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All Forum Posts by: Lawrence Ratliff

Lawrence Ratliff has started 9 posts and replied 32 times.

Post: Affordable Investment properties Buy & Hold near San Diego, CA

Lawrence RatliffPosted
  • Investor
  • Otay Ranch-Chula Vista, CA
  • Posts 32
  • Votes 41

@Denny Moody One Word: Texas...low prices high rents!

Post: New member from Southern California (LA and OC)

Lawrence RatliffPosted
  • Investor
  • Otay Ranch-Chula Vista, CA
  • Posts 32
  • Votes 41

@Jack Medford Welcome!!! What is your degree in? If its in business you may want to consider working for a Real Estate Investment company, there are many in OC. I have a finance degree and the good thing it did for me was get me a finance job doing Real Estate Evaluation, go figure they trained me to evaluate Real Estate, so naturally I started evaluating properties for myself and used the W-2 income from that job to finance rental properties in Dallas. I still have a full time corporate job, I am also a residential real estate agent, and a dad, husband etc. so putting rental properties on cruise control with a good property management company works well for me. The key is you need REI knowledge and ways to finance properties which the right full time job can give you both. I know there a hundred creative financing ways in Real Estate, but I like the traditional 20% down, 15 year mortgage, and let the renters pay the rest model. It's very repeatable. Flipping pays the bills, rental properties pay you forever! Decide what is best for you, and it may be a combination of both...Good Luck and have fun!

Post: Do I need a PM for an out of state 4-plex?

Lawrence RatliffPosted
  • Investor
  • Otay Ranch-Chula Vista, CA
  • Posts 32
  • Votes 41

Absolutely! Maintenance on the property is the least of your worries. It's the tenants you need to worry about. Marketing to new tenants and pre-screening them, showing all the window shoppers the property etc. and the legal issues, how to evict properly, your rights as a land lord, their rights as a tenant...every state is different. Property Management companies help alleviate these issues. You won't have to pay much for good property management and your quality of life will be much better. Also, a good PM company pays for themselves, getting top dollar renters in quickly with widespread marketing, collecting late fees, pre-screening, and doing tons of busy foot work you would have to do yourself, your time is much better spent adding value to your investing than doing admin PM stuff a good PM company can do for you, for little money.

Post: Best way to figure out rental comps in my area

Lawrence RatliffPosted
  • Investor
  • Otay Ranch-Chula Vista, CA
  • Posts 32
  • Votes 41

@Michele Fischer I agree, aggregate nationwide website data scares me!

Post: Best way to figure out rental comps in my area

Lawrence RatliffPosted
  • Investor
  • Otay Ranch-Chula Vista, CA
  • Posts 32
  • Votes 41

Google a couple property managers in the area, and ask them how much they would anticipate the rent would go for. I have started buying rentals in Dallas (I live in San Diego) each time I am preparing to buy a property and I have my shortlist of properties, I send it to two local property managers and they provide me expected rentals rates. They do it in a heartbeat hoping to be my property manager one day. Whether you hire them or not they are a good resource and serve a great purpose for investors, particularly out of state investors such as myself.

Post: Termite clearance provided but section 1 issues found

Lawrence RatliffPosted
  • Investor
  • Otay Ranch-Chula Vista, CA
  • Posts 32
  • Votes 41

I am a licensed agent and many if not all the transactions I have completed have termites. Termite repairs can takes hours or days at the most to repair, if I was your agent I would recommend you demand they are completed prior to closing (your mortgage company may also require it). It is much easier to get people to do things while still in escrow, and who cares if escrow takes a couple days or so. Unless the purchase agreement has something manually written into that you have to pay for delaying escrow, and even then you still have a case to not have to pay. DO NOT let others try and push you through an escrow, it is for a reason so EVERYTHING is completed during that period. Remind your agent their sole job is to protect you in the transaction and having you close escrow without completed repairs is not protecting you. This is the time to be difficult if need be, trust me the seller will not cancel the because of this (if they do, they are required to disclose to the new buyer the termites and they are in the same boat.) I have had escrowed delayed for weeks, to be sure all parties are protected; escrow, agents, and lenders don't like it but who cares, you need to be protected.

Post: LLC

Lawrence RatliffPosted
  • Investor
  • Otay Ranch-Chula Vista, CA
  • Posts 32
  • Votes 41

Compared to how much everything in true Real Estate investing costs, an LLC is not "expensive." Create one from the start, understand how it works and how it can benefit you, and run your Real Estate Investments like a business and you'll be better for it. BTW you still need the umbrella policy as well. Relatively speaking neither are expensive, but the protection they can offer may be priceless.

Post: LLC vs TRUST vs Umbrella.....?????

Lawrence RatliffPosted
  • Investor
  • Otay Ranch-Chula Vista, CA
  • Posts 32
  • Votes 41

I am not a lawyer but here is what I learned through asking the same types of questions. I am married with 2 younger kids, and have some assets, 2 large 401(k)s, savings, a few houses, etc. When looking at the bigger picture a living trust protects all your assets in the event me or my wife or both die, or become incapacitated because the assets are in the trust's name and the trust executor then ensures the assets are managed/passed as we wish. However they do not protect the assets if sued. That's where the LLC and Insurance comes in. If assets are held in an LLC and the LLC is sued then they can typically just go after those assets. Lastly the umbrella policy offers liability protection for you personally to protect you and your assets. In case I am in a car accident and I accidentally kill somebody the umbrella policy offers coverage. I have all three, Irrevocable Living Trust, an LLC, and an umbrella policy, they protect me in different ways. The LLC protects my from lawsuits as a landlord, the umbrella policy insures me personally, and if anything happens my wife or kids will automatically get my assets (living trust). It's not cheap but certainly worth it, when compared to how much I spend on other things as a Dad, Husband and Real Estate Investor. One doesn't replace the other.

Post: Dallas SFR long term rentals

Lawrence RatliffPosted
  • Investor
  • Otay Ranch-Chula Vista, CA
  • Posts 32
  • Votes 41

Thank you everybody for the input. I found a house and I am scheduled to close next week. With your comments I was prepared for the two big items roof and foundation, and made sure they were inspected properly. The roof is in good condition and what my agent and inspector called "insurable" condition and the house needed about 10 beams adjusted, it is a pier and beam house. I negotiated the repairs and I am good to go. Thank you all.

Post: Dallas SFR long term rentals

Lawrence RatliffPosted
  • Investor
  • Otay Ranch-Chula Vista, CA
  • Posts 32
  • Votes 41

Hello BP,

I live in San Diego and will be buying SFRs in Dallas for rental/long term income. I am trying to compile a list of everything within reason I should be prepared for when buying a SFR in Texas, Dallas specifically, that I plan to rent. For example what types of insurance should I buy? Just general homeowners or did I need fire, tornado, etc? I understand taxes are higher in Texas, any other fees other than general property taxes? I am planning on avoiding HOAs.

I am a licensed Real Estate agent in CA and do many transactions a year so I am familiar with Real Estate, just want feedback from the group for items that I should taken into consideration before I buy my first property.

Thank you very much in advance.