All Forum Posts by: Cristina S.

We are looking to buy our first rental. We are starting very small (with a condo) as we both have separate careers.  We also unfortunately can't run around to find "the deal of the century" where we would make tons of money on the purchase itself. We just want to start investing some money before they burn a hole in our pocket and we end up without them. 

We will put about 50% down.

I read somewhere that it is very wise to NOT buy a rental property on our name as private individuals - but to get a business license for a  "limited liability" company and buy on the company's name instead to avoid any potential disasters in the future.  By this I am thinking of situations such as renter breaking their back on your property and then suing you for all you've got. 

Is this the correct step to take?

If yes, how much of a hassle is to get a business license in Georgia?

Thank you all so much!

I know husband would say "no" to HML or any other "stretch the profits to the max" approach. Likewise, he says he understands the HOA fee downside but he believes we would have much less risk than with a house, particularly at the price we could afford now.

He says houses (particularly cheaper ones) mean roof and garden problems, as well as damage from kids and pets.

He wants condo, professional female, clean and safe even if that means lower profits.

I just don't know how we can do DFD with condos.

If we will have to pay retail by simply picking a property that we would have liked for ourselves...is this thing still worth it in a "'buy and hold" scenario?

We don't want to flip or make a quick profit; but we WOULD like to have some cashflow, however.

PS: Oops. Sorry. I googled "driving for dollars" (as they say..."Google is all the rage these days"; so I tried it and it worked :-). So I figured it out.

Ouch. With 2 careers and 2 kids...not much time for DFD;  but maybe we'll find some time. 

Thing is we're looking at condos and when such a deal is available, you're not exactly seeing it from the outside, just by driving. No?

Hello Frank,

May I ask what is "driving for dollars"? 

Also, what is the best place to look for a wholesaler?

I also decided to attend an REIA meeting soon - but this may be more of a long-term strategy.

We have the funds and are interested in purchasing rather soon.

Thank you so much!

Hello,

I am looking to purchase a very first rental.

I am 100% new to this game and I would greatly appreciate any kind of advice or tip at this very early point in the process - particularly how to find a good real estate agent.   

I am using "I" because I am applying for a loan on my own, as  husband's credit is frozen because he had an identity theft situation a couple of years ago.

Overall, my husband is a bit reticent about the whole rental thing owing to a bad experience we had during the Great Recession with our own home. 

Like many at that time, we were forced to move cross country for another job, we could not sell the townhouse we left behind, it went under, we had to rent it from a distance, had a bad experience with the tenant, then roof required serious repairs even though the unit was new when we'd bought it 5-6 years before. Anyway...the whole thing ended up in short sale with us losing around 15,000$ between repairs, depreciation and everything. A mess my husband is still not completely over. 

Time went by though, we recovered, our careers (both full-time) are now stable and we have about 70,000$ waiting to be invested (this is in addition to emergency fund, retirement through employers, some college money, etc). 

We considered REIT-s and other options but we would like to invest for a better return - as we have some catch up/make-up to do so we need to be more aggressive than "mattress" or "quasi-mattress" type things. So we decided RE would probably help us best over the long term.

We want to start with one small unit only. 

A property between 100,000-150,000 with 50% down, a condo/maybe townhouse, in a rather nice area, right outside of Metro Atlanta, targeting young professionals.  

Husband doesn't want house due to too much maintenance, neither does he want to be too aggressive for maximum gains in "shadier" areas. 

He just wants to try "safe, clean, secure and close to where we  live" first and see how this works. 

Then later proceed to a few more pieces if everything seems to go well with the first one or maybe trade up for something more expensive like a house.

Trouble is ..I don't know where to start with the purchase.

I need a real estate agent who specializes in rentals....though it is still not clear to me why I would believe that a REA would HAVE TO have our best interest at heart.

I understood that the deals of a lifetime (particularly for flippers) can never be found on the MLS or through RI agents. Granted, wea are not looking to flip or anything...but we would still want a good piece that is rentable, competitive and will do the work.

We both careers and two children and can't spend the time to get  the best deal ever without middleman, through our own marketing or other super-smart RE strategies.

If you could recommend a place where I could start looking for a good RE agent specializing in rentals in the North Atlanta area, I would truly appreciate it.

Thank you so much,