All Forum Posts by: Tom Goans

Please Seek Legal Professional Advice

Legally, legal advice can only be provided by a licensed attorney in the state where the property is located. You should only consider legal advice that is provided by an attorney you hire. Any other legal advice is ILLEGAL and may be very incorrect.

Seeking advice from an attorney in the area where the property is located can be a wise and very economical decision considering the alternative. An attorney will assure you are abiding by the federal and state laws. Every state has unique laws. The attorney will also provide the best advice and options for your specific needs with a consideration for your future. The results will be legally drawn up agreements for your use.

It is also wise to seek advice from a licensed professional tax and financial planner to make sure the agreement structure best fits your present status, strategy, and future plans - including building an estate. It is one thing to make money; it is a completely different strategy to building wealth.

Legal advice from an attorney and a financial planner you hire will be the cheapest and wisest investment you will ever make.

Moreover, every investment, partnership, and individual is unique. There is no one correct answer. There are numerous options that must be considered and many costly mistakes that need to be avoided. Dissolution is one many forget. Death, incapacitation, spouses, and children are others.

And, yes, you will disagree on the smallest issues. The courts are full of such lawsuits.

Seeking professional advice from licensed professionals can be an extremely wise and very economical decision considering the alternatives.

May your future be full of great success.

I would highly recommend you introduce yourself to the person(s) who are making it possible for you to be successful. Tenants are the ones going to work to pay you. It is great public relations to become familiar with them and them with you.

You may find payments are more timely if you take the time.

@John H.,

It is sad your motivation is to make “big bucks” from other’s tragedy and from the taxpayers’ hard-earned money.

Legally, legal advice can only be provided by a licensed attorney in the state where the property is located. You should only consider legal advice that is provided by an attorney you hire. Any other legal advice is ILLEGAL and may be very incorrect.

@Eric M.,

Legally, legal advice can only be provided by a licensed attorney in the state where the property is located. You should only consider legal advice that is provided by an attorney you hire. Any other legal advice is ILLEGAL and may be very incorrect.

Look Beyond Your Nose

When I got out of high school, I went to work for a construction company driving an extremely large belly-dump at an earth dam project for a new lake.

Once a week there was a mandatory safety meeting. During each weekly meeting, several times we were reminded to drive beyond our nose. The supervisor would explain the larger the heavy equipment, the more dangerous. They can be deathtraps. It takes longer to regain control or stop larger equipment.

Thus, look way beyond and plan for trouble and what to do.

The same can be said for life and investing, especially real estate investing.

Many are now concerned about interest rates rising to 5 percent or more.

• What if they rise to 10 percent? Can you survive?
• What about your investment strategy?
• What about your ability to rent or sell your property(s)?
• Can you adapt? Or, is your business model setup in such a way you cannot adapt.

I have stated it is my opinion that a seasoned investor is one who has more than 30 years of experience. One reason is a person with this many years or more has experienced and learned how to survive the ups and downs of the real estate market.

• Ignore the fact that there are major real estate market swings and you may become a casualty.
• Do not plan for major market swings and you may become a casualty.

Each real estate market swing is different and teaches new critical lessons. I experienced one major depressed market during the President Carter days when the interest rates rose to 21 percent and stayed there for what seem like an eternity.

21 percent interest rates - could you survive this? Will your investment strategy survive this? What would you do if this or something similar happened?

Drive beyond your nose. Consider the possibilities and incorporate them into your business plan. Expect the what-ifs - they will occur. Challenges will influence your investment strategy and ability to survive no matter how prepared you think you are and no matter how good the numbers appear to be at this moment.

Your comments and thoughts are welcomed. This is how we all learn and expand our skills.

@Sreenath Vemulapalli,

Nearly all lawyers are investor friendly ... if you have cash on hand.

Ok, more seriously, Jason has an excellent question. There are numerous highly qualified real estate attorneys. The better ones for you may be those who focus their expertise in the area that includes what you are doing.

The real estate business is very complex with many segments. If there are real estate title companies or real estate closing companies in your area, you may consider calling around to see who they see representing clients most often and who have the happiest clients.

Consider the old fashion, yet extremely successful way; walk the neighborhood and meet the people. This is the primary source for the best and most successful listing real estate agents.

Top producers do what others are unwilling to do.

@Sam Jackson,

It is great you have good intentions to help these people.

However, this may be a situation where you could do more harm than good. It may be wise to encourage the family members to seek professional help from licensed individuals.

By you becoming involved, you may be putting yourself in a liability position. You also may be unintentionally misguiding the family members.

You may want to step away and let professionals, such as lawyers, take care of this family's legal business matters.

@Sean Gibson ,

So let me see if I understand this correctly, taxpayers are paying you while you are conducting personal research on a daily basis and using official police authority and equipment paid for by taxpayers.

Is there not one person left out there with morals or ethics?