All Forum Posts by: Chris Merchant

 I think #1 is pretty important too, what is your end goal?  It will help you decide which avenue to take  as far as do I want to invest for income or as a long term investment or a little of both?

 Do you currently own the house you're living in? If so are you happy there?  

Have you asked him what he would to get out of the deal at closing?  It seems he may be in a good financial position so he may not necessarily need the money right away, you may be able to work out some creative financing and he may be willing to finance the deal due to tax implications of capital gains if he were to receive payment in a lump sum.  Or there is always the possibility of a lease option if the numbers work out for both parties.  It seems from your post his desire (problem) is he wants to get out of owning and managing residential real estate, and your desire (solution to his problem) is you are interested in taking on the task of owning and possibly managing a residential rental, so you just have to make the deal work for you both and if it doesn't work or his demand doesn't work with the numbers you've ran already than don't be afraid to walk away.

I'd recommend putting it into an LLC or trust but I am by no means an attorney or accountant but I've always been advised to put my properties in trusts or LLC's.

One thing I will say with looking for help is this: In the landscaping world good help is hard to find especially if you have a "slow season" I don't know your area but if your slow season is winter just realize that the awesome hardworking employee you hire for spring, summer and fall (if you do leaf removal) will need income in the winter months as well and if you can't supply that income without going in the red he/she is going to have to find an employer that will.  Which sets you back to square 1 the following season and eventually you run out of awesome employees.  

You also do not want to pay them wages if there is no income coming in, the desire to grow is good but do it smartly or you may grow too fast and then spiral out of control.  

I have a background in landscaping, my "9-5 job" is a crew leader for a landscaping company, feel free to PM me and we can talk more in depth.  There are several oppurtunities for you to generate enough work to hire help.

 ^^ Yes, I can't imagine the local government would let the taxes lapse for 6 years, they could be actively being paid by a tax lien investor (not sure how the laws in NY work on tax liens or deeds).  But it definitely seems that someone has a vested interest in the property unless the local government has just such a surplus of monies that for a properties taxes to not be paid is not a big deal to them.  But I would definitely try to do a title search and see who has liens out on the property.

One of the first real estate books I read was "Mobile Home Wealth: How to make money buying, renting and selling mobile homes" by Zalman Velvel, I would definitely recommend it if you have an interest in mobile homes.  He goes through all of the nooks and crannies of mobile homes and investing using them.

What I have found good about multifamily projects compared to single family is if your single family has a vacant unit your vacancy rate is 100%, if you have a duplex with a vacant unit your vacancy rate is 50%, at first I never looked at it that way and then another investor pointed that out to me and I actually felt kind of dumb but it's been my motto ever since.  I will not pass up a good deal on a single family but my main focus is multifamily properties.  But like anytime, the deal has to be right and the numbers have to work.

That is up to you completely, the one bit of advice I can give is, NEVER accept a partial payment, as far as if you should report to the credit agencies that is up to you.  I would maybe give her a chance to see if she is going to start paying on time or continually wanting to pay late, it seems the late fee does not encourage her to pay on time.  Maybe notify her the next time she requests an extension that being the 3rd time she has made such request in a short time period you may report to the credit agencies.  Though before doing so I would maybe seek legal advice and check local laws especially if there is nothing in your lease about reporting to the credit agencies.

I never close myself off or say I am not going to invest, like many have said if the right deal comes along then I jump at it and make an offer, even if a good property gets sent my way, I will run the numbers quickly and make an offer, worst thing that can happen is the seller refuses the offer.  As an investor you can not be afraid to hear the word "no".  There is always a demand for rentals it seems as the investor you just need to be sure to do your due diligence in vetting the deal.