All Forum Posts by: Ethan Cole

@Andrew B. that's actually a great idea. I'll try that avenue and see if I can generate interest. @Wayne Brooks I'm afraid that you are most likely right. I'm hoping his "wind down" period doesn't last long, and someone new moves into his office quickly.

@Andrew S. thanks for the response! I haven't heard of loopnet so I'll check that out. I'm afraid that will be my last resource. It's surrounded by commercial buildings, but they all have enough parking. I've even got a call in with the city manager and the board of education in case they ever have need of it.

I’m tempted to pull from my retirement accounts to buy more real estate. Thoughts?

I just bought a nice duplex that also included a 12-space parking lot. The parking lot brought in $500 per month, and was leased by a dentist office across the street. The dentist terminated his lease when the property transferred to me, as he is nearing retirement anyways. My dilemma is that I have no clue where to start in finding a new tenant for it. It’s a downtown setting, so that makes it a little easier maybe. The parking lot really made the deal attractive and I hated to lose it like that. How hard is it going to be for me to get it leased back out?

Hey Michael,

I know I'm a little late to the scene here, but if you still have the need, my partners and I had an operating agreement drawn up by a local attorney. He's located in Bridgeport, WV. Incredibly helpful throughout the entire process, and the agreement will protect our business, and our kids in the future as it lays out what happens with the business, and how our kids will be involved in the future. Contact Davin at Ivory Legal, PLLC. He can help you out.

@Bill Brandt and @Dave Foster, I thought that there was more of a limit imposed on a 1031. That makes better sense now. Their situation was that they owned an investment business with a partner, and each controlled 50%. Their partner wanted to move a different direction and offered to buy them out, which they agreed to. So they ended up with an influx of cash, and they are being told by their CPA that they need to have the money they made from dissolution spent by the end of the year. I realize that it could just be bad advice from the CPA, but are there other situations that aren't 1031's that would warrant this advice? A few more specifics if it helps: They are 60+, they live in, and previously invested in Ohio. Thanks guys.

My partners are currently in a situation where they have cash they need to spend by the end of the year from a previous partnership of theirs that was dissolved. Our question is do they have to spend the money on the purchase of a new property? Or can they invest in in our current properties? Thanks!

Hello BiggerPockets! My wife and I bought our first property at the beginning of the year. It has been a valuable learning experience, and we're making good money on it. We're trying to expand and scale relatively quickly by dealing off market, and using the BRRRR method. This deal was done as a part of a partnership with my wife's aunt and uncle. We're happy in our partnership, and it's lucrative for both sides, but I'm beginning to think we should have structured things differently. We formed an LLC with them, and we are each 25% owners and entitled to a 25% share in distributions. They fit more of a silent investor role, as they live out of the area. We talk to them when there is a decision to be made, or just to touch base. Again, happy to be partnered with them. The arrangement for this first deal was that my wife and I find the deal, make the offer, arrange and manage contractors, find and manage tenants, and manage maintenance. We did quite a bit of work ourselves working on the property to save money, but we didn't save any time. Their role was to front the majority of the cash needed to do the deal, with the agreement that our portion of the profit would go to them until our half was paid for, then we would split profits 50-50. Total cost between down payment and rehab was about $40,000. We only owe about $4,000 on our half. So the dilemma is a 2-part dilemma:

1- Other family members have seen our success and would like to partner with us, but I/we don't want to have to split a relatively small deal 3-5 different ways. We would like to partner with family and friends in a way that benefits us, and all parties involved without anyone feeling like they're being slighted in any way.

2- As we grow this business, I don't feel like this is the best way for us to split a deal. We find the deals, and do the work, and then split the profit evenly. We originally justified it because of the cash advance, but moving forward I don't know if we should structure it that way. I feel like a lot of work is done on our end, and then we still end up paying it back to a 50-50 ratio. It's also worth noting that my wife acts as our realtor, and would get commission for her work as a realtor. She somewhat feels that her commission is our extra payment for all the work, but I see that as her just doing her job for a buyer like she would for any other sale. 

I'd like to know what other people have done in this scenario. How did you partner with friends and family? How did how split the work/profit?

Sorry for the long question, and thank you for your time!