a mortgage it's not for you.

Foreclosure is bad juju.

You might literally have to drag someone out of their house kicking and screaming, does that sound like fun?

If only eviction was that simple - it's actually MUCH more complicated and costly.

Well, having done that myself I don't see a lot of problem with it.
Eviction laws vary state to state. Some fascist-oriented states like NY and the PRK actually give some semblance of rights to the dead-beat miscreants, and this can drag the process out and cost time and money. Check your laws before you start.

Seriously? Details please. I'm interested.

I've done 3 evictions on my properties where the people were still living there. In two cases the individuals had left (one was in jail) and it was just a matter of moving their stuff on to the lawn.
In the third case, a mentally ill woman, she was still there when I showed up with the sheriff. He told her he had talked to her before and she had agreed to move (this was after about 2 months of court appearance and judgement). He escorted her off the premises while my crew and I moved her stuff onto the lawn. She called the cops, who showed up, asked the sheriff what was going on, and left. I changed the lock on the door.
I continued to get calls frlom the police asking what happened and when I explained she had been evicted pursuant to court order and sheriff's orders they thanked me and hung up.
She had lived 2-3 months rent free in the apartment, had had about 3 months notice prior to that to leave, and was preventing me from renting the apt to someone who could afford it and wanted it.

Still couldn't have been fun. Deadbeats are such a pain.


Wow. That's the same as taking money out of your pocket. Many people tend to side with the underdog but living in someone's property without permission is robbery.

You have to ask who the underdog is in that case


I didnt get into the fact that she was bothering the other tenants (I have 3 commercial units in the same building), going into their stores and talking incessantly. Or that she proceeded to dump water on the head of one tenant whenever he came in. Or that she would rifle everyone's trash and pull stuff out and bring it back to her apt.
It took 2 men an entire day and about 2-3 pick up truck's worth of hauling to clean all the trash out frlom her apartment, after the eviction.
I was happy to see that @#$% gone from my property. She also managed to get herself addicted to crack. Again. That didnt help her mental condition.
When she moved in she was more orless OK, a little whacky maybe. But she insisted she couldnt work so got on disability and had time to sit around and think about how sick she was. If she had gotten a job-any job, she wouldnt have had time to focus on it and she would have been much better off.

The Rabbi, it does seem like you went through hell with this tenant. She was obviously not well and it doesn't sound like the crack addiction helped matters. At the end of the story though, you're the successful businessman who owns several properties and makes more money than the average American. She's the poor shlump who ended up on the street. People tend to be sympathetic to the poor idiot rather than the landlord who goes through a lot more cr@p than people think.

However looking at this as objectively as I can, I really think you gave this person more of your time and effort than required by law and certainly more than I would have. I would have gotten the person forcibly evicted even if she did pay the rent on time simply because of her horrible disruptive behavior. Apartment renting is not charity. A landlord should not be forced to deal with unreasonable behavior and certainly has every right to get deadbeats off their property. Obviously there are procedures so that this is done with plenty of notice and whatnot but beyond that what are you going to do?

Yet again we find an issue where the difference between liberals and conservatives can be clearly outlined. Liberals are feel good, robin hooders who are too dumb to realize they are advocating socialism. Conservatives believe in freedom and opportunity. Ironically I'm beginning to feel more and more Republican even though I am for gay marriage, for gun control and think the Iraq is ridiculous on many fronts.

That actually isnt even the worst of my rental stories. I've been doing this for 13+ years now. I would say I've had everything happen but it isnt true. That was the worst eviction I've had though.

I had one tenant who had "yard sales" every week. People would steal stuff and she'd fence it. We put in a perimeter hedge and the first week 2 bushes diappeared out of the ground. The next week two more. She was selling our yard all right. Then the police busted her door down at 10pm one night for dealing crack. She told them (I found out later from an officer) she was dealing crack to pay her rent. And she was behind.
Another tenant refused to pay his rent and then invited all the drug addicts and hookers in the neighborhood to move in after he left. The police told me I had to evict first and they couldnt do anything. A neighbor complained about a dead girl in the apt and when police showed up everyone scattered (including the "dead" girl). My wife and I took the opportunity to nail the back door shut and proceeded with eviction.
Another tenant (same apt, strangely) was a nice guy. Until he picked up a guy at the bus stop, brought him home and then when the guy refused to leave at 2AM, he tried stabbing him to death. Police came and got him, second offense. House looked like a schlochthouse. I didnt evict but just moved his stuff out, including his extensive collection of homosexual dance music.
Went to court against a woman after she stopped paying. She stood up in front of the judge and told him she was paying just fine, but I refused to give her receipts and she paid in cash. I told the judge, why would I want to evict her if she was paying me? Judge awarded me the apt and they moved out soon after.
That doesnt include tenants who simply disappeared in the middle of the night and others who moved out ahead of eviction. Anyone who thinks this is an easy business had better think twice. And it doesnt matter how nice the unit is.

I'm not sure what's more disgusting, crack hoes or slum lords.

Well if there weren't any slums there wouldn't be any place for the crack hoes to live. And then there would be more homeless people underfoot. Is the behavior of tenants the fault of the landlord?

People who make baseless insinuanations are more disgusting than either of those two put together.

what's that??

Thumpa thumpa gay dance club music.