All Forum Posts by: Joseph Gisler

Quote from @Kelly Rao:

Hello!

I'm a Phoenix investor who is starting to look at other markets. Looking for a few folks in the Raleigh triangle area to start building out a local team, starting with an investor-friendly real estate agent. 

Would appreciate any leads! Thanks in advance.

Kelly

 Hey Kelly! I sent you a connection request, I’d be more than happy to have a conversation with you about your investing goals here in the Raleigh area and see if I can be of service. 

Hi @Cathy Seraphin! Welcome to the area! You should check out the Bigger Pockets meetup which is every second Wednesday of the month! 
Also, Pints and Properties which is typically the last Thursday of every month! 
I just sent you a connection request, I’ll shoot you the official info when it comes out! They are both filled with investors of all kinds happy to help! Hopefully I’ll see you there! 

I agree with @Andrew Garcia, as a new investor with limited capital, a primary residence would allow you to use a lower down payment loan option such as an FHA 3.5% down loan. @Mitch Miller is absolutely correct, this market is an appreciation market, it is VERY hard to find cash cows. What I would suggest, is utilize either a Conventional loan as low as 3% down or an FHA 3.5% down to buy a house and rent out rooms to roommates which would subsidize your living costs. If you are uncomfortable with this option, there are plenty of homes throughout the Raleigh area that are on hills and have walk out basements that you could convert into a separate space. Unless you can find a house with a finished basement already, this option might cost a little more due to renovations but is an excellent option to create an investment property out of your primary residence. 

The cool thing about this option is you do this for a year, save the money you are collecting from your tenants paying your mortgage, and go buy another primary residence using the same loan next year.

Check out Dagley Insurance, no specific agent with them that I recommend, they just saved me a lot on all my insurance. 

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

Purchase price: $240,000
Cash invested: $13,000

Another house hack in the books! Listed in a HOT market at $240,000, this 3 b1 ba brick ranch home located 15 minutes from the heart of Raleigh was a perfect investment.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

The location, and vision I saw with the property just from the photos. It fit perfectly into my goal.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

I put in an offer AT ASKING in a market where everything was going over asking. What I did instead of over bidding is what got me the deal. I put $10,000 down as dd (which was almost my entire downpayment on a 5% Conventional loan), waived inspection contingency, allowed them to leave anything they wanted (they had a lot of junk) and I said I would pay up to $10,000 over an appraisal (the property was bigger than most on the block so a slight chance it would under appraise).

How did you finance this deal?

5% conventional loan, luckily the deal appraised for $250,000, $10,000 higher than my offer giving me instant equity!

How did you add value to the deal?

So far, I have not put much money into this property at all, a few maintenance issues and a few initial small projects to get the property ready for tenants. This property gives me an excellent opportunity in the future to add a bathroom and eliminate a wall to make it a much better layout. With this, I plan in the future to fully renovate the property to be an airbnb.

What was the outcome?

Since then, this property has been wonderful to me. After living in it for my required time I have since put tenants in the space, and making a little income off the property with the potential to make a lot more in the near future. Right now there are traditional tenants in the space which I went with because so far I have done little to no work on the house, only minimal repairs and maintenance. My plan, once they leave, is to fully renovate the property to be an airbnb.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

I was given the chance to up my bid due to a multiple offer situation but I liked my numbers where they were at and stayed true with my offer... and that was a huge lesson, listen to your gut.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Yes, Tiffany Alexy with Monarch Realty. While I am a realtor myself now, I still highly recommend her and if I at any point don't continue being a realtor, I will 100% go back to using Tiffany.

From an agent I work with in the Raleigh, NC area “Wanted to see if anyone knows of a rental property (3 or 4 bd/2bth) that would take on a family whose combined income is $7000+ a month. The problem is their credit is low in 500's so they are having a difficult time with the applications at many rentals.
The backstory is husband is a 10+ year Marine veteran injured in Iraq who retired due to those injuries and his wife had cancer the Military hospital was unable to care for his wife so to save her they took out massive loans for the medical bills.
My heart is hurting for this great family and I’m trying my best to help. I don’t really handle rentals so I’m hoping someone here can provide some info or a lead they can reach out to and find a home for their family.
Thanks Family!”

I know it’s a wild toss up but wanted to see if I could help my coworker find housing for this veteran who has given us the biggest sacrifice! Thank you everyone! 

Quote from @Justin Winn:

There are likely many ways you could approach this. But as I understand it, and I'm not a lawyer, unless the business is going to hold the property you don't need the LLC. If the property is going to hold the property and financing is involved it could be difficult to get financing until the business has income and a track record.

What I'm doing with my properties is I am getting the financing in my name, using an umbrella policy until I have paid off a property and will then transfer them into an LLC. I understand I could transfer them prior to paying them off but would risk triggering a due on sales clause with the lender… slight risk though it may be, my wife and I have decided to transfer when the property is paid off.

I hope this is helpful.

Thank you Justin, this is but my circumstance is a little different. I am attempting to use Hard money lending which in the state of north carolina, I believe it is required or at least every lender I have spoken to say they require the property to be purchased in an LLC to receive funding. I am confused on how people write an agreement of purchase and im assuming put their name but then create an LLC and continue the process in the LLC with the title company etc.? It just does not make sense to me how people create a specific LLC for a specific property without creating it first. Hoping you or someone else can better explain this.

I guess I am still confused on the proper time to set up an LLC to protect a rental property. Do I set up an LLC now even though I do not have a property under contract? Or do I wait until I offer on a property, get it under contract, then set up the LLC for that property?

I have had investors tell me to set it up now and others say wait since they are easy and quick to set up. If I wait, what name do I put on the offer to purchase contract? I am getting close to making a few different off market deals work and I just want to make sure I do the LLC thing correctly as my last two properties I bought in my name.

Thank you for any advice you can give!

Quote from @Michael Plaks:

@Joseph Gisler

Read these older threads:
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/795929-questions-to-ask-a-potential-accountant

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/792277-how-to-test-your-cpas-technical-competence

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/528033-must-ask-questions-when-interviewing-a-cpa

 Thank you Michael, I’m going through these now! 

Quote from @J Zev J.:

@Joseph Gisler - First, you should know that every tax situation is unique. In the first meeting, a good tax pro will need to ask you most of the questions to understand your situation before they can give any advice. However, once the tax pro knows your situation, you can ask:

1) How can you help me achieve my financial goals now that you know my tax situation?
2) How can you help me reduce my taxes?
3) What tax reduction strategies would you recommend based on my situation?
4) How do you bill for your services? Hourly or fixed or something else?
5) Who will be my contact at the CPA firm and how experienced are they dealing with real estate investors?
6) How are you proactive in helping me achieve my goals as a real estate investor?

You might want to think about your overall financial and real estate investing goals before the meeting to clearly define what you're looking for in a CPA/advisor.

Thank you J Zev! This is exactly how the conversation went which made me really confident in the situation. I basically stated my goals and where I’m currently at versus where I want to be and he asked a bunch of questions, gave advice, etc.

Thank you for your response and advice!