All Forum Posts by: Heidi Pliam

Congratulations Jordan!  Since funding is a frequent stopping point for many new investors, would you mind sharing with us how you found your way out of that roadblock?

Welcome to BP @Matthew Lindquist!  If you're hoping to network with like-mindeds, check out the many meetups going on around the Twin Cities --mostly they're not being listed on BP sadly. You can find them by searching "real estate" in meetup.com calendar.  

Hope to see you at a meeting soon, or in the meantime, feel free to call on me if you have any REI legal questions.

Best Regards,
Heidi

I have a duplex and a mixed-use in NE Mpls.  In the duplex, the remodeled 3/1 unit rents for $1600, and the other 2+/1 unit rents for $1100 but is yet-to-be-renovated.  My daughter's friends tell me they cannot get into a decent NE 3br for less than $1800.   So, yes, it's not free living as you might find in some markets, but especially when house-hacking there are other considerations.  Besides rents are rising.  Buy in the winter when prices are lowest and buy cash from a wholesaler (or be the wholesaler).  You should do very well for yourself that way IF you like the neighborhood as I do!

 @Patrick Pan not all states take such measures, and you can ask a reputable tenant screening company in your area how that works.  In Minneapolis the tenant has to take the initiative to make an eviction disappear, and it's not always easy.  The law here says eviction is a public interest issue (of course it is!!!) So even if the landlord approves an expungement (deletion), the judge is not supposed to delete it unless the eviction was not legitimate at the time it was filed.  So when I'm reviewing screening reports for my rentals, I like to find out the story behind an eviction - I've had good tenants with evictions on their records who never bothered to expunge their eviction from the record when they had a prior vindictive landlord (yes, such landlords do exist and give the rest of us a bad name). 

Good Luck!
Heidi

Welcome @Traci Sand and Keith! @Keith Fjelsted ! I hope to meet you both in person one of these days if you ever attend local REI events. I'm relatively new to BP myself, but I've already started referring tons of people here, so I hope you enjoy wealth of information and support on here as I have. Good luck! -Heidi

Thanks @Daniel Hyman!  In defense of those passionless lawyers, who I lovingly refer to as zombie-lawyers, they could be doing very good work for you.  Some aspects of real estate law can be death-defyingly boring, so it takes a certain personality to do it full time (I try not to bill more than 2hrs a day).  Who signs up to read 50-page contracts in fine detail after all?  My favorite zombie-lawyer is probably on the Asperger scale, but I know he knows his niche area better than anyone. 

POINT IS: don't assume you need a firey attorney to get good work done, but I do recommend asking lots of questions about practical ramifications, however. This is where I do find fault with many of the zombie-attorneys. They know law, but they don't have any real-life experience and they are deeply entrenched in a risk-averse industry culture. So they'll scare the bejeebers out of you with their worst-case scenarios but aren't very good at navigating the real life risks. In those instances, you'll have to go to highly experienced peers in the REI to decide whether to follow your lawyer's advice. Or, if you're in Minnesota where I'm licensed, just hire me :P

If I may be so bold, I'd like to raise my hand on the investor/attorney side. I own 2 properties (6 units), both creatively acquired & financed. I've been an attorney over 15yrs working for bootstrapping entrepreneurs and investors, and I'm transitioning into full time REI & REI Law practice (and am now soft-launching REILawyer.com in fact). Message me if you would like to talk.

Since 1997 I've helped clients make better deals, create better relationships with partners, contractors and tenants, and litigated as well as mediated countless conflicts. What's more, I am a recovering REI guru course addict, and have bought my own properties for zero down and amazing terms. I've also had business failures that I'm grateful for, despite their difficulty. In short, I'm here to learn, but also to contribute.