All Forum Posts by: Eric Allan

Excellent stuff. Thank you.

The Real Estate Rookie podcast recently did an episode on this exact topic. Google "real estate rookie asset protection" and click on the video titled "LLCs for Rental Properties & "Layering" Legal Protection."

Writing from Chicago.

I've been fumbling around with the idea of real estate investing for a good long while.

I've figured out that what I want to do in real estate is to save interesting, neglected old buildings and give good people a decent place to live. You can see the challenges...investing time and money in a communities where I may not be able to get the rents that make a deal work. Put another way, I'd be trying to overturn years of bad policies and revive a building, a block, a community.

I can find properties online. I have an insurer, a home inspector and an attorney. Lending isn't an issue.

I think the toughest part is finding a contractor who I can work with on a small multi-family...two to six units.

I'll state up front...I'm not interested in wasting anyone's time. If we can exchange a few emails as I find properties, that would be great. I might send you a link to a property and ask for a ballpark cost on a rehab.

Let me know if this makes sense.

Thanks

Writing from Chicago.

I've been fumbling around with the idea of real estate investing for a good long while.

I've figured out that what I want to do in real estate is to save interesting, neglected old buildings and give good people a decent place to live. You can see the challenges...investing time and money in a communities where I may not be able to get the rents that make a deal work. Put another way, I'd be trying to overturn years of bad policies and revive a building, a block, a community.

I can find properties online. I have an insurer, a home inspector and an attorney. Lending isn't an issue.

I think the toughest part is finding a contractor who I can work with on a small multi-family...two to six units.

I'll state up front...I'm not interested in wasting anyone's time. If we can exchange a few emails as I find properties, that would be great. I might send you a link to a property and ask for a ballpark cost on a rehab.

Let me know if this makes sense.

Thanks

Talk to your lawyer about this. One thing I'm sure s/he will advise you is to make sure all of your procedures are consistent. If you're going to run a background check on one applicant, make sure you run a background check on all applicants. If you ask for photo i.d. on one, do it for all. Etc., etc.

I've had good luck with a company called Mountainview. Look for perennial wildflowers. They do take a while to bloom...about six weeks. 

Look into "low mow" grass...less maintenance, as the name implies. If you don't mind yard work and are putting down grass seed, look at the label and make sure there's a high percentage of perennial grass seed. All of the "quick patch" types of seed are annual, meaning they won't come back and you'll be planting again next year.

I'd also carve out a good section of yard and put down seeds for flowers that attract pollinators (bees and butterflies).

Beyond that, I'd go with decorative water permeable bricks or stone.

Good luck!

I think the answer is obvious, but I'd be curious to hear from first timers who have tried either approach. My anxiety about a property needing major work is that I'd get out over my skis and possibly get hung up with delays (construction, permits, etc). I just met a contractor in my area finishing a gut rehab on his own recently purchased home. I could turn to him for a big job, but I guess I'm more comfortable with the idea of Home Depot coming in and redoing kitchens and baths and redoing floors. Financial reserves are not an issue but if I make a budget I'd want to stick to it.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts and reactions.