All Forum Posts by: Bret Allen

At least in Texas, a PM and Real Estate Agent are limited to using Texas Association of Realtors or Texas Real Estate Commission promulgated forms.  The PM or Agent can only fill in the blanks.  If your lease or deal includes any type of "creative" financing or out-of-the-box thinking then, at least in Texas,  you might want to have it reviewed by an attorney.  Most PM/Agents have a good relationship with a title company and/or real estate attorney to help here.  It is usually not very expensive but gives some piece of mind.  Think belt and suspenders.  

I assume other states are similar.  The more complex your deal is the more need for an attorney. 

As @Joey Rodriguez explains -- the eviction process is fairly straight forward in Texas.  The process can be very quick as well.  Most of the time you can do a JP court eviction yourself by reading the rules if you have the right letters and forms (which you can find through a simple good search).  

If you end up on an appeal in County Court, and if your rental is held by an LLC, you will need to get an attorney to process that stage of the eviction.

Let me know if you want help in any of the eviction stages in Texas.

Good luck. 

You can definitely transfer the property into an LLC to isolate premises liability risk, and people do it all the time. Piercing the corporate veil is tough in Texas, even for the best trial attorneys. If the accident happens after you transfer the property to a correctly formed and maintained LLC then you are in a much better defensive position in the slip and fall case then if you owned the property individually. Best practice is to keep your properties as safe as possible. If you know about a risk to others, fix it. Don't think it a good idea to try and hide behind an LLC for known issues. But accidents do happen, and unknown or unthought of risks do exist. Those occasions are when you want to be properly set up.

Interesting discussion here.  

@Terry Hall,

On the LLC issue, there won't likely be any "due on sale" clause issues. If a bank wanted to call your note due under the due on sale clause under a Texas Deed of Trust, then they would likely have to first declare a default under the loan docs and Texas Property Code and give you a chance to cure the default. If you own the LLC 100% then you could arguably cure the default by transferring the property back to your name, individually. Where is the harm? The bank would have a hard time justifying a foreclosure in this case -- assuming you are current on your payments, taxes, and insurance.

All said, I have not seen a bank use the due on sale clause in residential real estate in Texas with few exceptions -- all of which include the transferor using a transfer to deceive the bank and being in default for other reasons i.e., missed payments, no insurance, etc.  Legitimate transfers to shield an investment from premise liability is legitimate. 

I have seen the due on sale clause used in commercial real estate.  

@Terry Hall

@Rod Hanks

Send me a message on those legal questions.  I am happy to help and enjoy sharing the legal perspective.  Ill keep you in mind for insurance and other investment needs!

Bret

Is there another meeting scheduled in the near future?  Can you share the information (time/place) for the meeting or point me to the proper thread?

Thanks,
Bret

@Kevin J.

I will check out the Collin County BP meetup.  Thanks for the information.

Bret

@Jason Jones

Thank you for your comments yesterday. I know the Twin Creeks area well. I also live in Allen and have for several years.

Are you involved in any of the local real estate investing clubs? Are any of them worth checking out? What kind of investing do you do and what is your criteria? I am constantly monitoring the MLS and I often catch/see potential deals. Let me know what you are looking for and I will send them your way.

Also, let me know if you run into any real estate legal questions that need answered.

Thanks,
Bret

I am a real estate and business attorney licensed in Texas and California.  I am also a real estate agent (#669065) with First Premier Realty, Inc. in Allen Texas.  

For the last several years I have represented (and continue to represent) banks in the mortgage default process (foreclosure, title litigation, eviction, bankruptcy, etc).  

I also represent several investors to help them structure creative financing deals with buyers and as sellers.  

Furthermore, I help investors with asset protection strategies.

Finally, I am an investor myself and have been since early 2006.  

I look forward to working with many of you in the forum.  Feel free to send me a message or tag me in a post if you have an investment or legal questions in the Texas or California areas!

I am new to BP and curious as to how this deal came out.  Care to share an update of how it worked/didn't work?  

Can anyone share a success story about using this type of structure in the DFW area for rehab and/or flip?  

Anyone have success contracting to give the seller a portion of the equity after the fix?  How did you structure it?