All Forum Posts by: Reginald Collier

 Hey Reginald,

I would definitely explore the forums - there have been many conversations covering best procedures when just starting out. I can touch on best practices regarding asset protection when getting into real estate investing. I would recommend reading this article that covers what I call the "five pillars of asset protection." It's a birds-eye view of asset protection for investors starting out and should give you an idea of where you want to be.

When you are just starting out you have the benefit of not having a lot of exposure and minimal assets to risk, but on the flip side you can make some rookie mistakes because of inexperience (and often insurance will have exemptions built in to try avoid big payouts for your personal mistakes.) Conducting business as professionally as possible reduced the likelihood of getting sued, insurance protects you from the smaller issues you may face and LLCs should function as a stop-gap to prevent any really bad situations from wiping you out. 

Best practice is to keep each property held in it's own LLC to separate liability between yourself and all your investments, but that can be costly. Some people find that protection worth the investment while others find they are willing to accept higher risk in order to leverage the money to grow faster. That is a personal decision you would need to make, but you should at least chat with an attorney to see what exposure you are facing in order to make an informed decision.

Just some general tips. If you have more specific questions feel free to let me know after you check out the article. Good luck to you moving forward! I would really encourage you to try find a local mastermind group around you to try and attach yourself to another investor who can mentor you through the initial stages.

@Reginald Collier Set up the LLC sooner than later - you will likely want to purchase the properties in that LLC and also some lenders will want it in that name and not your own. Credit union is good. Some credit unions may have their own (portfolio) lending products so it never hurts to talk to a handful of lenders initially and maybe once again once you find a potential place to purchase. Maybe talk to @Anthony Susco for an idea of what you will need from a local hard money lender. If you talk to an agent in the areas you are looking ask if they can show you 2-3 examples of successful investor purchases they have done to give you an idea.

I'd echo @Tim Herman - are you able to analyze a good deal? Because if you have an agent that brings you a "slam dunk" deal that you can buy in your LLC and finance with your mortgage guy ... would you know if it really was a good deal? Talk to a few lenders - some local lenders, some hard money ... talk to a few Realtors where you want to invest - and MAKE SURE to find an agent that consistently closes a good amount of business and a good % of that should have been for investors. Don't be afraid to ask them how much they have done and which of those were investors (flips, buy-and-hold, BRRRR etc.). There are a lot of moving parts and picking the wrong agent will find you losing good deals, or worse, successfully closing on bad deals! Good luck!

@Reginald Collier you don't need anything until you can recognize a good deal. Use a spreadsheet or a calculator to analyse deals. Need to decide on the market you want to pursue. Go to your local RE investment group. Meetup.com. You can find just about anyone you need there or get recommendation from established investors.  For a low cost investment look for a small multi 2-4 units and owner occupy <5% down. you can move every year for 10 years and accumulate between 20-40 cash flowing units.