All Forum Posts by: Stephen Masek

It is sad that there are so many reasons for people to want all of the occupational licenses.  The licenses help, but are not magic.  Every profession with licenses still has some very bad people.  For example, asbestos consulting.  Even though this is a mature industry with little change in regulations or anything else for over 20 years, I still see terrible reports done by people who are either incompetent or crooks, or both.  The same with plumbers, doctors and so forth.   Just checking to see if somebody has a license or certification is not enough.     

Signing a contract to buy without having the funds to buy is clearly fraud.  It deprives sellers of potentially better offers from others, and failure to close could cause them other problems.   

William's point about helping people is significant.  A wholesaler who is really a self-employed finder of properties for a flipper with money to buy is helping the seller's with properties which need extensive work and his buyer.     

We have thought of selling our $2,500,000 of rental houses (owned outright) and participating in syndications, but we would be very little fish, so have very little power.  The tail does not wag the dog.  How do you-all deal with that very real problem?  I met with one of our clients who runs a syndicate which buys large properties for institutional investors.  They do no even bother with little fish, and it would not be a good idea for them to do so.   For us, it seems better to obtain more appreciation form the houses.  When major tax cuts come and the economy takes off, selling the houses and buying one or two apartment buildings may be a good idea.   

Thanks for the laughs!   This is why we have property managers....

Yep, the smarty-pants who try to always be ignoring things cry the loudest when it catches up with them.  If the deal does not pencil-out doing it properly, it is a bad deal.   

As they might say in a prison or inner city, a borrower with little or no equity is the lenders b--- (female dog).  You would have all of the liabilities with none of the equity.  What if a tenant sues? What if rents decline? What about repairs?   What about pollution liability exceeding the value of the property missed for lack of a $2,500 Phase I during the diligence period?   

Please keep the good stories coming, as this is one of the most interesting threads in the forum. 

We use  Hecht Real Estate Group

Rima and I keep people out of trouble with the highly-regulated toxic and hazardous materials - asbestos, lead, VOCs, soil and groundwater contamination, plus indoor air quality and the almost unregulated mold.  

Nice post, Mr. Fernwood!