What this basically tells you also is that there is a lot of money to be made.  Because of this problem, many homes which were once worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, you now can get for five figures, which was unheard of.

Hopefully those who actually live in their homes are able to get some type of help so they can stay in their homes, but for those homes that were investments only, we bottom feeders now have access to invest in ourselves.

This is so funny because I didn’t think to blog about this and I have been doing it for the past two years.  It didn’t even cross my mind until it was offered to me yesterday.

Because I am in the business of getting control of many pre-foreclosures and I know the process takes from six to twelve months for the foreclosure to really begin, I usually offer those in dyer need, to rent these properties for very low, granted the owner does not live there.

Here’s how it works:

If you come across a property that is listed as being in foreclosure, you can negotiate with either the owner, manager or realtor to rent the property until the foreclosure actually takes place.

Because no money is being paid to the lender, you can tell the person in charge of the home how much you can afford. In most cases, they will just ask you anyway.

I have done this with about three properties that I was managing myself.

The funny part is, my husband and I are separated and he has four of my sons and the house.  I am in the process of looking for a rental and I saw a small home in Maplewood NJ.

I called the unknown number and listened to the ringtone that played as I waited for the answer. When the guy answered he said, “NaQueen Zaire”.

Now I was baffled because I’m thinking to myself I know I dialed the right number because the ringtone was like some England, white, elevator music (no disrespect). So I know it can’t be anyone I know.

I looked at my phone and it was the number on the sign.

“Yes?”, I answered with a question.

“This is Brian…”, he replied. I started laughing.  “Oh my God, how are you?”

Brian is an investor who was trying to buy one of my pre-foreclosures (shortsales), but the deal never went through because at the time, the bank was still asking too much money. That was in 2007. Apparently he still had my number stored but I didn’t have his cell number. The number I have stored is his office number.

Because of my surprised voice he asked “What, did you call me by mistake?”.

I told him how I was responding to the number at the home on Van Ness. We then exchanged a brief discussion about how each of us were doing in today’s market.

He asked why was I looking and not living in one of my own homes. I told him how my oldest son goes to school in Maplewood and I don’t want to uproot him and I have nothing in South Orange or Maplewood as they share the same school system.

He then told me that he may have a pre-foreclosure in South Orange and would I mind the short term. I then told him I didn’t as it works perfect for me because the business is really picking up and I should be ready to buy for my personal needs in about six months anyway.

We then negotiated what I would be willing to pay him for the short term three bedroom home and he will get back to me on Monday with all the information on the home.

Perfect!

This works out for me as I don’t have to worry about the credit checks and paystub mumble jumble renters go through, it’s short term just as I like so I won’t be bound by a yearly contract and he gets extra money for a home that is just sitting idle.

A win win situation for all parties!

It’s not better than living rent free, but it’s close.

In today’s day and age it is very difficult to stay on top of all of our expenses.

You have car notes, rent, gas and electric, food, and clothing.

With all of this, one may wonder how do we keep our heads above water.

Well one way to do this is to try to eliminate some of our expenses. Of course we always need to eat and to keep clothes

There is a way to cut back though, like not eating out and getting clothing from Walmart, Target or even hand me downs (as long as they are in good condition).

Do you know that there is also a way to get free rent and utilities?

Yes, and below are the three ways to do both!

1)  Manage an apartment building

If you become the manager of an apartment building, the owner will give you an apartment rent free. In return, you have to collect the rent, do bookkeeping on rent collected and hire and manage those who do the repairs and cleaning.

2)  As a building superintendant.

As a superintendant, your duties are almost identical to that of a manager except you do not do bookkeeping. You give the rent collected directly to the owner. You are also the one responsible for the cleaning up and repairing of the things that go wrong in the tenant’s apartments as opposed to hiring and overseeing someone else.

However, in this case, the owner usually also pays for all the utilities.

3)  House-sitting

House-sitting can be a fun way of living rent free if you are the type who loves to move around and not be in one place for a long period of time.

Of course this is for someone who does not have a family as this usually only lasts for three to twelve months, depending on how long the owner is going to be gone. It would be a burden to have to continuously up and move an entire family of spouse and children.

The best way to find any of these opportunities is to check out your local newspaper under the “classifieds” section. It could be posted under “for rent” or “help wanted”.

People who just get into real estate buying usually don’t know where they should start to look for properties. My advice is that you should always start with the area you are familiar with. Basically one in which you live.

My reason for this is that you know the area, what you like and what you would pay for that property.

If you are not used to purchase prices, you can use the rental price as your guide.

If rent in your area is around $600, then you should figure your purchase price times the interest rate. If this amount goes over $600, then it is not a good property.

This is because you should always factor in that you may be stuck with a property for a few months and will need to rent it out.

Although other investors may say otherwise, I do not recommend getting a home that you have to add money to cover the rent.  To me this defeats the purpose.

I always do my numbers before going into a project and those numbers must show me that the mortgage can be covered by a renter.  If not, I do not want to have to add more than $100 towards the rent.

I only do this exception if I am certain to make over $20,000 off the deal.