All Forum Posts by: Dave Mason

I'm looking to transfer my current ROTH IRA to be self-directed in order to be able to invest in real estate and other similar deals.

In order to do this, I'll need to transfer all or part of it away from TDAmeritrade. I'm looking for recommendations of the best place to transfer the money into in order to do these deals. I prefer using bigger national companies to a small or local bank. 

I'm wondering: which institution will give me the most control and the easiest time managing the IRA?

Also, are there some best practices that I need to follow or avoid in order to go down this path?

I've seen some previous posts on this that were a few years old, but I know things change, so I wanted to get some updated information.

Thanks,

Dave

Hi all,

I'm working on a book about Financial Independence. I'm currently working on a bit about real estate auctions and I have a bunch of questions that I'm having a hard time answering. I would love to speak to an expert on auctions, and I will gladly reference my source in the acknowledgments section of the book.

Please let me know if you're an auctions expert and willing to answer a bunch of questions for me. 

Thanks,

Dave

Hi all, as some of you know from my prior posts, I'm currently writing a novel that teaches principles of financial independence.

As part of my research, I was looking into real estate auctions. I watched one video, and it mentioned how there are some auctions that start as low as $100, and if there are no other bidders, you just might pick up a house for $100.

Now I have learned about a number of the downsides of auctions. You can get a house that's a disaster, especially if you haven't walked the property. If you haven't done a proper title search, you could get a house that still has a first mortgage, or even a tax lien upon it.

But here's my question. Let's say you were at an auction, and a house you hadn't researched came up for $100. There are no other bidders, and only a 20% deposit is required. So obviously, if it had other liens on it, you might want to walk away before closing and you'd be out your $20. But are there other downsides? Are you possibly inheriting any liabilities that you don't want, other than things that attach to the house itself?

What's a worst case scenario in a purchase like this?

For those of you who buy houses in auction, if you saw that you could get a house for $100 that you hadn't looked into, would you grab it and take the risk, or would you stay clear of anything you hadn't seen? Why?

Thanks so much,

Dave Mason

@Ari Lasky , please add me to that list, I'd love to meet others in Jerusalem. Thanks so much.

@Saul L. what you are saying really speaks to me. I'm really seeing how being accredited can make a huge difference. At this point, the vast majority of my net worth is tied up in my business (Knobs.co) and from what I understand, getting accredited based on business valuation is 1) difficult and 2) I'd need a fairly generous valuation to get myself there. If you (or anyone) have any thoughts on getting accredited in my circumstances or making similar investments without accreditation, please let me know.

Thank you @Mathhew Irish-Jones for the advice. You're echoing what I've heard about building a great team. However, one of the reasons I wanted a coach was to help walk me through the process of building a great team. How can I tell how good a property manager is? Where would I go about finding the best?

P.S. why is it that when you tagged me it worked, but when I tagged you it just came out as straight text? Is there a trick to tagging on BP?

Thank you for that note, Saul. I had meant to say multi-family and had neglected to do so. I've now updated to include that. 

Thanks,

Dave

I started reading Bigger Pockets as part of research that I'm doing for an upcoming book, but have been so inspired by what I've read, that I want to get involved as an investor myself. I've got some capital to spend, but I live out of the country (Jerusalem, Israel) and am intimidated to jump in without someone holding my hand. I'm looking for a coach, someone who has done numerous deals and can walk me through all of the steps. I know the community is very generous with free advice, but in this case I want to hire someone great, who I know will be there with me the entire journey.

Qualifications:

The coach should have already done quite a few deals

Should know about doing long distance deals

Should be experienced in building a team

Should be experienced in finding and vetting great deals.

Are there such coaches out there that people can recommend?

Thanks so much,

Dave Mason

Thanks so much Andrew, I appreciate the feedback. I'll let you know if I have follow up questions. @Andrew Postell

Hi all, I'm currently conducting research for a novel in which the main character is pursuing financial independence. I'm writing a scene right now in which he's sitting down with a loan officer to get pre-qualified for an FHA loan that he intends to use for a house hack. I'd love to speak to someone who has experienced such a conversation to get a better sense of the questions asked and other relevant details to include.

Specifically, I'm trying to figure out how much he could realistically borrow if he's a school teacher making $45,000/year, and he's going to be able to live in one unit and rent out three more, let's say for $1000/month each. If anyone has any advice on this or would be willing to conduct a 20 minute interview on the subject (for personal use, not for rebroadcasting), please let me know.

Thanks,

Dave