All Forum Posts by: Cody Smith

@Corbett Brasington Quite a lot of great and interesting points in here. If you can complete the process alone successfully, awesome, you can definitely save some money. But a lot of people are making the argument of either completely relying on a realtor or not having anything to do with a realtor at all. Even if you primarily rely on finding your own deals off market, it never hurts to have a reliable agent on your team as an additional lead source. If you can find the right agent that also invests themselves and understands your need for lower priced properties and potentially low offers, they can still provide value. As an agent myself, it takes me 5 minutes to set up an auto notification email from the MLS for whatever criteria you could possibly want. It takes no additional work on my end after the set up, you get every property in your criteria that hits the market, and I can help you with that property if you decide to make an offer. That may be a very small part of your lead sourcing, but a lead is a lead and another solid connection in the industry can be valuable no matter what.

@Dan Wynn I am stationed at Fort Benning and an active investor. I am also a licensed agent actively working in Columbus. Nice to meet you!

@Nicholas Aiola Thank you for the reply! With my very limited tax expertise, I believe I understand what you're saying. That definitely makes much more sense than what was being explained to me!

@Nicholas Aiola, thank you for taking the time to answer questions. This may seem like a ridiculous question, but I’m having trouble finding an answer. When it comes to positive cash flow gained from a residential property, how are taxes paid? I had never thought about having to pay taxes on my cash flow, and I have never heard anyone talk about cash flow taxes! Someone mentioned paying taxes on my monthly cash flow and although it made sense (being taxed as income), I am surprised I have never heard anyone talk about it. Can you help me clear things up? Thank you for your time!

@David Avery, thank you for the reply! I apologize for my delayed response, I did not see the notification. I'm sure he would understand if I decided to go elsewhere, that's a great point. It might even be a good idea to see what his opinion is and why in his experience I should stick with this brokerage over another. I don't currently have any issues with them at all, I just find it risky to not at least explore my other options. Thank you!

Hello BP, thank you for reading my post! I am currently working on completing my RE prerequisite course for GA and plan to complete the exam by the end of May. I have an agent in my area that I have purchased a couple of properties with, and he introduced me to his broker prior to me beginning the licensing process. He is a high producing agent in the area, and a great potential mentor to help me get started as an agent (his personal offer). After having these interactions/meetings, I feel by default I am going to work for that brokerage. After doing some thinking, I don’t feel comfortable trusting that this brokerage will be the best fit for me without exploring my other options to be sure. I would hate to affect my career as an agent by not choosing the best brokerage for me. If I did go somewhere else, however, I would lose that potential mentorship by the agent I have a relationship with. Any advice? Am I thinking about this incorrectly? Thank you!

@Cathryn Sta the umbrella is definitely sounding like a budget friendly option with some big benefits. Thank you!

@Dan Heuschele I would love to meet Mr. Two Bit and see what he has to say haha That made me laugh. You make a great point about the fight of an insurance company. I hadn’t really thought about it that way, but they are definitely going to protect their money at all costs. Thank you!

@Michael Metzger thank you for the reply! It is very difficult for me to capture his ability in full with such a specific post, not all that he said was bad. I do think there are definitely some things I can take from the conversation and put to use, I'm just not sure he has the knowledge in the real estate industry to be able to give the best advice possible to me. Mostly just off the cuff advice you've heard from other people over time. I do think the LLC could be something further on, but it's looking as if I should give my insurance company a call and at least look seriously into the umbrella policy. Thank you!

@Clifton Harris The dreaded Due on Sale Clause has been my greatest concern with the LLC, however I did hear @Brandon Turner discussing simply asking for permission in writing from the bank to transfer the property, so that would definitely be my protection against that. As for the umbrella, I have been fortunate enough to have tenants that I believe would not sue, but I definitely shouldn't be so naive and make sure I have something. Thank you!