All Forum Posts by: Joe Schaak

You said that you can’t refinance until September? I think this is just a timing issue. Honestly, unless you have an agreement in place for a multi-unit property, it most likely will take half of that time to find one. Negotiate the closing date on that purchase to be on/after the refi date and you’re all set.

Otherwise, you’re basically looking for a bridge loan? Credit cards, the equity from your duplex, hard money (Pine Financial is great locally), or converting your retirement to a self-directed plan. You may also want to look in to a commercial loan from a local lender. Let me know what sounds on target and I can try to help clarify further.

I was also introduced to Infinite Banking recently. I'm really intrigued by it and wanted to run my plan by the knowledge that's on display on this thread (@Mike S., @Zachary Paschke, @Thomas Rutkowski). I rehab homes and often receive large chunks of funds from private investors. Rather than let that money sit in a checking account, my plan was to use it to pay the premiums and/or loans made from my life insurance account. This way, in addition to making those funds work, I'm also building the value of the policy which can be used to fund other real estate deals. Thoughts? Am I on the right path?

I could use the advice of all you amazing probate minds out there!

The Owner of a property passed away and didn't have a will. She left behind a sister and a daughter. She also left behind a mortgage of $32k owed to US Bank. Payments haven't been made since April. The bank has not yet foreclosed but is threatening. However, since the Owner has passed away, the bank basically has the ownership.

What's my best path towards successfully negotiating a deal with US Bank before foreclosure? The home is on the city vacant buildings list and is/will incur at least $3k fees yearly in addition to any upkeep, etc.. I have successfully worked with the city to rehab several similarly vacant homes.

Any thoughts and advice from experienced probate investors would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

I have a couple properties in this area and I’ve had no problem. With thorough screening, I’ve ended up with tenants that are really great. We’ve never had any issues with crime during rehabs either (when taking normal precautions like locking doors, etc.). This is a diverse area of town, no doubt. In my experience, it’s filled with people that are passionate about their neighborhoods and are friendly. Ask them about Eastside Pride. 

Your numbers look good and it looks like the property is a solid one. If it were me, I’d make sure it’s sound structurally and mechanically - particularly structurally. Do you live in the cities or are you in Iowa?

Hi, @Amber Gonion. The link you provided to more info is a dead link. Do you know of any other places to get more specifics of the policies being considered? I'm striking out on Google.

I’ve always had good luck with Boehm HVAC in St Paul. They’ve done most of my properties, are professional, honest, and reasonably priced. I’ve also had Twin Cities Heating and Air do a Property and they did well.

Thank you, @Amber Gonion!

Thanks for posting this,@Amber Gonion! Overall, I think these are needed. I hear so many stories of terrible landlords. There are a lot of either uninformed or unethical ones out there.

The only one that concerns me is limiting the security deposit to one month’s rent. I’m concerned that will backfire on applicants with low-credit score and other issues.

Also, do you have any idea if they’ve published the screening guidelines? I haven’t been able to find more than the general announcement of there being some.

Thanks!

Love to hear this, @Rashad K.! Congrats -

I had a very poor experience with REI Books LLC / Kirk & Joni Yates. I had listened to a podcast with them on Biggerpockets. I hired them to keep my books up to date on a monthly basis so that I could see where I was at with each property at any time. I filed an extension for my 2018 taxes so that they could have time to get the books done (I had hired them late in the filing season). However, when the deadline came for the extension, they hit me with a ton of questions dating back to January of 2018. All things that they should have / would have been asking if they had been keeping the books up to date. My accountant put in some extra time (and my money paying her) to sort everything out at the last minute.

We had a frank and open discussion about their performance and they took responsibility. I reiterated the importance of up-to-date bookkeeping and made it clear that I fully expected 2019 to be reconciled and completed by the first week of January 2020. First week of January comes and Kirk tells me that he has some questions which he'll get to me in a document. Several weeks later (in February), he finally gets the questions to me and they date back to January of 2019. The books were NOT kept up-to-date.

REI Books LLC / Kirk and Joni Yates cost me a ton of time and money. There is NO WAY that I would ever use their services again or recommend that anyone else does.