All Forum Posts by: Jeff McCaskey

@Nat C.

I wish I had the magic words to make this easy for you but I don't. I actually can only give you one piece of advice and that is to not give up!!!! You may have to find new ways or expend more energy or keep your attention on these properties over time patiently to come up with an answer/method, and from personal experience, people can sometimes be slow to respond if you have sent a letter etc.

Keep trying and thinking outside the box and you will find a way!!

@Corey G.

I would say same as recommended above about a package deal or.....

Look into Mitsubishi mini split systems perhaps. They cost about the same, are ductless, and run on less electricity than central HVAC units. Since you have multi units this may be a viable alternative. 

Good luck 

I was thinking along the lines of what @Bill S. stated although I saw students spend loan money on everything but school...... Not sure how they got away with it or what ended up happening with them...... I just know it doesn't always get spent on school. 

@Account Closed

Hey Steve, I'm not sure about what you're suggesting. Never actually crossed my mind. Sounds creative though. Have you pre qual for the FHA already or is this just the beginning of your thought process on it??

I'd say if you can do this then it is very creative and if you're sure about ALL your numbers....... And then DOUBLE SURE......... Then maybe you can pull it off.

This is a little coy, but I'm almost certain you would get a better education doing this than college can sometimes provide lol. Real life has a way of doing that in a way the classroom doesn't, and being an investor you are faced with a number of choices and decisions regularly and through problem solving and analysis you can and will learn a great deal.

Let us know what you decide to do and how it works out if you go forward with this. If you're lucky you could make back the borrowed amount by the time loan payments start.

I went to school too, a lot of school, and I value my education, however I think that really being involved in life (investing certainty qualifies) is usually a better teacher for the teachable - in many cases....

@Jason Doussan

I'm actually out driving a semi hauling wheat for a neighbor today. The bread basket of America is harvesting winter wheat......

@Jason Doussan

Just make sure you have done all your due diligence first before getting into any project, especially one out of state.......

I can tell you that in Kansas outside of any metro area you won't get another 50k on sales price if you end up over budget like you see on TV shows. You'll need to know what it will sell for before buying it and making sure your Reno costs are in line. You can get a slight bump if you have to spend a little more but it's not like other parts of the country.

No fear, just know the numbers factually for sure. 

Good luck!!

Oh...... And watch the Cananda references..... Kansas was considered to some extent to be part of the "South" back in the day. Lol

@Blake C.

Well I don't want to do the color picking for you but I'd recommend sticking with earth tones for both interior and exterior colors. You would have quite a range to choose from and most should go with tenant/buyer tastes. 

@Sean Rogers

I do not have an umbrella policy myself at this point but it is my understanding that it is a separate policy from the insurance on the home (not mortgage) and it is assigned to your LLC to cover any claims that may arise for any reason. That may be considered "umbrella coverage" but sounds like extra coverage to me. An umbrella policy would be unassociated with an individual property but associated with the business - as I understand it all.

@Nic Hammond

I would say that it's a no brainer to run your business through an LLC. I can't spout out off the top of my head in a very pursuasive manner right now all the reasons why but there is some great info about all that on the site here and in books on investing.

Running each property seperate from another in LLC's would be a bit much, most people run one LLC with all the property under the same umbrella, sometimes if they are spread across multiple states and cities people will separate them out. I just use one LLC for all of mine.

You will have an additonal schedule on your personal tax return for the LLC and the properties but it will still be with your personal return.

As far as the deed goes, not sure of the process in your state but you can just have the deeded party changed in a simple process and its not that big of a deal/expense.

Your accountant can set up the LLC for you or you most likely can do it yourself online through your state web site.

The added schedule on your tax return still files with your tax return and will not change your income for the year.

Taxes will still be sent to the same address they have been coming to unless you change that, they will be in the name of your LLC not you/your wife's names. You will need a devoted checking account to serve your LLC and properties and you will need to pay taxes on the property from that account.

No worries about fraud, there is nothing fraudualnt about an of it, it's only changes to the structure of things not hiding anything in any way.

@Account Closed

I think you had 2 parts to your post. 1) how can I be taken seriously? 2) what do I do in this process?

Justin it's really great you're going after you RE license! Listen, even if you could fake it and be taken seriously somehow, it would always be undone very quickly in this business. Just do the opposite. Go get educated and trained up and become somewhat of a knowledgeable/expert person on some areas and familiar with oh so many. If you can at least have an intelligent conversation with almost everyone you meet and prove you know what you're talking about you will basically force people to take you seriously because you sir can back it up!!

As for next steps, you can choose nearly any direction to go. You'll have to determine that as you go early on as you begin to choose a strategy to follow.