[Xist]

Someone was parked at the vacant house, so I went and asked if he was the owner. He said that he was and that he had fifteen other properties. I said "The thing about a holding company is that no one can tell what you are holding."

"You can find my name in the county records."

It did not sound like the vacancy has anything to do with TPgate.

They have foundation issues. I have concerns with ours, so it sounds like we need an inspection. He says that he will pay somewhere around $30,000 for them to inject foam to lift up the house and then install concrete piers.

He says that he will need to replace the carpet, but it is at the end of its life anyway.

Mom has some cracks above doorways and part of the reason that I wanted to buy a house was so that we could stay there while I repaired everything, but if we need the foundation repaired first...

I still want to buy a house to rent out, but I asked about her mortgage. She owes $37,000 at 5.875%, which they already refinanced once. This house was a rent-to-own. After a year Mom and Dad were able to buy it, but their interest rate was about 9% with a bankruptcy on their record. Mom said that Dad found a lender that did not have closing costs, but there was some $5,000 fee they did not mention until the signing and Dad was furious.

I asked why he still signed.

They only paid down a couple thousand dollars' worth of equity, but their new loan was a couple of thousands higher than the first.

I love the idea of putting $9,000 down on a $180,000 house and having a renter pay off my mortgage, but if I put $9,000 a year into Mom's mortgage we will pay it off in 24 months and save $4,500 in interest, so in a way that is a 25% return in 2 years.

Needing to fix the foundation would greatly complicate that.