Author: Tony Youngs

Generational Perspectives by Tony Youngs As with most parents, we always want our children to do well and be successful. I myself only have one child, a 24-year-old daughter. As she was growing up and going through school, I always wanted her to get into real estate investing. Why, because it builds wealth and provides income even while you are sleeping. For me, a baby boomer, it has been the greatest life I have ever known. Pure joy. I always took my daughter to see my rental properties and told her that I own them but my renters are buying…

A System and Discipline by Tony Youngs I remember when I attended my first seminar back in the 80’s the speaker said you have to have a system and discipline. I knew what the system was because he was teaching it. But I did not know what the discipline was until I began to apply the system. The discipline is that you have to take the action to make the system work properly. Through months and years of trial and error, I now know what he meant by discipline. I had to discipline myself to always take action, even when…

Proceed with Caution by Tony Youngs As I go to various states pursuing distressed property acquisitions, I am finding an uptick in the number of sellers that are willing to sell their off-market properties. These include probate situations, tired landlords, elderly moving to assisted living, vacant properties, bankruptcies, and pre-foreclosures. The problem is, sellers still have the impression their homes are worth a lot more than is often the case. They all remember their neighbors getting multiple offers and selling for above the norm, but that has all changed…somewhat. I live in a high demand area and houses can sit…

Buying Foreclosures directly from the Owner by Tony Youngs There are some important things to consider today when making an offer to a homeowner in foreclosure. If and when their home goes up for auction, the opening bid is calculated by the balance of the loan, court fees, attorney fees, and advertising costs for the legal ad. At the auction, the auctioneer will open the bid at that amount. If no one else bids, the house is sold back to the lender and it becomes a lender-owned property. However, if someone bids a price over the opening bid, the lender…

Doing Your Own Title Search by Tony Youngs When I first got into real estate, I started with foreclosures.  I would contact the owners to see if they wanted to sell. If they did, I would ask them how much they owed and they would usually show me the latest letter from the bank showing the balance and arrears.  Then I would ask them if they had any other liens on the property. They would usually say, not that I know of. Next, I would make an offer and set a closing date with an attorney or title company.  However,…

Let the Business Teach You by Tony Youngs When I first got into real estate, I chose to start with pre-foreclosures.  I learned that banks and lending institutions would auction houses off to the highest bidder at the courthouse steps in the county where the property was located. I also learned that you could buy these houses directly from the homeowner before the auction date, and thus help the homeowner have dignity, recoup some of their equity and keep a foreclosure off their credit report. Due to the fact that these homes usually need repairs and were less than perfect,…

Hard Money Vs Private Money by Tony Youngs I began my real estate career back in 1986 after I attended a seminar and purchased a home study system and then began to implement it. The course taught me how to find foreclosure properties in my county and then I would go out and look at the ones in my area. One time, I came upon a property that I thought was vacant, as it was in pretty bad shape.  While walking around the property, to my surprise, it turned out that it was not vacant and there was a lady…