Debts and Short Sales

It turns out I may have overreacted about my new tenant Nicky. She’s simply taking her time to move in, but she mailed her payment out. She seems a little disorganized, maybe even a little stupid. But she makes money, so I’ll have to manage her carefully to ensure I get my money from her on time. Though I was wrong, I’m glad that I overreacted. Overreaction is better than no action at all, and I did it smart. It’s much better to have guns drawn than to be unprepared for problems.

I tried to pay my final debts last week but I couldn’t because neither Dell nor National Grid was willing to do a payment for deletion. Payment for deletion is when I pay whatever is owed and they send me a letter stating they would take it off my credit report. If I just paid a settlement or paid in full my credit report will show that I paid, but it will be a new negative item on the report. That new negative item will be there for the next 7 years! In other words, if I paid them my credit score will actually go down! Crazy, isn’t it? Lexington Law Firm schooled me on these debt collection practices last week and I ended up not paying anyone. I plan to let Lexington handle Dell. As far as National Grid goes, I’m going to make a unit “utilities included” and pay off the bill as an active account. If it’s active, it can’t be reported as a debt.

As far as the prospective property Charlie goes, I found out that it’s a short sale. Short sales are when a bank is willing to accept less money that what’s owed on a property when it’s clear that the owner isn’t paying the mortgage. I spoke to an agent yesterday and we set up a time to see it tomorrow at 3:30pm. She said that short sales can take up to a year to be finalized because banks take a long time to complete the paperwork and owners take time to sign off on the sale. If I like what I see tomorrow, I’ll put it under contract to buy. If it’s going to take up to a year, this gives me time to buy a property BEFORE this one, then have time to build up money to buy this property. She sounded kind of cute, so I’ll try to dress well and shave.

The REIG (Real Estate Investor’s Group) meets tomorrow, but I don’t think I’m going. Last month’s meeting was awful (My Second REIG Meeting), and most of my questions would have to do with short sales. If the agent I meet tomorrow can answer my questions about short sales, I won’t have to bother paying $15 or smell old men farting at the REIG meeting to get the same information. With the month and this year both coming to a close, I have to spend wisely and maximize my savings. Phase 3 is less than three weeks away.