All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Taylor Smith

@Brandon Walston - Every state has their own landlord / tenant laws, but I think pretty much all of them (or maybe even at the federal level), you must honor the lease that is in place when you buy a tenant occupied property. Not sure, but there may be an exception to that if you are making the home your primary residence - but maybe not even then. In such a case, I'd prefer that the lease be month-to-month for this very reason.

@Dharmam Buch - I find the Zillow Rental Application to be a joke. For example, the "self-reported" credit score of 750+ means that they think or have decided that their credit score is, should be or would be nice if it were in that range - but that does not mean it actually is. Instead, make use of a system that allows you to handle the application, credit and background yourself.

Hello @Andrew L. - That was the same reason I got my RE license, and also how I ended up with EXP. Would be happy to be your sponsor, and can also aid in advice / direction as needed.

Nothing is wrong with taking a job to learn an industry, process, procedures, make contacts, etc... and then (sometime later) applying what you've learned, and connections made into your own business. However, large volume wholesale companies of which I'm aware tend to have non-compete agreements that you must sign, which would "prevent" you from going into business for yourself (or with a competitor) for some period of time and/or within the same territory. So, you might have to wait a year or few thereafter, or move, or both.

I've seen this TV show - just can't remember the name... It is two female Realtors who partner with distressed property owners to get the house rehabbed and sold. They handle the rehab, then sell the property (acting as listing agents), and split the profit with the property owner / seller. From your post it does not sound like you're a licensed agent, but the concept is the same. If I recall, there is also a company offering a similar service.

Section 8 pays "market rents" that are UP TO the amounts as posted on their sites as set for each county / zipcode by HUD. So, what needs to be determined is what are market rents for your location? Would you be able to easily rent the property in question to a non-voucher holder for $4,221 to $4,921? Or would a non-voucher / market rate tenant pay $2,800 to $3,000? If this is market rate for a similar property as yours at this location, then Section 8 is under no requirement to pay more, even if their website shows a higher potential maximum rent.

Yes, a hard money / rehab loan could be obtained to purchase the property and rehab the existing house (IF the numbers work for purchase price, rehab budget and ARV). Then you may be able to split the lot and do a construction loan for a new build on that additional lot... IF, IF, IF splitting the lot and building another house would even be allowed in a historical district. And even if so, I'd imagine there would be LOTS of restrictions and red tape as to what you'd be allowed to build and its appearance - No?

Hello @Stacy Carey - Congrats on getting licensed! This was also my situation back in 2015, as I only got licensed to get a buyer's agent commission on my own purchases. I first hung my license with Keller Williams, but they had a problem with me not performing as an agent to the public. I later move it over to eXp Realty, and things went better there. But a funny thing happened along my journey - I actually started to perform as an agent for others. Because buying, rehabbing and managing my own properties gave me a certain expertise over time that made it an obvious choice to do so with a focus on working with other investors to help them do what I was already doing for myself. And that additional income as an agent and property manager allowed me to buy still more properties and is giving me connections of people to partner with on larger deals going forward.

IF I'm going to make extra principal payments to pay off a "low(er)" interest rate mortgage early (compared to today's rates), my gut reaction would be to pay off the highest interest rate mortgage first. But in your case, since that is also one of the higher balance loans, I might instead choose to focus on the lowest balance first, that being the 4.5% at $375K. This is because you can theoretically knock that one out sooner, and then put even greater force against the next highest balance until you've eventually got them all paid off - which is a great goal. But I began this reply with IF, because if they are all cash-flow positive, I would personally not seek to pay any of them off early (depending on your age), and instead save that money to put towards obtaining additional properties.

That sucks... But I doubt you can hold Section 8 legally accountable. Did that person move elsewhere using their voucher with another landlord? At best, the housing authority may revoke that person's voucher, because there should be a requirement to be in good standing with the former landlord when moving to maintain the voucher. But even that depends on how well the agency is ran. You'll need to file eviction against the former tenant and any/all now occupying the property.