All Forum Posts by: Joseph B. Davisson

As a couple of others have stated, don't use Quit Claim Deeds in Texas.  When you sell, the title companies will require a Warranty Deed to be executed so you might as well execute one to begin with.  Banks do loan to LLCs.  They may require the individual member(s) to sign a personal guaranty for the loan.  Don't borrow money in your personal name with the intention of immediately deeding to an entity.  Your lender may consider this fraud- read your loan agreement.  It happens, and the lender likely wont accelerate but going into the loan with the intention of transferring title is not a great idea.

please add me to the Dallas meet up list

No.  Don't do this.  Talk to an attorney.  If the attorney tells you to do this, talk to a different attorney.  Before you act, run the proposed structure by your CPA. 

Photos of the posted notice on the door accompanied by an affidavit are usually appreciated by the JP Court.  Inside the door is always best.

I have heard of owners setting J-Bolts in the cement pad when an outdoor compressor is placed and then drilling holes in the bottom of the unit where the bolts come up from the pad so that the unit can be bolted to the pad from the inside.

WIll the investor money be borrowed, or is the investor taking a membership interest in the entity owning the property, or a fee simple interest in the property?  Furthermore, will the profits from the operations be rolled into future transactions or will they be disbursed?  You will need to discuss your plan with your CPA and discuss the anticipated tax consequences of the structure of your venture in light of the types of transactions you anticipate.  

If this venture is for investment purposes, and you are not living off the profits, then consider a structure that will allow you to defer the capital gains through a 1031 exchange. Ask you CPA about the consequences of forming an entity wherein you are each own an equity interest, and the ability of the entity to defer capital gains, and prohibitions on exchanging your interest in the entity for real property and expecting a capital gains deferral. You and the investor may consider holding you interests as tenants in common (TIC) if you plan to disburse or take your capital gains upon the sale and each do with your portion as you please (whether that be a 1031 or not). Some form of management agreement stating the terms of how the property is managed, should accompany the TIC agreement if you go this direction.

Keep it simple to start and get a deal or two under your belt with your investor before you "get married" with a grand plan.  Regardless, have an exit if the relationship does not work out.  A push/pull buy sell agreement is a good idea of these types of business arrangements.

Also, keep in mind that you and your investor should not be represented by the same attorney.  You each have competing interests.  50/50 sounds good in theory, but are you equally splitting profits or control?  Furthermore, how is liability split?  

Do some deals and then learn what works your you and the investor. Learn from these deals and work this experience  into an ongoing agreement. Consider borrowing money from the investor and having the loan (on which interest accrues) secured by a deed of trust and then having a separate percentage of profits agreement in which you both share in the profits. This way, owner of the property maintains control, lender is secured, and if there are profits, owner pays the interest and owner and lender split the profits.   

Consider doing a bit more than the statutory minimum.  Google search, make a few phone calls, check probate records for any kin.  In the event you make a mistake and someone comes looking, you want to be able to stand in front of the court and list the efforts you took to locate a person who may have an interest.  If you could have found someone by simply taking a few minutes to look around, the courts may determine that you should have done so.  Paper your file with evidence of your efforts.  Also, any very personal items like family photos, family bible, medical/financial records-store these a bit longer after you get rid of the other stuff.  These things are irreplaceable and making the extra effort to keep these safe will show that you were truly considerate.  Remember, courts of law and equity.  Sometimes the statutory minimum is not really enough.  You could even go as far as posting/publishing a public notice.

Perhaps the assessments were outstanding and should have been paid (were owed) by the seller in the ordinary course of owning property subject to the HOA bylaws. As mentioned, the other fees are not insane.

There are attorneys who will paper such a transaction, but I question why anyone would want to be involved in such a transaction as a seller.  I may be a bit behind on what the seminar folks are promoting right now, but please weigh the cost/risk/benefit of engaging in these transactions.  Pay attention to the sellers obligations and the time and expense necessary to comply vs the cost of foreclosure under a note/deed/deed of trust.  I have run into attorneys out there looking for opportunities to sue sellers for failing to comply with the statutory obligations.  They appear to be executory contract trolls - for lack of a better term.  They can recover attorney's fees without proving any damages to the buyer- simply statutory violations on behalf of the seller. 

Actually, my personal solo401k is self directed under the trust arrangement as Michael and Dimitri discussed. I know how that works. My question is in regard to an account that is self directed but wherein the custodian is directed to act by the account owner.