All Forum Posts by: Michael Badin

@Justin Westmoreland

Are you a licensed realtor?  If not you can't get the commission split that Brian is talking about.  The realtor can only split their commission with another realtor.  With that said, I was starting to look into this myself.  It does not appear to difficult to get your license, you can take the course online then take the exam.  I believe you need to get a broker to sponsor you as well to get you license.  I haven't finished my research yet but I also haven't started my mailing yet either.  If you have active leads coming in I would jump on it if I were you.

It all depends on how you own your rental property. If you own your rental in your own name then yes, get insurance through a company for both your personal residence and rental property. Find one that will allow you to "stack" your liability coverage. This means your liability coverage for your personal property will also cover your rental and vise versa. (Like an umbrella) I also recommend an additional umbrella policy on top of that if the property is in your own name. I go heavy on insurance for peace of mind. If your property is in the name of an LLC or other entity then you will likely not be able to connect the policies as described above.

It could get pretty expensive to do.  You could just try splitting the costs between the units like some larger apartment complexes do.  Look into "RUBS" which is an acronym for “ratio utility billing system.” It’s a system by which an owner of a master-metered building estimates each unit’s utility cost by factors such as square footage, number of tenants per unit, or other factors, and passes on the utility cost to individual units accordingly.  Then you save the money and headache of having to get everything re-piped.  I have not done this myself but many other investors on here have.  I believe your utility company should be able to help you set it up.

Look up Alan Cowgill, he has a course on private money.  Also look up valuehoundacademy.com  Both good resources.  I am also educating myself in this area right now.  Good luck!

@Chase Gochnauer

I am also educating myself in this area right now.  I have just purchased a course by Alan Cowgill.  I just received it today so I have not started it yet but I have heard good things.  Look it up.  You should also check out ValuehoundAcademy.com  They have some good info, some of which is free.  They also have a mentoring program.  I have not joined that program but have heard good things about it as well.

@Oleg Shalumov

You said you are putting $230,000 down.  Then as an explanation as to why you said the owner was asking/ insisting on 20% down.  With a sales price of of $470,000 your numbers are not adding up.  20% would be $94,000.  $230,000 is 48.9%.

What about storage units.  The field seems out of the way.  I don't know what the competition would be for storage in Glen Mills (Assuming that is where the property is) but if you could put a small access road to the area it looks like there is plenty of room to place a good number of storage units.  There is good tree coverage so they would not be an eye sore to your tenants and could be an asset to them.  They could be a good investment as well, they are relatively inexpensive based on the return.  Might be worth looking into.  Units are basically plug and play.  There are several companies that do it, here is one. http://www.trachte.com/products/micro-units/  This would likely only be a good option if you have a good amount of tenants that could use storage space so I would recommend some sort of survey, even if you had your management company do a door to door survey, not just simply a mailer (since you didn't seem to get a good response from that).  

@David Hansen

Yes, I have them for both my personal property and my rental properties.  

@Account Closed

Setting up an LLC is very quick and easy. It does not take long. Get the deal locked up, set up your LLC and then assign the deal to your LLC before your close. Good Luck!

@Account Closed

Yes, If you find a deal you can always get it locked up first in your personal name. Then setup the llc and assign the deal to the LLC that you setup before you close. That way you close with the LLC. If you do it after the fact you have to pay to transfer the title. Depending on your local costs that can be a few thousand bucks.