All Forum Posts by: James Barnhart

I have been looking at homes to consider flipping.  Although I am very familiar with construction, I am not a building contractor.  But, I have a friend who is.  I asked him to look at a house with me, but then that house was bought before we could see it.  

He said he liked the idea of us doing a Joint Venture on a house.  He said he is too busy to find houses and has never done that.  He and his subs will do the work needed.  

My questions to you are this: Do you have an ideas how we could do this? I am not quit sure what I could bring to the JV other than finding properties. What would you suggest? Have you ever done something like this? I can pay for a house myself myself, with some cash and using a HELOC. What kind of legal documents do you think we need? I have not done a JV before.

My wife and I did a flip together.  She all of the painting needed, and I did the rest.  Now, that the easy picking houses are gone, houses need much more work, and she doesn't want to be involved, and doesn't want to hear about details about what I am doing with houses, just the very basics.  

So she is getting less involved.  But, she has a lot of other things that she is busy with.  (Taking care of her elderly parents.)

As a result, I am planning on doing a JV with a contractor friend and not bothering her with it.

That seems to work for us.

A loan is borrowed money, not your own money.  So, since it is not your money, you would not pay tax on it.

I hope you let us know how this ends up.  I have never heard of something like this and it seems like I am not alone.  Interesting....

I also use mysmartmove.com.  All I need to get from the applicant is their name and an email address.  The applicants are emailed by the service and they ask the applicants for all of the info tjat they need to do the proper screening.  The applicants pay for the screening themselves when they go online to start the screening.  Then, the service emails me with income info and the recommendation to rent or not rent to them.

Did he look through the mail?   Something seems strange here.

I would pass on this parasite.  He has an childish attitude and his parents are enabling him to continue to be irresponsible.  I would think that he will not take care of the ome and not follow the rules.  No Way

I think Colleen was exactly correct.   Your only strong position is to move because you don't like his increases, and other aggravations.  Apparently, he is not pricing his rental too high because he has it rented.  Due to a shortage of rentals and higher taxes, etc., the rent will increase.  That's a business decision.

I think that if you try to get him to reduce the rent amount the second time, he might say goodbye and good luck to you.  I think I might just do that.

You definitely need to do a tenant screening on all applicants.  If there are negatives, and there are, do not rent to her.  I wouldn't also do it just because you caught her in a lie.  

Let all applicants pay for the screening themselves when they apply to the tenant screening company.

I agree about removing that bush.  It is overgrown and does nothing for the house.  I would not have shutters because they look so dated.  My wife chose a coral colored door for our home, and it looks great.  She said red is too common.

Beyond that, I don't know and am interested to see what others say.