All Forum Posts by: Nate Worcester

For comps in Houston, Austin, San Antonio and DFW, you can try out Propelio (www.propelio.com). They do a lot more than just comps including scanning for discounted active listings and compiling off-market lead lists. They also have a 7 day free trial so you can try it out and see what you think.

My wife is a small-time property manager (5 houses under management) in addition to managing our own rentals.

I don't know how it works for short-term rentals but in my area, you have to be a licensed real estate agent/broker in order to market yourself as a property manager. I'd definitely check the laws in your area regarding this point.

CYA: I'm not a laywer or a CPA.

I would certainly use an LLC for this venture but I wouldn't stop there: I would get adequate umbrella/liability insurance. Regardless of how you set up your company, if you get sued the plaintiff is going to find some way to sue you personally.

I agree with Chris that using an LLC taxed as an S-Corp does have advantages for flips but only if you end up doing several a year (enough for the FICA tax benefits to kick in).

Good luck!

Welcome welcome, Andy, from a fellow Dallas-ite. As many have said before me, BP is a great place to learn and there are a ton of fellow north texans on here!

I agree with Charles. If it's there on Monday morning when you get in, then I would probably let it slide.

Personally, if their income checks out and they have a verifiable rental history, I would rent to them. But i would get at least a double deposit.

I haven't done this personally but I assume that if your plan was to use hard money in the first place that you could always buy it with cash then get a hard money loan after with little to no seasoning.

I think J Scott spoke of this in another thread actually.

I've always thought that sub2 was a risky way to buy property. Every description I've read has the buyer posing as a property manager or some such and I never thought that skirting the truth in a situation like this was wise. I would hate to get a property rented out only to have the bank demand their money back. I'd love to hear some other experiences on this topic.

As for financing beyond 4, I think that it depends a lot on your strategy. My long term goals are to get into apartments in the next 5 years so I'm probably not going to hold onto any of my rentals more than 3 or 4 years. My ultimate goal is to find private investors willing to hold onto interest-only notes for 3-5 years but failing that, i will end up relying on blanket loans most likely.

I second that. Some states make it very easy for people suing you to 'pierce the corporate veil' and get at your personal assets anyway, regardless of how your company is set up. I know a guy who has a very complex structure for his LLC and he uses all of these "shady" tactics like false liens but I really think that all this does is help him sleep at night. I'd be very curious to see how all of this stands up in court.

Your best defense against a lawsuit is your management style and the choices you make as your business. In the event that you do get sued, I think insurance is much safer than any entity.

I second Adrian's post. It highly depends on how much capital you have and what your goals are.
I'm in this business for the long-term wealth but to get where I want to be will require a large amount of capital. Flipping can be a great way to raise money. I've never done one but I'm seriously considering it.