Subject 2 to Lease Option... My proposed strategy... Advice needed.

[John Casey]

Ok... so I have this idea... Just want to bounce it off of the BP community. I will work my best to keep it short and simple...

I have been doorknocking for listings for awhile now, and am finding that it's very rewarding, now I just want to move that into the investing realm. My strategy would look something like this:

Step 1: I buy a property Sub2 with a grant, bargain & sale deed.

Step 2: After the owner vacates (part of my agreement when buying the property) I tie the property up with a lease option to some random cat that I find on craigslist.

Step 3: Rinse, & repeat on multiple properties (over the next 3 to 5 yrs) .

Step 4: Pay the properties' existing financing down with 100 % of the cashflows. Earned income from Real Estate to pay for my living expenses.

Possible step 5: Refinance the properties to 70% or so(once my credit is back where it should be).

My questions are:
1. Does this sound like a sustainable strategy?,
2. If so,... Any redflags?? or no-nos that Im overlooking?
3. Any advice before pulling the trigger?
4. Im also wondering how to purchase? Should I do it under an LLC, or do the land trust approach, or what??

I know this may seem like a newbie post... lol.. It is... I am pretty new to investing, when I say new, I mean Ive done one deal, but have sold real estate for others as a realtor since '04... I know I will make mistakes - that's ok.. I just want to control those mistakes as much as possble.. If that makes any sense.

Thanks guys beforehand for your time.

[Brian Gibbons]

Hi John Casey

Bill Gulley was referring to "underwriting the buyer" as to credit and debt to earnings, as any mortg underwriter would do. To place a t/ber in that would fail without guidance to improve their FICO score is what many REIs do.

Credit Improvement entails a few things:

-Pulling Credit
-Disputing negative entries as per the Fair Credit Reporting Act
See http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcrajump.shtm
-Settling debt at 20 cents on the dollar
-Getting new positive accounts on the bureaus (there are 3 of them).
-Understanding Credit Utilisation Ratios
See http://www.mint.com/blog/goals/credit-utilization-02282011/

Tber coaching is THE time consuming part of lease options, you are coaching them to succeed. Many fail no matter what. More succeed with coaching.

I hope this aspect of Lease Options helps you.

Brian