All Forum Posts by: John White

Hi Mark...

As someone who manages a large team of agents, I can tell you that nothing annoys agents more than people who completely waste their time (especially if it's knowingly).  The reality is that agents don't earn a nickel, if they don't sell you something, and driving all over the place to show you properties costs them money.  I can tell you that most of the good agents won't even show you properties, unless you have a preapproval from a reputable lending institution stating that you are a pre-qualified buyer.  Obviously, being pre-qualified doesn't mean that you have any intention of actually buying, but it's really all most agents can do to ensure that they are working with legitimate buyers.  Ultimately, I think wasting ANYONE'S time, just because you can, is a bad practice.

I couldn't agree more @Ivan Oberon 

I've owned a lot of homes in my life, and have learned from experience that your homeowner's insurance should be used as an absolute last resort.  Early on in my life, I had the misfortune of having my primary residence broken into, and a whole lot of things were stolen.  Long story short...I had a $20K claim (due to theft and damage).  When I went to purchase my next home, finding anyone to offer me a policy became almost impossible (even though they caught and arrested the person who broke into my house, and knew it was a legitimate claim). 

That experience left a really bad taste in my mouth, as it relates to insurance companies.  They don't want to pay ANY claims, and if they do, they want to drop you like a bad habit.  Because of that experience, my view on insurance changed, completely.  I now view it as something to have for a catastrophic (i.e. fire, hurricane, car into house, etc) event only.  I now know that there is ZERO chance that I'm filing a claim for anything minor, so I now carry a $5000.00 deductible to ensure that the insurance companies get very little of my money, when it comes to the premium that I pay.

I'll also offer the disclaimer that I'm not a CPA.  That said, I did this very thing several years ago with my primary residence.  The second you move out of your primary residence and rent it out, it becomes an "investment property".  As Matt said, your tax advantages actually increase, exponentially, with an investment property.  Good luck

Who wants to buy an entire downtown area?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Downtown-Grantville-Georgi...

In my opinion, you should have it written into the lease.  The duplex I'm purchasing spells out that each tenant is responsible for their own snow removal (each unit has their own private driveway).  I don't know that I would want to structure my leases any other way.  To me, it's well worth getting a little extra money in rent than taking on the liability of getting snow removed in time for my tenants to get out of their homes each morning.  The tenant of one of the units gets  discount on his rent for mowing the lawn and cleaning up the landscaping, and that is also spelled out in his lease.  Good luck.

I've managed a large team of agents for many years, and I can't say that I've seen many part time agents succeed.  I concur with James that starting out part time is advised, and almost necessary (unless you don't have another job).  The failure rate for real estate agents is astonishingly high, and many people who jump into the business simply aren't cut out for it.  Feel free to reach out with any other questions you have.  I run the New England region for a national company as my day job, so I'm happy to assist in any way that I can.

I never really understood the fascination with Lumber Liquidators.  I never really found their prices to be anything close to "liquidation".  I actually find them to be more expensive than many other places, so they never got my business. 

Perfect.  Thank you again for your feedback.

@Account Closed 

One other question Michelle...when should I have the tenants sign this?  I assume that I want to get it signed before the closing happens, correct?

Thank you Michelle.