All Forum Posts by: Jon Magnusson

Originally posted by @Jay Dean:

Why wouldn't you just get him to loan you the money at a set rate of return? Rate of return and safety of the investment are what will matter to him. You need to retain control of the deal if you are going to manage it. You could always give him a lien if he is worried about you selling without making him whole.

Find a real estate attorney and buy him lunch. Ask him how to structure the deal.

 I'm going to agree with Jay on this one.  Unless your friend wants to be an owner and buy you out once the property is set up and cash flowing, I'd use him as a private money lender.  Get the property cash flowing and some forced equity into it then refi and pay him off.  I'm sure you can find some info on BP about hard money lending and private equity.  Just make sure there's enough meat on the deal so after the refi you're still cash flowing.  If you make him money and you're honest, you can do it again and again.  Win/win.  

Collecting a years worth of rent up front may be illegal in some states; if it's not I'm sure that there are specific steps to follow like holding the money in escrow and drawing down on it each month.  

It sounds like the guy you are dealing with is overly cautious, but as long as he is treating all potential tenants equally and follows the same process for each one, I can't fault him; that's his process.  

On a personal note, as long as you pass all of my other criteria and you can show me a pending/conditional job offer then I would rent to you.  I'd put you on MTM, charge the maximum deposit allowable (1st+last+security), and raise the rent $100/m for my own peace of mind. 

Good luck! 

I'm going to agree with @Ronan M..  You might give them an extra 24 hrs to pay you, but given the fact that they are consistently late and you didn't take/have possession, I would not give them a credit.  Now, If they paid early and on time every month for the past 5 years while you raised rents every year and they didn't once complain, you might waive the late fee, but that's not the case. 

good luck 

If you're looking to be an agent and just need to hang your license at a brokerage just so you can invest, you could always do it at places like 100split or other online brokerages. A lot cheaper than splitting commissions with a full service brokerage and it gives you access to MLS. You may not get the support you're looking for from being in an office but, as an investor are you really looking for a full service broker who's going to charge you 50% commission for glancing at your paperwork? Plus, some brokers don't spend anytime with you coaching or training and still charge you a 50/50 split.

Good luck

http://m.huffpost.com/ca/entry/9201442 Here's an article on the matter

Hey Canadians, what do the new rules in BC about "shadow flipping" mean for your wholesaling business? If you haven't heard, they are trying to eliminate your ability to assign contracts and make a profit. They plan to do this via taxes, fines, license suspension. Just wondering what the reasons behind this new rule are and the ramifications you guys think it might have on the market in BC (especially Vancouver and Victoria).

I'd like to apply for errand boy

Welcome to BP Randy!  Good to see some Canadians on here.  Especially from the VI.  I attended the 2 hour Keyspire intro today in Victoria.  Still think BP is the better way to go; at least for me right now.  Lots of good info though and worth looking into.  Can't wait to start actually investing on the island!   

Originally posted by @Matt R.:

Originally posted by @Jon Magnusson:

I emailed the tenant and asked if all was good and sent him a friendly reminder late yesterday.

Good to hear that he got in touch and worked it out.  I do have a suggestion for the future, though: you might consider using some alternate method of contact if something like this happens.  Email is pretty good but it doesn't always go through in a timely manner.  It used to be the case that most email servers would retry for up to *3 days* if an email didn't go through, as it might take that long for a problem to be fixed; I think it's less now but it wouldn't surprise me if it's still at least a day.  These days, you also get spam filters deciding that the rent reminder is junk, and shunting it off to the "spam" box.

The tenant *should* know when their due date is without the email reminder, but some people live and die by what their inbox tells them.

 I always start with email because it's traceable.  Then if the time comes I'll move to certified mail.  But when it comes to phone calls, unless I record them (which in Cali is illegal unless I state upfront that I'm recording) it's he said she said.  But you're right, the tenant does know the due date and what's on the lease; at the end of the day it's their responsibility to pay on time.  

On a separate note, Thanks BP'ers.  I love this site. 

Update: 

I emailed the tenant and asked if all was good and sent him a friendly reminder late yesterday.  He quickly responded and apologized for being late with the rent.  He's a contractor and blamed it on his unusual pay schedule.  But he did pay and all is good. 

@Rick S. He did ask if he could pay in installments going forward using erentpayment.com.  I know that there is a by-weekly payment plan but can he pay in installments throughout the month without it costing me more?  For example if he wanted to pay $500 one week, $250 the next and then finish it off by paying the remainder on the 1st, is that possible?  Let me know- 

Thanks Jon