All Forum Posts by: Julian Diaz

The idea of using an RV as an Airbnb is very attractive to me. I spend 3-4 days away from home at a time. The city will remain constant for a year or so before I get moved again. A mobile investment would be perfect, but is it actually working for anyone? What considerations are different from Airbnb of a townhome?

We started off only charging $40 for a 1100 sq ft 2/2 townhome. That kept the price low and once we hit super host status we bumped it up to $60. We didn’t notice a difference in our bookings with the increased cleaning fee. Enterprise, AL

Interested in a new build duplex to 4-plex in Colorado. I want to live in one unit and rent out the others so the more units the better. Question to the forum is what creative financing has worked for this sort of thing and what pitfalls have you encountered with new build contractors?

@Jeff Filali Have you had to make a claim with REIGuard? If so what was your experience?

Good points. I don't see that the specific location matters to the thought exercise because then I'll get everyone's biased views of that market. It is a market I am familiar with having lived there previously twice for a total of 3 years. I'm also a licensed agent in that state.

So you know your moving your family of four in six months to an inflated market.  We all know the bubble will burst, question is when? Do you rent and move again when the time is right? Do you build new? Do you buy and ride out the market but keep your family stable and settled?  The not moving again is a biggie for us this will be move number 17 and as a civilian finally the stability option carries some weight.

So I'll give the unpopular, but much needed aspect of this conversation.  You said it earlier when you said " my money, well ours legally".  This is an extremely dangerous way to build a business.  We say all the time to treat your Real Estate deals as a business, then why would you build something up and give one person the big red button to nuke it whenever they feel like it.  Ultimately the judges in this wonderful country get the choice to do as they please when it comes to divorces, but you can take measures to protect yourself. 

My suggestions after learning the hard way.  Establish a corporation with anonymity in WY or NV.  (I recommend Anderson Law Firm for this).  Establish a bank account in that state and pay yourself a salary from your corporation listing yourself as Pres and 100% shareholder.  If your wife works with you then have the corporation hire her on a W-2 salary.  Be very careful not to commingle money from personal to corporate accounts.  

This doesn't have to be offensive or mean to your spouse.  There are a lot of other benefits to this such as taxes, protection from law suit, title issues, numbers tracking etc.  The worst thing anyone can do in life and business is to assume the statistics don't apply to them and they are somehow exempt.  Best of luck!

I found an interesting 3-plex that is requiring cash or owner carry.  The owner carry options is interest only for a year with 25% down.  My questions is how does this normally end after a year?  Is there any contract verbiage you use to protect the buyer?

I understand everything is negotiable but after a year will the banks see this as a refi? Or will I be required to put down the full amount in cash? I've looked at HML but don't think it will be better than the owner carry option in the long run with a traditional bank refi. Any experiences with these situations?

Julian Diaz

If you are overseas on military orders and the property is in your home of record I don't think you would have any problems. If you are afraid of legal issues I would not rent out the unit you call your residence for that time period. Perhaps the lender can shed light on military clauses for you.

I would contact the children if you have the information.  Just make sure you have a good idea, or better yet a script to follow so that you don't stammer on the phone.  Otherwise what you can try is simply knocking on the neighbors doors and asking them what they know about it.  Usually they want to see it sold and cleaned up and are eager to help.  This might have saved you some of that leg work but good job on tracking it down.