All Forum Posts by: Mike Flora

As stated above there will be changes in how housing will be mixed into urban type living. They call it SURBAN areas. A lot of cities started the trend of having all the shops/retail/restaurants etc etc all within walking distance of where you live. Like downtown San Diego, Irvine Spectrum center and many more. They are taking large lots in the suburb areas and starting to build more like this. We have one starting here in menifee shortly. READ THE BOOK “BIG SHIFTS AHEAD” BY JOHN BURNS. I️ read it in a day, great book and goes into this subject and has tons of data on where this country has been and going.

Do both! Put some marketing money aside for a mailing campaign/internet marketing and start finding deals. We use our flip money to pick up rentals. You will reach your goals faster if you do both. This is an expensive business and like me you have a full time job so we don’t fully rely on cash flow at the moment. Use the flip money to pick up rentals.

Is the property owned free and clear?? That could change a lot of things and it definitely should be a purchase so title transfers into your name with that much work needed to be done. Also think about how long it will take you to get that 30K back in renting the property. I just did a seller finance deal with a guy with principal only payments of a $1000 a month to him and balloon payment of remaining balance due in 12 months. Saved a lot on no points/fees/interest only payments and the apx 30K profit from this house I will have ready for a possible rental with not as many repairs. Don’t know your whole scenario and of course more variables involved but definitely should be a purchase where title transfers. Seller finance deals are way better than bank loans in my opinion.

Calll and ask a local appraiser how he would appraise the home and describe your situation. I have asked this question and most appraisers will help you.

Call some appraisers in your area, tell them your situation and how they would appraise the property. They can give you some guidance on how it would be appraised if pending sale.

Look up Flat fee listing companies. I sell all my flips myself and save a lot of money. A broker takes a flat fee, I pay $160, and he puts up pictures and all listing information you provide him on the MLS. Then Zillow, Realtor.com etc etc pull that information and put it on there site. All the paperwork etc etc is your responsibility but it’s very easy! WE ALWAYS GIVE BUYERS AGENT 2.5%. I suggest you do this or your gonna have problems selling.

I agree with what Aaron Mazzrillo stated about not having enough money to get started in California. We started with about 5K between me and my business partner, we are both medic/firefighters still and we continued to open door after door for opportunities. Budgeted marketing and worked deals for months and slowly chipped away saving all that money to put into more marketing to find more GOOD deals. All the while finding good private lenders and putting portfolios together to show family members our deals and now they lend money as well. Now we wholesale, fix and flip and buy rentals and most of this is leveraged money. The thing I would change if I could go back would be to take even more action and network much better. Now my next problem is my Contractor issues, but on the tail end of getting that better and becoming even better at this game for it.

We have worked out something with our contractor that has been good and bad. We screwed up on our end thinking that we are rolling and we can front some money to him.......VERY BAD IDEA! He does good work, great prices and is knowledgeable, but cannot plan things well at all. We have worked out with him that we measure and order all large ordered materials first thing so it’s all there ready to go and then he gets paid as the work gets done. Faster you work the faster you get paid and we give bonus deadlines to him now where he gets a bonus if project is done before deadline. And always make last payment after all work is done. If he screws up you have all materials ready to go for the next guy in line to pick up where he left off. There is no real solution and each contractor is different but this way works best with our guy since he is so unorganized and bad with money we give him to get parts and labor figured out with his workers. AND ONLY 1-2 HOUSES AT A TIME HE GETS.

My CPA mentioned to me that if you take title to the property before she passes you will lose your step up basis. If property is in a trust and she passes and property goes to you then step up basis is in affect. Whatever else you want to put in the trust/will with how the property should be handled in the mean time is up to you and her. I’m not a CPA and I’m sure there is more to what I’m telling you so look into this, but I do remember my CPA telling me that transferring property into a family members name before death wiped out the step up basis benefits. Double check it.

I don’t have a problem right now, have had some in the past and learned how to fix the issue, just would like to have more knowledge. I find it beneficial sharing knowledge with sellers on deals I’m working out with them. I agree that most of the things I will learn is by fixing these problems after title points out the issue. Hard to find books on your typical title issues on SFR’s and there solutions.