All Forum Posts by: Ben Whittaker

Thanks for taking the time @Chris Seveney

I'm embarrassingly going to admit I don't know as much about this as I probably should, but it comes with living in another part of the world, it's all a bit foreign to me. I have a solid understanding of process in Australia, but it's not much help to me now 😂

I have a "general warranty deed" which is notarized in Texas (where the property is) with my LLC on it as the "grantee". I believe this is what you are referring to?

I also have a promissory note of which my LLC is the "maker" and the guy I bought it from is the payee, just a basic document that outlines my interest rate etc. Does this all sound about right?

I'm just not sure how the bank ties into all this with him being on the account and not me. 

Thanks again.

Hi all, I'm in a bind and it's causing me nightmares, not really sure how to proceed from here. Any guidance would be much appreciated. I'll try to keep it as short as possible.

Bought an owner finance deal from an agent on here, happy with the property. I'm having a huge amount of trouble at the moment just trying to get my insurance sorted. I had a policy in place but the bank decided to go and get another one in the last owners name, using my money, without telling me, and not having me on the policy at all. I understand this is because of the owner finance sale and his name still being on the mortgage, and my policy didn't include him. I'm happy to take responsibility for this and accept it as money lost. I just want to rectify this going forward.

I've tried calling the bank to sort this out, but all I get from the lovely Mumbai call centre is "you're not authorized on this account", no one will do anything to help. 

Insurance company is the same result. 

I've tried numerous times to contact the previous owner both via email and phone, no answer or response from numerous attempts, weeks and months apart.

I have looked at refinancing in my own name but being a foreign national with no credit score, my rate will be almost ouble what it is now (5%)

I don't see any good options here, either I pay for two seperate insurance policies or refinance at double the rate. Is there anything else I can do here? 

cheers,

Ben.

Hi all, need a lender who will deal with a foreign investor for my property in San Antonio. Currently owe about 200k, property value I believe is around 350k. I also have a fourplex and two SFH in Detroit, although owned by another LLC (I'm the sole member) I can put up as collateral.

I had a look through the vendors on here but I'm in a weirdly specific situation that makes it hard to filter. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

cheers,

Ben.

Thanks for that, Will. I did create an account for using webfile system. 

When I start to fill it out, reporting year "2021", it asks for dates for the reporting year 2 or 3 pages in. What dates do I need to put in, is it last financial year? Ie 01/01/2020 to 12/31/2020?

Hi all, need a bit of guidance on this one. Based in Australia, Texas-specific tax laws are a bit of a mystery to me. I just got a notice for a very-overdue "Texas Franchise Tax". I started my Texas LLC late last year, purchased one property which has yet to be rented, so $0 income so far. I'm not sure what form I need to file. I was thinking (hoping?) a "no tax due information report", but the one thing that stumped me is if my LLC is a 'passive entity' or not. I have been reading through chapter 171 of the Texas Tax Code but my simple monkey brain can't make sense of it. I asked my accountant but he's Michigan based (I've got several properties there already) and he doesn't know anything about it.

Any guidance on this would be greatly appreciated. I'm also happy to pay if there is any accountants on here that want to take the lead on this one.

Cheers,

Ben.

Hi all, investor based in Australia here. Scored an owner finance deal in San Antonio recently that's utilising a third party service company. I pay them a fixed amount each month, they distribute funds to mortgage, tax and insurance. Now, this particular company doesn't take any form of electronic payment, check or money order only. So I need a bank that I can open an account online with and have them send a paper check each month to the service company. I've googled plenty that offer "bill pay service" but it's unclear whether or not they will send a paper check.

if anyone has a recommendation it would be greatly appreciated just based on the hours of time I won't have to spend on the phone in the middle of the night...

Thanks all. 

Ben.

Hi Lance, the trust is Australian, with me being the trustee (ie the one who controls the trust and determines how any funds are spread to the benficiaries)

I'm comfortable with the laws surrounding this and the distribution of income.

My main concern is how the US Gov views this system of my trust loaning money to my company in an effort to reduce taxes.  

We have some pretty interesting tax laws here in Australia and the more time I spend reading, I somehow seem to end up knowing less than when I started haha. 

Just trying to generate a fairly simplistic view of the US tax system for myself. 

Thanks again. 

Hi all, will try to keep this as short as possible for everyone's benefit!

I live in Australia and earn a good salary that has me into the 37% tax bracket.

I invest in property in the US via an LLC, of which I am the only member.

Now, to minimize tax, I want my discretionary family trust to act as a private lender to my LLC. This way, the LLC "pays back" the trust, allowing me to distribute my profits through my immediate family at a much lower tax rate. I'm just not sure where I stand legally.

To me, as long as I have a promissory note in place, it all seems above board, however please let me know if there are any issues with this, or any known precedents known.

Cheers! Ben.

PS: please provide me with information that is general in nature and not legal advice as I will consult a CPA/attorney (saves you having to type it out!)

Thanks guys, it's reassuring to find others in the know who hold a positive light to investing in Detroit, there are pleny of doom-and-gloomers out there, thats for sure!

Appreciate the tips there @Dmitriy Fomichenko the podcast is actually what lead me here.

Edit - tagging someone doesn't work so well from my mobile device! Rookie move on my part.

Thanks for the kind words, Lindsay. That's great to hear. It's always nice to know there are alternatives to any given situation. I'm in Melbourne myself, I'm sure we'll cross paths some day!