All Forum Posts by: David M.

@Chris Corey

Let’s face it.. real estate agents are a dime a dozen. Find one that you can work with.

But, maybe find out if you misunderstood the agent. Maybe was trying to crack a bad joke.. just having a bad day...

Good luck

@Omar Butler

Depends... very State is different, an so are some towns... in NJ electricians and plumbers have to be licensed. All other home improvement work just has to be registered — basically shows proof of insurance. Some towns (I believe parts of upstate NY for example) require contractors to register with them

Depends... how do you want to do your investments? I’m not advocating you do anything illegal.. if you need to pull a permit, depending on the trade somebody is going to need to be licensed/registered. If somebody gets injured on the job...

Not sure if that was the point of your question here, but just throwing in my two cents on more administrative side..

@Heath Jones

If the profit margins are that high for both of you to make out, you better not tell us what market you are in:))

In my book nothing wrong with being on speaking terms with them. Depending on investing goals, maybe you could agree on splitting the properties so you aren’t bidding against each other. Ie. Agree you bid on this one and they don’t, but some other one they bid and you don’t... lots of other variables in play here, but one way to potentially achieve win-win, maybe....

@Andrew Nocella

Really depends on your approach. Sure The licensing class teaches terms and regs to keep you out of “realtor jail.” You learn on the job how to be salesperson/agent.

As people have said, you learn by doing, and investing with “other people’s money”

Is key, right? So, why not learn with other people’s money how sales transactions can go? Honestly, hopefully, you get some crappy ones so you can see how they are handled. For example, I have one where we found an underground oil tank during an inspection. While I have to help my client through this process, at least I don’t have anything really at stake other getting my commission.

Oh, in NJ since agents writes the initial contracts, our licensing course covers some legal/contractual stuff... point being is your experience in the licensing courses will vary

So, to the point of your question, it definitely is a potential path in your career goal.

@Bradley Lemen

Where it makes sense, sure. It's definitely a matter of ROI, and some of that may be not directly monetary. I try to keep my properties in good shape to attract better quality tenants, and many times they see that I keep the property in good shape so they do too.

For example, my condo tenants are happy with their utility bills because ive our in new furnaces and AC units. Their neighbors (albeit owners) complain about their high utilities, and my tenants keep their mouths shut. Sure, a brand new Hvac system is pricey, but it will/should last 20-30 years and I feel I’m making it back because my tenants can afford to rent my unit, ie less turnover.

@Pete Storseth

Hmmm... I get it. Tough call.

How about I give you this piece of advice: invest ‘what you can afford to lose.’ Don’t take it literally.

The point is, what’s the point in have a performing investment when you are getting killed by credit card at 20% plus? You need to be, or should be in my book, on solid footing to be investing. When you have property, expenses are going to pop up. You need that reserve to be able to weather, or even address, them.

How about this... you know how to do calcs for interest and return, right? What if you had a property that gave you 10% yearly return, cash on cash. How much money would you have say in 5 or 10 years??? How about if it was 20% return? See where I am going with this? That’s what your credit interest is doing to you. The cc issuers are making a killing off you.

Just a suggestion: as part of your commitment to getting the deal this year, agree to yourself to make getting on firmer financial footing one of the initial steps.

Just my two cents / point of view. Good luck on whatever path you choose.

@Brandon Baker

There are plenty of discussions/threads/posts on this subject

In summary, it depends on your risk / liability. For a lesser value single family home, using your own makes it so much easier for financing, maybe legal stuff (since you can represent yourself if you want to), etc. to address your liability, you buy an umbrella policy with large coverage, say $5M. You’d have to be pretty negligent to blow throw that.

If your are doing a large apartment where your exposure is much higher, the benefits of a LLC are realized. Also, once it's more than 1 to 4 families, it's no longer residential so the "nice" conforming loans are no longer available anyway.

Make “it” only as complicated as it has to be. Message me if you want to chat more for my additional two cents

@Pete Storseth

I agree your score will probably drop 5 points, maybe 10 from the inquiry. Then it will return ina month, maybe two. Also, depending on your numbers your ratio maybe better so your score may be stronger

Here is what I don’t understand. If you are this disciplined, why not just get the 0%apr cc to consolidate your high interest debt and pay it off faster? You appear to be to “stuck” anyway since you state your income is low and your dti is too high. Those intro offers are good for a year? So, either 1) you spend a year paying down your debt much faster and then are back to where you were with probably a higher credit score, or 2) you pay off your debt faster before the year is out and your score is pretty much guaranteed to be higher because of ratios and demonstrated increased good credit history. So, if you have the discipline and the resources, satisfy your high interest debt as soon as possible so you can continue making more money

Make sense? Am I missing something? Good luck

@Kevin Wood

Oh, I think I see what you are saying now. The LLC can take all the revenue. But, then it dispenses some of the revenue to somebody else per the agreement. So, the LLC either 1099 or pays a salary to another party...

@Kevin Wood

Can you clarify how the IRS doesn't care about Title?  Is there a small "loop hole" where it doesn't quite matter if the title is carried by the partnership or the individuals in common?  Or, even just individual?  Otherwise, why can't say...  my friend take the profits from one of my investments (just say he is in a lower tax bracket..).  This just sounds like it defeats the whole purpose of having a business entity and the need, both for legal and accounting reasons, for operations to be performed within the business.  Thanks.