All Forum Posts by: Greg Carrier

Gwen Knowlton is a Strategic Life and Emotional Wellness Master Coach and Motivational Speaker who is known as the “brain trainer”. She spent 6 years and over 1500 hours serving as a medical research analyst and studied with world renowned doctors that specialized in methylation and neuroscience. 

She combined her experience as social worker, medical research analyst and neuro coach to create a coaching program that has gotten results in weeks that many have not gotten in years by teaching time tested, scientifically proven tools that help people retrain their brain to respond differently to all the things that are are holding them back.

We buy a bunch of old houses.  We generally expect to completely redo all the mechanics and replace all the windows.  When we find old fuse boxes those get replaced too.  Here is one thing we see all the time.  Although most older homes have fuse boxes updated to breakers.  We still find lots of knob and tube because let's face it, most people aren't going to spend the money and time to replace wiring in the walls.  Also we avoid opening walls unless we know we have to (water damage or apparent structural issues) with the reason being once it is opened we need to bring it up to current code.  Lots of old houses were built before codes were enforced so we see lots of things like missing headers or strange methods for hanging joists or cut out structural elements for heating ducts and things.  We figure though that if the house is 50 plus years old  (some are nearly 100 years) and they are still standing straight, that they will still be standing when we are gone so no need to go looking for problems.  That and the usual asbestos and lead problems that you should be aware of in all older homes.

Good Luck!

You need to find another property manager ASAP.  In my experience (similar but not the same) I "hope" it was just a transition issue.  It was not and expect yours is not either.  I did have a 30 day out added to my contract however so was easy enough to get out although the money I lost will never come back.  Even if you don't have an early exit in your agreement I would start the search for your new PM today and exit as soon you have one in place.

Good Luck!

@Sardar Mustafa Khan We use bandit signs all over so that means occasionally the city calls us. In more than five years we have only had to pay one fine. Everyone else has allowed us to remove them. That’s what I would do. And they do work so well that I wouldn’t mind paying a fine a year To keep using them. Good luck!

@CL Tumlin We started buying real estate five years ago when I turned 50 years old. I think it’s about the best time to do it if you haven’t done it already by that age. In the five years we have acquired 25 Rentals and our income is significant. The reason it’s a good idea though is because it’s inflation adjusted so we should be making more in 10 years than we do now and if you want to move your 401(k) money to something that will kick off income you’re going to get some really low return like say five or 6% so if you had $1 million in a 401(k), You would be looking at 50 or $60,000 a year to live off when you retired. As opposed to 1 million invested in real estate where you would make twice that much. That’s my take on it. Our goal is to get to 50 in the next three years and then see what we want to do then. Good luck!

I don't do Turnkey stuff but I am connected to lots of people who can help you and answer any questions about the Michiana area if you have specific questions. 

I live here, though I moved from the suburbs of Detroit and the markets are similar.  As I am sure you know home prices to rent prices are very good here and things are so inexpensive it is easy to get into the market.  It was hard not to when we moved here 15 years ago and saw how inexpensive things are.   If you have specific questions or have an idea as to what you are looking for in a rental, PM me I have talked to a lot of bigger pockets about investing here and some have successfully done so.  And there are more houses here than I can ever buy so I don't mind helping others out.  Good Luck!

@Ryan Keeslar @Louis Davis  Louis is right, if the title company clears it, you should be good to go.  We have been through lots of variations on who is selling the house and what liens, judgements are attached.  And some buys don't go through.  But in the end that is a bit of the price you pay for getting good deals when they do go through and the title search should identify any issues and the title company is not going to give title insurance unless they are certain no one is going to make a claim.  Trust them, they do this everyday all day

In South Bend Indiana you are still responsible for sewer bills.  That law is older than the recent laws and public law 105-2019 did not fix that part of the law.  Some local municipalities are arguing that the law is too vague or even if you have it in the tenants name the owner is still responsible for it.  They are working on a fix I am told but have not idea when that might happen.

@Brandon McBride.  I'm in northern Indiana, but I know people in Michigan and Ohio who have similar cost and price structures and I am sure there are a ton of other areas as well.  Good Luck!