So if you are a tenant and wanting to dodge your landlord/property owner/manager, here is a tip.  BTW, this is the first entry on a series of tips for tenants.

So when you hear someone knock on your unit door and you really don’t want anyone to know you are home, freeze!  Believe it or not we can hear you rustle around, turn down the tv/radio, or yell to your friend “Shhhhh, its my landlord”. It makes more sense to just not move until the party knocking goes away.  Also, avoid the door peephole.  While we cannot see who is on the other side, we can see someone looking right at us.

Bottom line, if there is a knock, freeze, count to 120, and go back to your normal routine.

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Just a quick note.  There has not been a better time, at least not since I have been investing in real estate, to buy.

Cons.

Money to purchase is a little harder to come by.  Talk to a real mortgage lender, not “johns mortgage shop” down the street.

Beggars cant be choosers.  While there are some great deals available, they usually are not the cream of the crop. Thats just the way it works.  Be willing to sacrifice some of your dream house criteria for the payoff in the long run.

MOST of the deals are bank owned, foreclosed on, or pre foreclosure.  Working with banks is a drag!  The person making the decisions for the seller (the bank) is a mid level manager who has not experienced anything like the current foreclosure trend, and probably had little personal experience with real estate.  I could write a book about how poorly banks handle these deals! No joke.

Pros

If you  can read a how to book, have a few bucks for paint, or know someone who is “handy”, you can dress up any property.  Watch HGTV, there are far too many shows about how to pretty things up for cheap.

Save 10’s of thousands by keeping an open mind of what is available.

Tips

Talk to someone that knows what they are doing. Lenders, realtors, and experience with home improvements goes a long way.

Have you ducks in a row BEFORE starting. Scrambling at the finish line spells heartache.

Your dream house is probably not going to be the deal of the century.  However you can probably find one in the same neighborhood.

Deals = needs help, ALWAYS.  If perfection is the goal, get ready to pay for it.

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Here is a little social experiment to do in your spare time.  Pick a random holiday, something where most business are closed, but not malls, fast food, etc.  Park your car in a relatively busy area, pop your hood, and wait and see how many people ask if you need help.

We had a great 4th of July.  Took the family to an early movie, spent the day near the Mississippi River, ran into some good friends with their families, had dinner and watched fireworks together.  We could not have planned it better, except…

We made a brief stop at McDonalds.  The kids wanted chicken nuggets.  So we parked the car, rolled town the windows, opened the doors and chilled out, so to speak.  We had the key in the ignition so we could listen to the radio. Unfortunately I did not realize that someone had bumped the heated seat button, causing the battery to die just enough to so the car would not start.

You might think Edina is a nice safe place to break down.  Throw in a mini van and two kids and someone is bound to ask if you need help right? Wrong.  Not even the seemingly manager who walked out, looked our way, and went back in seemed to care that there was a family parked in their lot with the hood up.

After asking about 15 people if they had jumper cables we finally found a guy that offered to drive home and pick up his jumper cables.  Hats off to the random guy with the APA shirt and hat. We really appreciate the help!

So friends, if you spot someone that might appear to need a little assistance, its probably worth asking them.

Read the full listing details here