Two years ago, a new Tampa company called RE-710 declared bankruptcy to halt foreclosure of nearly 50 homes it had been renting out for 1000’s of dollars. The company was so new it didn’t have employees, equipment or furniture. It had acquired the majority of the properties just a few days before the bankruptcy filing. It collected rent but wasn’t responsible for the mortgages – those continued to be in the name of the original borrowers.
Tampa firm invests by way of an unusual bankruptcy method
But all 40 lenders approved RE-710’s reorganization plan and after this the company could soon emerge from bankruptcy court. What once was considered a “bad faith” filing today is viewed as having been a unique, innovative way of settling legal claims, paying off debts and obtaining dozens of homes occupied and out of foreclosure.
Even the judge who handled the case had words of praise.
“No matter what the dynamic is, no matter what the reason is, it’s bad for society to have empty houses with vandalism and mold,” U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Catherine Peek McEwen said at one hearing. “This is a wonderful thing for the neighborhoods.”
But whether RE-710’s case may serve as a model for other real estate investors is an open question. By using the bankruptcy laws for their advantage, the Tampa company succeeded in getting ownership of some very nice houses at what could be considered bargain prices. Additionally it has taken two years along with a battery of attorneys.
“There are huge legal expenses,” says Kevin Byrne, a Tampa real estate broker and certified public accountant who functions as RE-710’s manger. “We were fortunate because of the timing.”
RE-710’s roots lie in the homeowner association foreclosure auctions that drew hordes of deal-seekers to the Hillsborough County courthouse several years ago.
HOAs can foreclose on owners that do not pay their association dues. For only a few thousand dollars, enough to pay for the delinquent dues plus attorneys’ fees and court costs, the winning bidder can get temporary title to a home and rent it out until the bank foreclosed. Byrne, who invests in real estate, took title to many houses that way. The big player at the auctions, though, was a man named Barry Haught, who acquired a large number of properties, some of which he was leasing out for more than $2,000 a month.
Properties obtained through HOA foreclosure auctions are certainly not long-term investments; the rent windfall lasts only up until the bank takes back the house. To acquire full ownership, the temporary title holder may need to deal with many different parties – banks, other lienholders, county tax collectors, community associations, perhaps the IRS.
That gave Tampa lawyer Richard McIntrye a thought: bring all parties together in bankruptcy court. There, judges can strip away unsecured second mortgages. First mortgages on non-homesteaded property can be renegotiated at terms more favorable to the bankruptcy filer.
McIntrye shared his idea with Byrne, one of his clients.
Byrne approached Haught, who had a lot of houses and was enthusiastic about the concept. “He was a competitor,” Byrne said, “but we had a common problem – we wanted to hold these properties long-term.”
In early 2014, Haught incorporated RE-710 and transferred more than 40 homes and condos to it through quit-claim deeds. On March 11 – just fourteen days after it had been created – the company filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy that immediately halted all foreclosure action.
Early submissions in the case showed how lucrative the HOA auctions had become. For the month of March 2014, this company reported collecting nearly $48,000 in rent. Many of the homes ended up being acquired so cheaply that they paid for themselves in two or three months.
RE-710’s filing listed Haught at its manager, but he was soon out of the picture – he had spent several years in federal prison for Medicare fraud. “The (bankruptcy) trustee clearly would not want Mr. Haught involved,” McIntrye, one of the lawyers representing RE-710, said at the time. Byrne then became manager.
Under its reorganization plan, the company decided to pay HOA fees, property taxes and other carrying costs as it rented out the properties and negotiated with the lenders over the next two years.
To get to this point, he estimates, the legal fees have been “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
So many people are relocating to the Tampa Bay area that Byrne remains fairly bullish on the local real estate market. However in case there’s another downturn, he’s buying houses in the $70,000 to $80,000 range that are easier and more profitable to rent out than more expensive properties.
At least for now, he has also over and done with the HOA foreclosure auctions that fueled RE-710 – some bidders are paying as much as $20,000 for temporary titles.
RE-710 “was an awesome experience,” Byrne said. “It was something that had never been done anywhere in the country and in that regard it was a neat project. But now I’m more looking to do traditional real estate.”
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