All Forum Posts by: Bob Razler

Hello @Allyssa McCleery :

As the others have said, insurance is one issue.

Termites are another issue, but block only eliminates the issue from the exterior walls.  The remaining interior wood is still vulnerable.  Always best to get any house checked and treated regardless of the exterior wall construction method.

From a practical standpoint, block will serve you better than wood frame in a hurricane.  But it is a matter of degree.  If you get a strong enough hurricane here you are going to have damage.

From a repair perspective, let's hope that none of us need to repair exterior walls that often (or ever).  Wood would be a bit cheaper but it should have a vapor barrier over it before the stucco is applied, unlike block.

If you ever need to run additional wires, cables, plumbing, etc., it's nice to have wood walls rather than block.

There are plenty of wood frame homes down here.  Most second floors on block homes are wood frame and if not they are only block-over-block.  So many homes have some wood framing whether the owners know it or not.

The bottom line is that the wood frame homes aren't sitting vacant for lack of ownership interest or refusal to occupy.

Bob

Hello @Scott Trench :

I have woken up at 4 am or so for the last 8 years.  I never read the book about it (but it's on my list).

I wake up because it was always a great time to work on whatever it was I was interested in at the time.  Also, it made going to work at 8 so much better because I felt like I had already accomplished so much.

I highly recommend getting up early to everyone.  Even if it's just an hour. 

Bob

Hello @Peter Sik:

I would echo @Peter B. .  You can get the appliances cheaper.  Alos, you should be able to handle the trash removal yourself with hired labor (here in FL we can get 2 guys for about $100 a day each from a labor company).  They may be planning on getting a dumpster.  That might be the major cost there.

The painting is also your big number.  Maybe you can get that cheaper.

Good luck with it.  I hope you can knock the number down.

Bob

Hello @Malcolm Lawson .  Now you are deep into the world of zoning and neighbor relations.

I think the easier way into the billboard empire is to just lease or license the small land area from the current owner with access rights.  That is how most of the boards you see are established.

However, your bigger issue is whether the current zoning allows for it.  If there is a long stretch of highway with 30 "SOUTH OF THE BORDER" billboards there is a good chance the land in the area is zoned for it.  It's easy enough to check for.  Most municipalities have their zoning code online these days.

If you are dealing with a farmer or vacant land, you also want to make sure they haven't either sold their Transferrable Development Rights (TRD's) away which could negate the use depending on the town/county or that they haven't elected some agricultural reserve status which would trigger a tax issue for them.

After all that, then you are going to need to check what the rates are on them (I have NO CLUE on that one) and the cost to construct and your ROI/COCR. You may need to run power out to the structure, etc.

Finally the neighbor issue.  If there are plenty of billboards in the area, you should be fine.  If you will be a trailblazer and be putting up the first one, be prepared for neighbor "feedback" at your zoning area.  I remember thinking that residents treated us bad as homebuilders until I was in the same public hearing with the poor cell tower and billboard guys.  :-)

But look, it's clearly being done all over.  There is no shortage of billboards in the world.  So it can't be that hard.

Best of luck with all this.  It certainly is a different topic than usual here.  Keep up all updated on your progress! 

Hello @Wesley Branaman.....well, I don't know Texas and it doesn't want to know me.  😀

I would  suggest the county or local recorder of deeds (or whatever entity manages public recordings in Texas) or you could just pay for a title search (as if you were closing) and see what they find.  It shouldn't cost much.

Also, if you want to hack the system, if you hang around the recorders office you are likely to see an army of searchers doing their jobs for title companies.  They are usually freelancers.  You could strike up a relationship with one of them who might do the search for their fee.  Just make sure you let them know you are willing to pay.  They get bombarded with questions from people trying to do their own searches and they get pretty annoyed at providing free tech support.  😀  It's also not a bad relationship to have as you may often find that you need their services.

Bob

Hello @Wesley Branaman .  What you may have is an unsophisticated seller who is confusing his projected tax bill for a sale with being "buried in taxes."

That makes a big difference to the deal and it puts you in a much better spot if it is the case.

You can do a quick records search to see if there is an IRS/State/Local lien on the property to confirm (I wouldn't trust his say so on it at this point).

If it's just an expected tax bill for a sale, he doesn't need you to do a 1031.  He can set his own up.  He just needs to find his next deal(s).  Maybe if you help him bird-dog a few of those you can get him to YES.

If it's a governmental issue, he has a bigger problem.

Bob 

Hello @John Franczyk .  I do the same as @Charlie MacPherson .  I use my smart phone through bluetooth to listen to podcasts and audio books.  It automatically pauses the play if you get a call.  Works great.

Hello @Steve Babiak.  That is my plan.....lather, rinse, repeat.

Hello @Joe Wood .  No, multifamily.

Hello @Joe Wood I an a novice on the west coast.  Southern west coast (Naples, etc.) seems to be snowbirds.

Tampa always seems to get mentioned as a great investing market along with Orlando and Jax.

I have been working with @Kim Meredith Hampton in Orlando and she is an all-star!  I would highly recommend her if you are interested in central Florida. 

JAX seems to be really popular but my only contacts there are JWB Properties who seem great so far, but they are turnkey, not just brokers.