H OUSING N EWS R EPORT
February 2016
Foreclosure Process Matters
Hill said she and her husband purchased residential rental properties for 16 years before starting their note-buying business, Lotus Investments, about two years ago. “That has given us cash flow, but we’re still dealing with the dishwasher not working, fixing the toilet, a Hot Wheels car stuck in the toilet,” she said of the rental property business. “I wanted to create cash flow and did not want the responsibility of dealing with tenants.” When sourcing properties to buy, Hill said she employed the “driving for dollars” strategy of driving through neighborhoods looking for properties with signs of distress that may sell at a discount. Now she employs the strategy of “dialing for dollars” to source distressed loans that can be purchased at a discount. “Most of my day now is spent contacting banks, contacting hedge funds, sourcing Dialing for Dollars
Michelle Hill, another mom-and-pop NPL investor, said she pays careful attention to the state foreclosure process when buying loans because her exit strategy involves foreclosing about 60 percent of the time. “I’m not afraid of the judicial side of it,” she said, referring to a foreclosure process that goes through the court system and is used in about half of all states, typically taking longer than the non-judicial process used in the other half of states. “But I want to know where we are in the process. Are we looking at a six- to 12-month process or are we looking at a 12- to 24-month process?” “I won’t touch anything in New Jersey or New York,” added Hill, who lives in Austin, Texas, explaining those two states have extremely protracted foreclosure processes. “I’m going to prefer a non-judicial state, but I’m not opposed to a judicial state depending on what those state laws are.”
Michelle L. Hill NPL Buyer Austin, Texas “ I won’t touch anything in New Jersey or New York. I’m going to prefer a non-judicial state, but I’m not opposed to a judicial state depending on what those state laws are. ”
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SOURCE: RealtyTrac
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