All Forum Posts by: Jim Horne

Welcome Raymond M Dalida ! You're off to a great start. I'm also a veteran, still in actually, and just started investing in the Charlotte market. VA loans are an amazing benefit for us to leverage and I'm really glad to hear that you see the value. Hard to argue with free money. As for us, we're finally staring to re-build after the market crash of '08. We just closed on a SFR in the Indian Trail area of southwest Charlotte. It's a great market if you don't find anything closer to Asheville. Thanks for the insight into the I-26 expansion. That's been a long time coming, so it will be interesting to see its impact. Would love to network with you and bounce things off of each other, so let me know if you'd like to connect. Jim

I think the key in your buy and hold scenario would be to cash out refi once you get established with positive Chas flow and then use that equity for your next deal. If your familiar with Brandon Turner and Josh Dorkin's BRRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refi, Repeat) strategy, that is exactly what you could do in your buy and hold option. The power is that your using leverage and tax advantages to grow your initial investment exponentially over time.

Dave Younts that is an awesome start! I just started seriously focusing on REI investment last year and we bought our first SFR in Matthews, NC early this year. It was rent ready with the remodeling done by the previous buy and hold investor. Currently renting for $250/month positive cashflow. Not a crazy cash on cash return, but way better than our last deal where we didn't have to pay federal taxes for 8 years due to our monthly losses. I am also a veteran, currently in the Air Force, and am investing from a distance. We're looking for our next deal. I'll be reassigned to Los Angeles this summer and really want to leverage the $0 down VA loan, but we're not finding anything that we could purchase for positive cashflow when we leave. So I think we'll likely keep focusing on Charlotte. Would love to connect and partner if it works. Best of luck and welcome to BP! Jim

@Cesar Morales I PM'd you yesterday.  Let's arrange a chat soon.

Thanks @Megan Roche!  That would be great.  Please PM me his info.

Thanks, Sylvia. I should have have been more clear in my post. By LA I mean Los Angeles, California.

Hello BP Friends! Looking for referrals for a great, investor friendly real estate agent for the South Bay area of LA (Torrance, Redondo, Lawndale, Hawthorne, etc.). We are moving to the area this July, and would like to start scouting the area, determining criteria, etc. Experience with VA loans would also be nice. Any suggestions?

Chris, I'm going through a similar situation though I live in California and our property is in North Carolina. The first thing I would say is make sure you consult lawyers and accountants, likely from each state. Every state's rules vary. I was going to have register as an LLC in California and pay their taxes regardless of where my property was located because of California tax laws, so it just made more sense to have the LLC in California for our NC property. If I stood up the LLC in NC, I would still have had to file as a foreign business entity in CA and pay their taxes. NC had no such requirement for a CA LLC investing in NC. Not sure what the Texas or Louisiana statutes say about such matters, so definitely ask a lawyer what the statutes require and an accountant can help with how the expenses for your entity work for each state. Hope that helps.

My apologies for not posting sooner. After speaking with an attorney in NC, it became clear that for my situation it made sense to form an LLC only in California. Regardless of where else I formed an entity, California would require me to foreign register with them and would require what they call a franchise tax board fee of $800 per year. NC law only requires you to register if you are performing active business in the state (i.e. have employees and create W-2s), and passive real estate investment does not meet the provisions of that statute requiring registration. Given the complexities of forming in NC (I would need to have a registered agent living in NC, pay fees for the LLC, etc) and no need to per statute, it only made sense to form in CA. Hope that helps. It is all very state specific and unique to your particular situation so I recommend you seek a professional opinion first.

Thanks Tyler and Jessica. Tyler I just PMd you.  I'll speak with my accountant today.