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All Forum Posts by: James McCard

James McCard has started 3 posts and replied 273 times.

Post: Adding Turo rentals to your Airbnb rentals

James McCardPosted
  • Investor
  • New Hartford, CT
  • Posts 281
  • Votes 104

I dabble in real estate and I am an Turo All Star Host - if any of you are local to CT or have questions about the business please reach out. I happy to help. 

Post: Networking in Connecticut

James McCardPosted
  • Investor
  • New Hartford, CT
  • Posts 281
  • Votes 104

There is a meetup tonight starting at 6:30pm at Thomas Hooker brewery in Hartford. 

Hope to see you there! 

Post: Anybody in Litchfield County Connecticut?

James McCardPosted
  • Investor
  • New Hartford, CT
  • Posts 281
  • Votes 104

I am in Litchfield county, I invest in Torrington and Winsted mostly. Let me know if I can be of any assistance! 

Post: CT Investing Strategy

James McCardPosted
  • Investor
  • New Hartford, CT
  • Posts 281
  • Votes 104

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

I would direct your attention to your thread. I struggled similarly as you. I am gonna say you have to be patient and if you don't find a deal make one work for you. If I can be of any assistance do not hesitate to reach out. 

Originally posted by @Roy Marks:

Thanks @James McCard, great advice! I do have an attorney that I'm working with already, but appreciate the recommendation. Thanks also for the tips regarding how to engage with potential cash buyers. 

 Roy, 

I do have a decent network that I work with, if for whatever reason @William Collins is not interested let me know. I can reach out to another investor I know in West Hartford. 

I would strongly recommend going the option of @William Collins and here is why:

It is the easiest and quickest path to getting money in your pocket. I do not know William personally although I think we would both vouch for each other as movers and shakers in our prospective markets and I know he would come through in closing for you. Selling to an investor basically mitigates questions 3-7. 

As an investor it is our job to know our markets. I for one always present options and I am sure others are willing to do so as well. We can show you what it is worth now, what it is worth fixed and what the fixes will cost. In some cases it makes more sense for a seller to list the property and I tell them that. Very often they appreciate the honesty and will still want to sell even knowing they might get more listing it. 

If something doesn't make sense you can ask. Like hey how did you come up with this number. We are happy to share numbers and how we arrived at an offer. 

That being said we can't pay top dollar, IMO this option is your quickest and easiest to get it done.  

The market is hot in CT, although in my opinion we have the month of October and then it starts to flatten a bit. You can list it with a realtor and you may find great success going that route.  

In CT you would want to deal with an attorney - if you do not have one I recommend attorney Keil

https://www.mlkrlaw.com/Lawren...

You may get the return back from doing projects, if the house needs a roof and you want to sell it as a done property for top dollar by all means put the roof on and power wash it. 

A realtor knowledgeable in the market would be able to provide comps for you and suggest a listing price. 

It sounds like you have a few options to choose and think about. Good luck. Weha is a great little town. 

Post: Central CT BP Meetup: Welcome back!

James McCardPosted
  • Investor
  • New Hartford, CT
  • Posts 281
  • Votes 104

I can't wait to see the new digs, I have seen bits and pieces on IG. It'll be good to get the gang back together!

If anyone comes out of the NW Corner and wants to carpool let me know!

Post: Sub Dividing / Selling a Duplex as Independent Units

James McCardPosted
  • Investor
  • New Hartford, CT
  • Posts 281
  • Votes 104


I am glad to hear someone more knowledgeable on this than me chime in. This is exactly what I was thinking about and I knew it was common in NJ.



Originally posted by @Sergey Sidelnikov:

I did something like this in NJ, not in CT.

We purchased 3-plex, converted it into duplex, completed remodeling and sold each unit separately. You'll need to figure out if the split could be allowed in this area by contacting building / zoning department of Fairfield County or may be specific town if they have these departments. In NJ there was also requirement to get approval from the state. Again, you can ask building / zoning department if they will need this approval from CT state. You can't just sell units separately. It was created an LLC for the building where future owners would be members with appropriate rights and responsibilities especially how the members would split cost of property tax, insurance, utilities and so on. This part was done by our lawyer. I can provide contact information about this lawyer, however I don't know if he is familiar with respective CT laws.

Be careful if you're going to buy duplex with financing. You'll need to be absolutely sure your lender will allow you to sell just one unit if you won't have buyer for the second one due to one mortgage for your duplex. Most of the lenders do not allow split of the existing mortgage. We were lucky to have enough funds to cover reminder of the loan amount when we got the buyer for the first unit, so we just paid off the rest of the loan. The second unit was sold a little bit later after the first deal was completed. 

Good luck.


Post: Flipping in Connecticut

James McCardPosted
  • Investor
  • New Hartford, CT
  • Posts 281
  • Votes 104

I do not flip, but I would recommend reaching out to David Haberfeld - he is based out of Bristol CT and is big on FB. He is excellent at what he does and I think has done about 39 flips in a year as a record. Great resource. 

Post: Short-term rental /Beach house

James McCardPosted
  • Investor
  • New Hartford, CT
  • Posts 281
  • Votes 104

So I can't comment other than at some point soon I would love to explore the STR platform. My family owns 2 beach cottages down in Madison CT. I would imagine it could be a lucrative thing but I know the taxes on the houses down there are insane.