Possible Properties

As I previously mentioned, I got a cold over the weekend. I should have stayed home Monday, but decided to go to work instead - mainly because work doesn't stop, but just piles up. So Monday and Tuesday night, I got home, took some meds, ate some soup, and rested. Wednesday morning, I went through my email and gathered listing from last Saturday on up. I found several possible deals, and I'll probably submit them to my RE agent. Two are private sellers, and four are REO's.

Property #1: Private Seller
This is probably the least exciting of the bunch. It's a 3/2 built in 1985. Asking price is $103,500. The online records show a deed in 1998 for $82,550 (I'm assuming the owner probably put down another 20% at closing). The 2004 assessed value was $109k. The property is being sold "as-is". I'll run comps, but will probably not offer more than $73,500 for it.

Property #2: Private Seller
This one seems to have better potential. The owner lives out of the area. It's in an older section of town, and was built in 1978. It's also a 3/2 with a list price of $93,500. The deed was signed in 2001 for $114,093 (ouch!). What my research uncovered was there was a lien slapped on the property in late 2004 because of a safety/health voilation. It didn't specify exactly, and the paragraph it cites in the city ordinance isn't in the current ordinance. So I'm guessing this property has real potential as most retail buyers would pass knowing its history. The 2004 assessed value was $110k. Without running comps or seeing the property, I would probably ask for 60-65% of assessed value at max (about $65-$70k).

Property #3: REO
2003, 3/2 for $105,900. Pictures seemed to indicate the place is nice, but one never knows what foreclosed owners have done. 2004 assessed value was $113k. I'm thinking of offering about $75k, less repairs.

Property #4: REO
2002, 3/2 for $114,500. This also looked like a nice property from the outside. 2004 assessed value was $119,800. I'd probably offer $79k - repairs.

Property #5: REO
1984, 3/2 for $93,500. This property looked okay for its age. The asking price is probably the best in the bunch relative to its assessed value. I'm thinking $73k - repairs.

Property #6: REO
1974, 3/2 for $64,900. This property is actually located a little further out in a rural town. I am having a hard time understanding the list price, since (1) the 2004 assessed value was $49,916 and (2) other houses in the immediate area had 2004 assessed values of $45-$52k. And this is an area that is growing slower than others. Using Steve Cook's ARV formulae, I am figuring of offering no more than $25k - repairs.

Readers have probably noticed that I based my offers using assessed values. First, before I make any offers, I will do more due diligence to arrive at an ARV. Second, while assessed values are not a good guage most of the time, I've noticed in my research that they are not usually too far off in my farm area - especially for homes 15+ years old and 2-3 years old and newer. Even outside those ranges they are only off by +/-5% (usually).