All Forum Posts by: John Finch

@Eric M. I tend to agree with you. My question is mostly a hypothetical - I haven't bought the house and I go to see it later today so I can hopefully get a better idea of the condition of these things. This particular project was brought to me by a wholesaler, so to add value to the relationship I'd like to give specific reasons as to why or why not I decide not to pursue different deals.

Part of the question also just comes from a personal ignorance on my part - I'm curious if there's other things that I should be really worried about. Typically code won't allow the really unsafe things to be grandfathered in, which is why I'm looking for indicators as to what unsafe things from the 1950s I should really look out for.

Thanks for the comments everyone!

I'm looking at flipping a house within City of Houston (this would be my first). It was built in 1952, no signs of code updates (electrical, smoke detectors, etc). If I'm thinking of doing a rehab on this property (it would be upwards of $20k) what things should I consider here? Any feedback would be awesome! I've got a few specific questions too...

1. If I pull a permit to renovate this property, would I then have to update all the electrical wiring and everything as well to make it code compliant?
2. Would I be required to replace old galvanized piping? My understanding is galvanized piping has a life of 50 years, and this house is almost to 70 years.
   
3. Is there some sort of grandfathering clause that would allow me to leave some of this stuff alone?

I'm combing through residential codes right now to see if I can address some of my own questions, but I figured I should reach out to those with more experience to hear your take! Any comments/thoughts would be appreciated!

Thanks!

@Eric Fernwood Thanks for the extremely thorough post! Tons of really great info to absorb there, and a ton of good resources dropped in as well. Just went digging online for more info about SWOT Analysis - I like the process!

If you're willing to expand on some of these topics, I'd love to hear your take. What's your strategy for getting that local information? What's your strategy for evaluating if you're able to build a strong team in a new location, and if you determine that you can get a good team together, what steps do you take?

@Vincent Mazzaferro Thanks for sharing! Amerisave wasn't on my radar originally. And I couldn't agree more about lining up your priorities. I'm definitely comfortable paying the price for speed and service/communication. I appreciate the help!

@Anthony Wick Man, I love to hear as many stories as I can about people's experiences with this stuff. Totally agree about prioritizing service. Thanks for sharing your experience!

@John Warren Really good point - it's easy to get 100% focused in on finding the lowest rate, but that doesn't mean anything if you can't secure the deal. Thanks for giving me a bit of perspective!

@Charles Carillo and @Daren H. thanks for the tips! I've been doing some research on this topic and knew this would be the right place to come to see if people are personally seeing benefits with their business to incorporating in specific states. Developing relationships with a CPA and attorney are creeping up to the top of my list right now. I really appreciate the advice!

@Tahra Wright Good points here..I have a friend saying a similar thing. Thanks so much for sharing your strategy!

Hey guys and gals,

Any tips on creating an LLC? Is it worth going through a service like LegalZoom, or should you just handle all the paperwork yourself? Thoughts on creating it in state vs out of state (i.e Delaware, Nevada or Wyoming)?

I don't completely understand the implications/disadvantages for creating an LLC in another state from where you list your "physical address". Is it even worth listing a physical address for your business?

I live in Texas, for reference, and this is where I'll be doing most of my business starting out.

Thanks in advance for all your great insight!

Hey there all, going to throw out a bit of a broad/open question today.

Would anyone who has used an online lender would mind sharing their experiences? How did it stack up to other financing mediums you've tried? Some of these have special offerings through BiggerPockets Pro, like Better Mortgage, NBKC Bank, and Conventus. Has anyone found that these discounts make the service worth it? I'm also curious how these online lenders tend to stack up in terms of allowing for growth. Do they tend to limit the loans to certain maximums? Can you only have a few loans out at one time, or do they allow larger volume?

If you think it's best to stay away from these online lenders all together, any suggestions for finding/evaluating lenders in a given market?

I really appreciate any insight into this you guys can offer!

Hey there all, going to throw out a bit of a broad/open question today.

Would anyone who has used an online lender would mind sharing their experiences? How did it stack up to other financing mediums you've tried? Some of these have special offerings through BiggerPockets Pro, like Better Mortgage, NBKC Bank, and Conventus. Has anyone found that these discounts make the service worth it?

If you think it's best to stay away from these all together, any suggestions for finding/evaluating lenders in a given market?

I really appreciate any insight into this you guys can offer!

@Sam Nadar One thing to keep in mind is that mobile homes will depreciate over time. That's a good thing to factor into calcs!