Not all foreclosures are beat  up, run down rehabbers dreams.  This latest one in Wedgewood Forest, one of the best neighborhoods in The Woodlands Village of Panther Creek, is almost move in ready.  Well maintained, with some upgrades. Neutral paint scheme.  Quiet cul-de-sac location.  5 min to everything.  Great family friendly location.  One block from the neighborhood lake and bike/hike paths.  I could go on, but come visit and you can see for yourself.

The home was built by a local custom home builder Lyons Custom Homes.  Appraisal district has the home size at 2508 square feet.  After walking it, I’d say that’s pretty accurate.  Of course an Appraiser will be more precise.  The floor plan provides nice separation between living space and sleeping space.

master bath

Master suite is on the first floor.  No living space above the master bedroom makes the space nice and private.  The previous owners have upgraded the master bath counter tops with granite and updated the plumbing fixtures.  The original built-in cabinets have been updated with off-white paint and new hardware.  If you are like most of today’s buyers, the carpeting in the bath will be one of the first things to go.

A first floor study is located next to the master suite.  Book-shelves and desk area are already built in.

The family room is large and bright.  Original wainscot paneled walls have been painted white.  A wood or gas log fireplace accents the North wall.  The carpet in this room is stained in areas.  Wood floors would be a great addition to this space.

family room

I’m not sure what was going on the early 80′s but almost every home I’ve been in that was built during this time has a wet bar off the family room.  This one is no exception. A wine rack is also built-in.

No 80′s style home would be dating itself without a room covered in a nice flowery wall paper.  The formal dining in this home is that room.  Its up there on my list of the first things to go.

The kitchen has seen some minor changes since Lyon’s first built the home.  Birch and pine cabinetry that were once stained have been refinished in a lighter cream colored latex paint.  The appliances have been modernized a bit as has the recent tiled flooring. Counter tops remain a light colored laminate.

Kitchen

Update the room with some Granite or Quartz counter tops, under mount sink and replace the cabinets and vent over the cook top with a stainless vent hood and this kitchen will have a great modern look to it at a reasonable cost.  Some recessed lighting in place of the large florescent light fixture would be a nice touch as well.

To see more photos of the home, check out the media table at the end of this post.

Special Seller Purchase Program!!

Freddie Mac is the owner of this one.  The home qualifies for the HomeSteps Smart Buy Purchase Program.  The promotion currently offered EXPIRES 10.30.2009 so if you are interested in this program and this home, we need to get your offer in now!  Here are the details on the program:

SmartBuy Purchase Program provides the home owner with a two year HomeProtect Home Warranty.  Also HomeSteps will pay up to 3.5% of the Buyer’s closing costs.  Again this program EXPIRES on Oct 30 2009.  Offers must be presented on a HomeSteps home before Oct 30.  Closings must be completed before Dec 31 2009.

Interested?  Lets go take a look.  Call or email me for more details.

Travis

Recent Foreclosure listing in The Woodlands Grogans Mill. I walked it the other day to see how it compared to one we are working on down the street. The house needs your typical cosmetic updating. Paint, carpet, fixture updating, etc. Its located on a nice lot that backs up to the woods. Huge plus. Neighborhood location is super convenient to I-45 and The Woodlands Town Center.

With a little work this could make a great home or rental property for some one. Here are the details:

Recent sales in the neighborhood value this house at roughly $128000 if it were in move in ready condition with no major repair items. Of course this house needs a little bit of TLC to make it move in ready. That’s what makes it so great! At least to me anyway.

Here are some other beauty shots:

I’ll bet most people think Property Management can be a cake walk. All you do is collect rent right? Wrong. The issues that arise can be quite challenging and sometimes require a good amount of time, research and intelligent thought.

This week’s challenge for me and a couple owner’s was HOA foreclosures. Yes folks, here in the great state of Texas the HOA (home owners association) can foreclose on your property for non-payment of HOA dues. Its actually a pretty good racket if you are the HOA and attorney representing the HOA. Here’s what happens:

Each year at the HOA dues are due before Jan 31 for the upcoming year. If you fail to pay the dues, late fees are assessed, interest is accrued and eventually the HOA hands over your delinquency to an attorney who tacks on a bunch of fees ($1000 or more) and files for a non-judicial foreclosure for money owed. Sounds great huh? Now lets plug in some numbers and see how ridiculous this can really be:

Lets say you bought a house a couple of years ago for $150,000. You have a mortgage on the home and the house is located in a subdivision that has an HOA. Yearly HOA fees are $200. When you bought the house, the HOA fees for that year were paid at closing. By the end of that year a bill is sent from the HOA to the property for next year’s dues. You never received the bill. Why? You do not live there, a tenant does. The tenant throws the mail addressed to you away thinking its junk mail. Makes sense right? How much crap to you get in the mail when you by a new home. Tons. I’d trash everything too.

Well the new year is rolling along and the HOA is continuing to send bills to the property address. The tenant continues to trash them. Your HOA dues are not getting paid. Now lets say this has gone on for over a year and now you owe the HOA for two years worth of dues and some late charges and interest. Your total bill is now $800. Lets repeat this, your bill is now $800. Not $8000, $800. Ok.

The HOA hires an attorney who’s job is to collect the dues owed to the HOA. The attorney starts sending letters to the house. The tenant trashes them. Now attorney’s are SUPPOSED to be smart right? Well a smart person might think, “let’s look at the tax records to see if mailing address for the tax bill is different from the property address”. Smart right? 1 min later and a visit to one of the Online tax offices and the attorney could have the answer. But no. The Attorney does not do that. Instead the attorney continues to send mail, and accumulate fees.

Now your bill is growing. There is no limit to what the attorney can charge, as long as its “reasonable”. Yah lets see the definition of a “reasonable” amount for attorney’s fees. The HOA and the attorney now decide that since their efforts are not yielding the results they are looking for (or maybe they are depending on the attorney and HOA), its now time to file for non-judicial foreclosure for the past due fees. Hey why not? The HOA could own your $150,000 property for two years worth of HOA dues. Thats a hell of an investment!

Foreclosure is filed and now your house is up for sale at the 1st Tuesday of the next month. The amount? $2500. Wow. For $2500 someone could own your house and your equity. How can that be? That’s TX law. I could go to the foreclosure auction at the county courthouse and buy your house for $2500. Now I own the home subject to your existing liens (your mortgage), but man you were a good buyer and plopped down 20% when you bought your house and have been timely in paying your mortgage and taxes. Your mortgage payoff is $119,000 and your house is worth $155,000. That’s pretty easy math in my book. $2500 for $36,000 in equity. Yah ok, i’ll take that.

But wait, isn’t there a right of redemption period? Yes there is. You have 180 days from the time a notice is mailed to you from the HOA notifying you that the property has been sold. You can payoff the new owner, plus 25% interest and any expenses incurred by the owner for the property. Oh no big deal right? Wrong. The notice was again mailed to the property address and the tenant again throws it away. So all this has happened without your knowledge. Now I’m loving life. I have $2500 invested in your property, $36000 in equity, and a mortgage I never had to apply for that is not even in my name or on my credit. Nice!

If you are the owner, you are hating life. If you are the HOA you got your money. If you are the attorney you got your money. If you are the new owner, you got a house and equity.

Something is wrong with this scenario. But that’s my opinion. I welcome yours.

Property Management

Tags: propertymanagement, hoa, home owners association, foreclosure