All Forum Posts by: Jeff Copeland
Jeff Copeland has started 14 posts and replied 1720 times.
Post: Found a great deal but I do not have enough capital

- Real Estate Agent
- Tampa Bay/St Petersburg, FL
- Posts 1,836
- Votes 2,065
Quote from @Jay Thomas:
Quote from @Jeff Copeland:
Your friends can either be equity partners (form an LLC and pool your resources. Your LLC's operating agreement will dictate how and when profits and capital gains get distributed).
Or they can offer you debt financing as a private lender. This blog post explains the financing process (which is essentially the same for bank financing, private money, or seller financing).
@Jeff Copeland what if the friend is only interested in funding the down payment as a debt partner? I have run into issues where someone is interested in funding the down payment and doesn't want to be an equity partner but the lender doesn't allow a second lien. How can someone navigate this situation?
This would have to be worked out with the lender, based on why they have concerns or won't allow it. I would venture to guess in some cases it's because the buyer doesn't have any money, or enough cash reserves, rather than the fact there is a second position lien (as long as they are in first position, why would they care?)
Post: Estimating property taxes for analyses

- Real Estate Agent
- Tampa Bay/St Petersburg, FL
- Posts 1,836
- Votes 2,065
Property tax rates will vary considerably from market to market.
Also be very cautious about using the current owner's property tax bill from public records. In some areas where owner occupants have a homestead exemption and/or an annual cap on tax increases, there can be a huge spread between what the current owner pays, compared to what a buyer will pay after the property is reassessed at the new sale price.
Many county property appraiser's/assessor's offices will have an online calculator where you can plug in a purchase price and get a tax estimate. Here is one example from Florida: https://pcpao.org/taxEst.php
Post: Loans and Loan requirement questions

- Real Estate Agent
- Tampa Bay/St Petersburg, FL
- Posts 1,836
- Votes 2,065
Your age is not a factor. They will look at your credit, income, employment history, and debt-to-income ratio.
Post: Are we out of luck? Inaccurate listing square footage

- Real Estate Agent
- Tampa Bay/St Petersburg, FL
- Posts 1,836
- Votes 2,065
How did you verify the actual square footage? It's not uncommon for public records to say one thing, an appraisal to say another, and a measurement to say a third. And there's also "gross" square footage versus "living area" square footage.
Often, if the public records underreport the square footage, there's very little invective for a property owner to correct it (it would just raise their property taxes). But for an investor it often makes more sense to have everything updated and accurate before selling or refinancing a property.
Post: Question about Flooring @ Lowes

- Real Estate Agent
- Tampa Bay/St Petersburg, FL
- Posts 1,836
- Votes 2,065
I think this is much less of a concern with manufactured products like laminate and LVP. They are going to be very standardized.
Even if you're picking it up from the same store, there's no guarantee it all came from the same pallet or lot number.
Post: Found a great deal but I do not have enough capital

- Real Estate Agent
- Tampa Bay/St Petersburg, FL
- Posts 1,836
- Votes 2,065
Your friends can either be equity partners (form an LLC and pool your resources. Your LLC's operating agreement will dictate how and when profits and capital gains get distributed).
Or they can offer you debt financing as a private lender. This blog post explains the financing process (which is essentially the same for bank financing, private money, or seller financing).
Post: Issues with Buildium portal platform

- Real Estate Agent
- Tampa Bay/St Petersburg, FL
- Posts 1,836
- Votes 2,065
Your owner login is completely different from the PM's login.
Your PM should provide you with YTD "close out" statements (called a "Rental Owner Statement" on your properties (and of course process your final draws, release any reserve funds, and transfer any deposits), but you will no longer have access to your owner portal in their Buildium account once your properties are deactivated.
Your new PM should provide you with a new login to whatever system they use, but it will not be linked to your old portal, even if your new PM also uses Buildium.
Post: How do you feel about the Florida Market?

- Real Estate Agent
- Tampa Bay/St Petersburg, FL
- Posts 1,836
- Votes 2,065
I've discussed this very question with lots of people from different segments of the industry.
Here's the situation in Florida:
1. Yes, rising interest rates are putting downward pressure on prices, but
2. Other factors (population growth + housing shortage = good old-fashioned supply and demand imbalance) are still putting upward pressure on prices, and
3. Comparing asking prices to sold prices is not particularly relevant. What we need to be comparing is year over year sold prices.
4. Based on simple economics, prices won't decrease on a macro level until supply exceeds demand, and that isn't happening anytime soon. This is borne out by the available market data below.
Looking at the most recent market stats available (September 2022 compared to September 2021) for SFH, which are a good indicator of broader market conditions:
Properties sold for 96.5% of list price (down from 100% in 2021), and
Days to Contract increased from 9 days to 21 days, and
Days on Market increased from 49 days to 56 days, and
Inventory increased by 51%, and
Months of supply increased by 80% from 1.0 to 1.8, but
Average sale price still increased by 11.7% year over year.
So far, what we are seeing play out is not a crash, but a return to slightly more normal market conditions.
Post: Looking for an Agent in Colorado Springs

- Real Estate Agent
- Tampa Bay/St Petersburg, FL
- Posts 1,836
- Votes 2,065
Try the agent finder tool here on BP: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
Post: Real estate attorney for missed rents and damages

- Real Estate Agent
- Tampa Bay/St Petersburg, FL
- Posts 1,836
- Votes 2,065
Quote from @Bob S.:
Quote from @Orlando Osuna:
After my catastrophic experience with Freedom Real Estate Group(they didn't take care of this either obviously) in Dayton OH, I need help finding an attorney who can help me try to recover missed rents and damages to my properties. I was trying to work with a collections company, but their fees and success rates are not very convincing. Any suggestions on attorneys or lawyers that can help me with this matters? Thanks in advance.
Hello, move on, do not waste your time, Maybe make one or two threatening calls to the tenants other than that, move on
I would absolutely not advise "threatening calls to the tenants". Believe it or not, they can sue you for unfair debt collection practices.
Ask me how I know!