All Forum Posts by: Martin Robertson

 The ability to meet face-to-face matters to me since I will not only be submitting paperwork but getting professional advice. You can cover more ground in less time in person than via email.

Looking for a CPA in Alexandria, VA who is experienced in real estate investing and active-duty military tax situations.

I believe that I do have to disclose that I am licensed but am not aware of any other special requirements or restrictions.

Virginia real estate investors - are there any concerns that one should be aware of if pursuing real estate investing using a LLC and obtaining a Real Estate Salesperson license (the goal being to eventually license as a broker)? We want to, at least initially manage our own properties. Thanks!

Thank you for the great responses. 

Some interesting nuggets in the VA code:

"§ 54.1-2103. Exemptions from chapter.

A. The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to:

1. Any person, partnership, association, corporation, entity, or their regular employees, who as owner or lessor perform any of the acts enumerated in §§ and with reference to property owned or leased by them, where the acts are performed in the regular course of or incident to the management of the property and the investment therein."

Well, that seems open to interpretation. A person can lease their own property out as can a corporation without having a brokers license. It is unclear how/if this exception applies if the owner of the LLC, who also owns the property can use the LLC as the manager. Definitely a conversation with an attorney is in order. I might have wasted money forming that LLC...

Another section of interest seems to work against real estate investors who want to lease their own properties from getting a real estate license in Virginia because the investor would have to be under the supervision of a broker while they are a licensed salesperson (at least three years) despite owning the property (if I am reading this correctly):

"D. A licensee of the Board shall comply with the Board's regulations, notwithstanding the fact that the licensee would be otherwise exempt from licensure under subsection A."

This is tricky!

We recently set up a LLC, but do not have any properties within it yet. We own two single-family homes and are buying a triplex (conventional mortgage with 20% down) in a few weeks.

Do we have to deed the homes in the name of the LLC to lease them out using the LLC?

@Shawn Bowen yes, sounds good. I will reach out this weekend.

Hello Bigger Pockets!

My name is Martin Robertson. My wife Aradia and I are a few years out from retiring from the military and have decided to get involved with real estate investing. We have rental properties in Norfolk and Jacksonville, which were homes we previously lived in. We are currently stationed in Alexandria, VA; but are focusing our search for new multi-family opportunities in the Norfolk area, as we are familiar with the community and plan to return there. Our biggest challenge is moving away from traditional lending means as we do not want to wait to accumulate 20-25% down payments in savings before buying multi-family properties. If anyone has figured out how to finance their buy and hold rentals on long-term financing, would love to hear about that! We are also getting started on the LLC process and trying to get that all figured out. As for us, we have bought and sold many homes over the course of time in the military and have good community knowledge. We are also working on our Virginia real estate licenses and hope to be a resource to help fellow community members.

Cheers,

Marty

Thank you very much for the replies. We took your advice and purchased the online version of the Plus software!

Hello,

We are looking for the correct type of QuickBooks software to use as the website has several different version. Is anyone using QuickBooks to manage their properties and if so which level of software do you use?

Thanks!

Marty