All Forum Posts by: Joe Pitrolo

My accountant just sent me this link.
Apparently it does qualify, up to 10% of the purchase price for 09 purchases.
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=206291,00.htm

One of my buyers called and said their accountant says they qualify for first time homebuyers credit.
I sold the 3 br mobile home for 5k down and lease purchase financing 10k with another 2 k balloon, payments are 300 per month.
I would be willing to restructure the K to land contract if I can get 8K, but I didn't think mobile homes qualified ?
Any ideas. :D

I have a one bedroom apt. part of a house. I pay all utilities.
A middle aged guy on disability who draws roughly six times my rent, so I'm pretty sure affordability is not a problem.
Having just got burnt on this unit by not doing a criminal check, I told the guy, right before he tried to hand me cash for the depsoit, that I needed to check his references. Needless to say, his pastor of a huge church couldn't remember him and his criminal check showed several charges over a seven year period.
Almost all the charges ranging from worthless checks to burglarly, petit larceny, suspended license,assault, destruction of property,DUI, possession of controlled subtance, etc. have already been dismissed with the exception of the last two.
I went back and asked him about the charges and he had some reasonable explanations for at least half of the charges. One was breaking and entering into his own home that his in laws had recently moved out of. His daughter brought the deed to the court and the charges were dismissed. The controlled substace was under 15 mg and he says it was his prescrpts. Worthless checks- his daughter who is in prision now was on the acct. and wrote some bad checks. All the checks except one were eventually paid. His son said that they got in an argument several years ago and the police came by and charged his dad, but they dropped the charges.
This is a difficult apartment to rent being a basement apt and the guy really likes it. My inclination is that there is too much smoke and I should probably forget about it, but I am considering a month to month lease with a very strict agreement.
I also told the guy I wouldn't rule him out, but I had to further check his references, do an additional bg check, etc.
Another issue is that the place could use an extra two the three hundred to fix up and he is willing to move in as is.

I run free adds in a local Add bulletin and also Craigslist has been drawing in some decent calls.
I'm not as big on credit as I am proof of income, previous landlord, rental history, business references. These folks were great renters with SS income guaranteed. I was confident in their ability to pay and they really liked the trailer.

It always seems best if you can find a trailer already set up.
I have a trailer I put a down payment on to the mover and it has yet to be moved.
Finding good movers is difficult, but can be lucrative.
If you find a good park, you may be able to get several trailers in the same locale, making it easier market.
Does anyone have any advice or tips working with movers or buying homes that need moved vs. homes already set up.
Also, movers are a good source of finding trailers.

The 73 model came out great. I got a ton of calls. I had about 2,700 in it. I got 1k down and $300 month for 24 months.
I need to brush up on the tax consequences.

If you sell a mobile home on a note, let's say you have $3k in the property and you collect $1k down and a not for $6,500, sales price is $7.500, do you pay the complete sales tax immediately or wait till the note is paid off? If you pay the lot rent but charge the buyer, does this change anything as far as taxes?
If this is the case, should I transfer title with a lien or keep in trust until note is paid off?

Also, on a lease purchase, 5k down, 300 month for 3 years with 2k balloon, all goes towards purchase price of 16,500, interest rate is 12. My accountant says this should be taxed like rental property? Does the option amount get taxed differently?

I'm just getting started, but collect $450 a month of which $300 is the loan payment/taxes and insurance and $150 is lot rent, which I pay to make sure the park owner is happy.
I also have a lease purchase option where the lessee pays the park directly. I've notified the Park owner to inform me if there is a problem.

It would depend on the layout of the property.
I converted my house to a triplex and the rent is a lot more than if it were a SFH, but there a lot more costs involved. Feasibility would depend on construction costs, amount of time to recover investment, layout of the property. If you have to rearrange or add plumbing or electrical, that is expensive.
Another idea is using your existing land to add a new construction duplex or 1 bedroom apts. I put a mobile home on a piece of rental property I own, but so far that has turned out to be more expensive than I planned.

Jeff, just read an article on the most common trait of billionaires, (I skimmed) - being a math wizard, good with numbers was at the top.
I assume mathematicians don't get too emotional. Another one was techno geeks who dropped out of college to form an Tech IPO- i.e. Gates.
If you look at your values, that is what you will invest in the most. How you invest, or your plan, should be analytical and also passionate. If you take an inventory of your time, that might tell you where your values are if your not sure. (ouch)