4. My initial gameplan is to pick up a good value at the August sale and get it ready for a rental by Sept. T.hen put it on a one-year lease for cash flow to pay its note and keep it in possesion long enough to sell the following Sept., after rehabbing as much as market dictates for sale, and only paying a capital gains tax.
I trust you mean "lower capital gains tax", or "long term capital gains". Not a bad idea.
You DON'T want to be doing interior Upgrades with a Tenant in place. You will disrupt them which can breed contempt, but most importantly you work could need to be done twice (again when they move out.)
If all goes to plan I should get enough $$ on the refinance of the first purchase to pay down the commercial loan and repeat the process. I am hoping to do at least three and maybe 6-8 homes over the next year.================
That's an agressive total. Don't do more than 1 at first, then 2 at a time. They eat up a lot of capital when they are in rehab.
When I decided that this was my career path, I already owned 2 properties - 4 units. When I took the plunge, I immersed myself buying 4 properties in 3 months to get going. It sucks. :( Only one was currently rented out and that was a SFH. I bought an open SFH that needed little work, a Triplex where two units needed TONS of work, and a Duplex that should have been condemned. However, it pushed me into RE fast and furious as I had no choice but to succeed period. 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, pushing forward at all costs. Of course I was single with no kids, and in my mid 20's
I would absolutely recommend buying 1 as your first and finishing it. The best plan I know about is to buy 2 at a time, one to hold, one to flip.
A couple of questions:If I buy a foreclosure, and it is occupied, I guess I need to get the tennants evicted?
Yes.
A Foreclosure should not have tenants in it. A Tax sale property might, but a Foreclosure will be empty. The ONLY thing to do here is to write your offer that you will accept an EMPTY property at close. Make it the sellers issue.
If they are renters, what rights, if any do they have to stay?
Life of their current lease.
How hard is it to evict someone and how long does it take and how much does it cost?
Depends on local law.
I'm thinking that before eviction i might should approach the occupiers of the house and offer them a bonus for leaving it intact and clean? Maybe $500-1000 would be of value to both of us.
This is called "cash for keys" and is done often.
Any comments, warnings, etc. would be very welcome.
I'll just jump down here since all these questions work together. A Foreclosure will be empty. The bank will spend countless (trust me COUNTLESS) months clearing the title, cleaning it up, taking care of anything and everything that leaves a cloud on the property as they are SUPPOSED to sell a property with a Special Warranty Deed (Sometimes called Limited). This is the ONLY way two corporate entities would transfer title. As a Buyer, you should always get a Special warranty deed from a Bank. If a Bank wants to Quick Claim, suspect something is really wrong somewhere in the chain, it is not standard practice. Infact, just never accept a Quick Claim from anyone unless it is from you to your LLC.
So the Bank will have taken countless steps, and the place will be empty.
That will not always be the case in every transaction. When you know someone is there that you don't want, make it the SELLERS problem. You write into the offer that you will buy an empty property. Let the seller do the cash for keys.
Well, it has been awhile, but on this one I'm 99% certain Mike is incorrect - only in making this a global truth.
Mike speaks from personal experience IN INDIANA. However, most of us do not live in Indiana, as far as I can tell, and the rules for Foreclosures ARE DIFFERENT IN EACH AND EVERY STATE. They may be similar to another state, but they are usually different on some level.
In Maryland, foreclosures are often occupied up to and after the date of the auction. Why?

That's just the facts. "Cash for keys" happens here and often for those who buy houses at auction.
In a state where foreclosures can be tried to be pushed out or stalled with legal actions, occupancy often still is the case. Homeowners will be evicted after the transaction is complete (1-2 months after the auction).
Also - if the property is a rental that gets foreclosed, there could be renters still in the place.
Regarding Foreclosures - check out foreclosures.com - some of the best info out there on the subject. They even have sites (and gurus) to avoid.
Jeff, you are correct, I am Wrong, but the concept of
NEVER accepting a Quick Claim from a Cooperate entity applies.