This non-performing first mortgage was purchased in February of 2024 in Youngstown, OH in a pool of 13 loans. The property was valued at $40k. The 1st mortgage unpaid principal loan balance was $28,300.55. The loan was purchased for $3k. This discount was do to the property's condition, it being in OH (most legal cost & fees are non-recoverable in OH) and some owed property taxes. During the foreclosure process is when we realized that the property may be vacant and that this deal wasn't going to get resolved through the borrower. The goal at this point, was to get the property to the foreclosure sale and hopefully have it purchased by a third party at the foreclosure sale. It took a little over a year to get from the demand letter stage to the foreclosure sale. At the sale we placed a bid of $27,334. At the sale there wasn't any third party bidders, so the property reverted back to us. It took the county another 4 months to confirm the sale. At this point, in order to get our deed recorded, we had to pay all the owed taxes and the fees associated with recording our deed (post-sale cost). That amount was $8,880.84. It took the county another 2 months to record our deed. In February of 2026, we finally got our recorded deed. You need the recorded deed, to be able start the eviction process and get possession of the property (the REO). At this time we hired an REO management company, that handles are REO's. The REO management company sent an agent out to the property to determine if the property was occupied. The agent determined that the property was vacant, so the agent rekeyed and secured the property for us. Since the property was vacant, we didn't have to go through the eviction process. The eviction would have cost us another 2 months and $600. The property was full of junk and not in good condition. The agent hired a junk removal company to remove the junk. We asked the owner of the junk removal company if he was interested in purchasing the property as is (junk and all). He was interested and we agreed to a purchase price of $26,500. At this point, it really wasn't about making a profit. We just wanted to get our money out of the deal and be done with it. As a note investor, it becomes more about the note portfolio, than the deal itself. We sold the REO in April of 2026.

3 unit multifamily in Houston Texas. Non performing note. Borrower stopped paying 8 months ago and has gone completely silent. No contact. No response to letters. Attorney says possible bankruptcy filing in the background but nothing confirmed yet. Here is where it gets interesting. UPB: $187,000 Price: $94,000 As is value: $210,000 ARV fully renovated: $285,000 Sounds good right. Here is the problem. Renovation is 80 percent complete but completely stalled. Two of three units are occupied by tenants who have no lease agreements. Month to month verbal only. One tenant has been there 11 years and has already told the previous owner she is not leaving without a fight. Third unit needs $12,000 in finish work minimum. Contractor who started the job disappeared with $8,000 in deposits and left the work half done. Title search came back with a mechanics lien from that contractor for $22,000 on top of everything else. Flood insurance lapsed 14 months ago. Texas is non judicial so foreclosure timeline is manageable. But with a potential bankruptcy filing in the background that timeline could freeze for 6 to 12 months minimum. The equity is there. The cash flow potential is there. But there are at least four landmines sitting between buying this note and actually realizing that value. Would you buy it at $94,000. Would you counter lower. What number makes this worth the headache. Or do you walk away completely.

Hello, I know Google spreadsheets is an option, but any recommendations for a CRM that is tailored for Note Investors?

I realized something when I was adding our Values to our new website... We haven't been practicing what we preach when it comes to Abundance. When I first started FIXnotes in 2017, my comprehensive note investing course was 100% free, not even an opt-in required. Somewhere along the way I lost sight of that and tried to paywall parts of it. That was a mistake, and we're correcting it today. All the training is now free. The education that used to be behind Premium and VIP — every course, every masterclass, every lesson — is now open to everyone. We've been building out the new FIXnotes website with a consolidated knowledge library that makes everything easier to find and digest. Go to FIXnotes.com/topics — 350+ encyclopedia entries, 91 articles, 57 lessons. More going up every week, videos coming soon to fully replace the Classroom content here. That also means we're simplifying the membership. Matchmaker & Investor Bundles are gone. In their place is a single tier called Foundation at $247/month ($197/m as a special launch price!). If you're already paying, your rate is grandfathered. Foundation isn't about education — that's free now. It's for people who want support as they get into the business or grow what they've already started with: 🛠️ Pro Tools: NoteInvestorGPT, 9,000+ bank leads, Buyer Bridge, contracts, templates & more. 📞 Weekly call with Bill McCafferty: Open Office Hours every Thursday at 4pm EST. [Bill's been a full-time asset manager and note investor for 20 years, specializing in cash-flowing and non-performing notes. He's managed thousands of NPLs for hundreds of investors nationwide. Whether you're working your first deal or your hundredth, bring your questions, Bill's there to help] and most important: 🏷️ Buyer's Club — the FIXnotes marketplace has a $250K minimum trade size. Foundation members get the minimum waived. You'll still need to go through our buyer vetting process, but once you're approved you can bid on any deal regardless of size (our smallest loan sale this year was a $2,150 contract).

Before you price a note, before you plan the workout, before you do anything (except for confirm the note is secured) — you need to answer this: who's living in the property? Because your entire strategy changes depending on the answer. Owner-occupied: Best-case scenario. The borrower has "emotional equity" — the attachment to their home, their kids' school, their neighborhood. They're far more likely to pick up the phone, negotiate a modification, and follow through on payments. This is where loan mods and DPOs happen. Vacant: Worst-case for holding costs. Vacant properties attract city fines, frozen pipes, vandalism, copper theft. If a property sits vacant long enough, the municipality can condemn it. Your collateral value erodes every month you're not resolving. On the flip-side - these are the deals you have a clear path to REO if you want to acquire the property. Tenant-occupied: The wildcard. If someone is collecting rent on a property where the mortgage isn't being paid, you have unexpected leverage. The borrower is generating income from your collateral and choosing not to pay you (and like the deal @Taylor Doucet is looking at in TX, can add some uncertainty. The problem? The data tape often won't tell you any of this. Neither will an AVM. This week's podcast covers occupancy triangulation — using tax mailing addresses, bankruptcy filings, BPO drive-bys, and even trash-day observations to figure out who actually lives there. Listen here: https://fixnotes.com/blog/episode-29-vacancy-vs-occupancy