All Forum Posts by: Jason Hull

Bill - If you're still looking, my law school classmate Douglas Griess is out there. I don't know if he does residential law, but he could make a recommendation if he can't help you.

Hi Sarah - If you'll shoot me an email at jhull at hullfinancialplanning dot com, I'll connect you with the person who does our taxes and bookkeeping.

Damon - Read Robert Cialdini's book Influence to understand why this works. At 17, you're way ahead of the game! Well done! Keep working hard!

My security clearance investigation involved a financial check. I've seen people who had TS lose it because they ran into financial issues.

My guess is that having a large but serviced debt isn't an issue as far as DSS is concerned.

The issue is when you hit a bump in the road and suddenly have a metric poop ton of credit card debt that you can't service.

If you're having to advance a credit card to do a deal, then it is not a deal.

Don't risk your day job (or your spouse's) just because you're in a rush to get a real estate investment done.

I know that cleared civilian jobs pay handsomely, and income from a jobby job is probably the best asset you two have going for you right now.

Don't trash that just because you want to get a deal done. Be patient. Build up enough cash to do it correctly, and then do a deal. Just because you're going to have to say no right now doesn't mean that you'll always have to say no.

Even in raging bull markets, there are always people who make mistakes in purchasing real estate, and savvy, cash flush investors can help those people out of messes.

Please, and this is coming from someone who has held that same clearance, do not use a credit card to do a real estate deal. Ever.

I concur. My in-laws live in Benbrook, and my business bank is there. Nice, older, established community. Of course, you can't make a blanket statement about the entire place. There are better areas than others, but if you can find a deal where the numbers work in Benbrook...

I am jealous! :-)

Yes. I always get title insurance.

Yes. I always get title insurance. It might be worth calling a couple of title companies to get estimates.

Ah, good question. I buy in cash directly from the seller, so I'm not financing anything. That might add a little to your closing costs.

Diyan's numbers sync with what I've experienced in Fort Worth. I use Providence Title, and they usually run about 1%, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. The costs are generally the same; it's how much I'm paying that fluctuates.

Steve--

I did one year of law school before dropping the JD part of the JD/MBA program and just finishing my MBA. However, I was at a top 10 school, which meant greater career options than had I not been at a top tier school. Like it or not, in law, brand name matters if you want to do something besides personal law. The other escape hatch would be law review to potentially differentiate yourself. Networking like mad would help too.

When I was faced with the decision of whether or not to continue law school, I did an opportunity cost analysis. Would the JD help me get incrementally more income? Not unless I did M&A, VC, or private equity, and I had no desire to work 30 hours a day, 8 days a week.

As an entrepreneur, being an attorney would have helped in contract negotiations, but not that much. Had we raised outside capital, it would have probably helped too.

Since none of those applied, I am glad that I dropped it. I loved the study of law, but was miserable in a law library. I do wish I would have finished, but only from the perspective of having not accomplished it. Then again, if it meant *that* much to me, I could always reenroll.

As you've made your decision, why not network like crazy with BB&T or Bank of America to get into their i-banking side? You have a finance degree and finance experience, and there's probably some RE M&A work you could do. Then, if they want you to become an attorney, they can pay for the last two years, or you could do distance education and use tuition reimbursement.