All Forum Posts by: Ben Biggs

@Tobias Hutchens

Welcome to the Site! 

I used to live in Alexander, AR. I graduated from Bryant High School and my dad lives in  Perryville. Arkansas is a great up and coming state in the world of Real Estate. 

Best of Luck!

@Randall Parks

Welcome to the site! I hope we can assist you in getting to your retirement goal! 

I'm a buy and hold guy, originally from Lawrenceville, GA. In Japan with the Navy right now. 

Best of luck, 

Ben

@Nghi Le

Some great info in this thread here... 

Do you buy, or do you know people that buy, a-lot of properties off market? What's your suggestion for doing so? It would make sense that you need to do that in a market like Seattle, I'm sure the MLS is bone dry up there... Also do you always build a 7 month cash out window into your owner financing deals? What if the house doesn't sell, do you have some contingency set up?

Thanks!

@James Fisher

Welcome to the site!

I'm not a flipper, but from my understanding, to check if a deal is worth your time or not, you need to calculate the ARV (after repair value) and make sure that your purchase price, total rehab costs, and everything else, is tied up at or below 70% of the ARV. Or 70% of the final selling price. And you can get what comparable, fixed up properties would sell for in your area from a good real estate broker.

Here's a link to a good article on the subject:

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2012/12/15...

Hope that helps, keep us updated!

Here's the main point. Is it in a desirable area? What's the population draw around the building and what are the employment opportunities? Obviously you can get away with having a desirable cultural draw, or a great employment draw, but both is better. The address is in Daytona Beach, but that doesn't mean it's in a desirable area. 

If it's in a great area, there are no major, deal breaking issues around the property (soil/foundation issues etc.), and you can rehab it without breaking the bank, i would say it warrants a more detailed investigation. Like everything else, make sure you do all your due diligence and get all the proper inspections done, and build contingency plans into your offer because you never know what can be uncovered when buying a building like this...

Hope that helps and best of luck! Let us know what you end up doing.

Michael, 

If the property is zoned commercial, would it still qualify for an FHA loan? Would that be something that would come up during the inspection process you will have to go through to get that FHA? I see that as the biggest red flag right now... if the property is already zoned commercial, than I don't see any reason why anyone would stop you from adding a fifth unit... but like John said above, definitely check with a real estate attorney. Also, adding the 5th unit would definitely affect your refinance in the future. I would also seek expert advice all the way through, and this is just me but I would be transparent with whoever you're borrowing from so that there's no risk of penalties or hurt feelings after you transform the residential into a commercial on an FHA residential loan.

Hope that helps, and best of luck!

Hello All, I plan to use my VA loan in the next couple of years to purchase a no money down small multifamily for my wife and I. I'm not in a position to use it right now because I live overseas. In the mean time I plan on distance acquiring several buy and hold properties. One concern I have about the VA Loan is that if your debt to income ratio is higher than 40% you do not qualify for the 0% down option and have to provide some other form of collateral. I don't like that. I will most likely be over 40% due to my rentals, is there a way to "shield" your personal debt by holding all of your properties in an S corp or an LLC? Any suggestions for getting around this clause? The

Hi Tee, welcome to BP! I'm new here as well... funny, I was born in Lawrenceville. I took a long, winding road to Denver,CO. I'm looking into the GA Market as well. Best of luck! Ben

@Bobby Hoyt 

I'm 26 as well, ramping up to buy my first property. Best of luck!

@Jean Bolger 

Thanks for the reply, you're turning me upside down here, which is great!

At what point is it beneficial to start an LLC then?

For tax purposes, I was under the impression that an LLC lands you in a lower tax bracket due to deductions. If I just financed everything myself, that would leave my properties income open to taxation at my earned income rate.

I thought the whole point of using LLC's was to actually own a business that was low in liability to you, and served as a tax sheltering entity.

My goal is to build a long term, successful business capable of many types of Real Estate transactions, not only just buying a few SFR's and sitting on them.