All Forum Posts by: Nicole Garner

I'm not an attorney, don't know your state laws and do not suggest that this is legal advice.

If the tenants want to pay a full year of rent in advance, I would suggest requiring that they renew a 1 year lease before accepting payment.  This would prevent them from vacating the property prior to the end of the prepaid rent term and the tenant requesting a refund of rent they would claim would be "unused".  Again, I am not familiar with what your state laws allow; but I would not leave them on month-to-month to terms and accept rent for a full year.  It does leave you open to rent repayment liabilities. 

When in doubt, find a good real estate attorney and schedule a consultation.

Originally posted by @Kerry Baird:

My thoughts, out the gate: If you don't have a Realtor who is experienced with investors, you may have the wrong person. Have you joined a local BP Meetup or REIA? Or even a CashFlow group? These places will have Realtors who can guide you through the type of property that works well for investors. You need to know what that first deal looks like...even a fellow rehabber. I'm assuming when you say "flip" you mean a fix-and-flip, not a wholesale deal.

Instead of going the auction route, I would pick a few neighborhoods that you intend to buy in, and begin to do direct mail marketing.  Search the threads for these terms.  Most of my deals have come through direct mail.

 I completely agree with Kerry.  If you are brand new to investing, it is worth the time and money to work with a realtor that can help you and explain the potential benefits to different property types.  The key is to find a realtor that is experienced in working with investors because they will have a different level of expertise and knowledge than those agents that simply cater to retail buyers.  Meet with potential realtors and question them on their experience.  It is important to (1) find someone that you have confidence in their knowledge, (2) can work well with their personality and working style, and (3) that you can trust.  If you don't trust the person that you are considering working with, then keep looking.  Best of luck!

I have started working more with investors by locating wholesale deals before they start to show up on the millions of wholesale lists.  Needless to say, catching these deals before they get distributed requires quick reaction by an investor.  My question is this:

How much time should I allow an investor to make a decision once a deal has been presented?  

When I present a deal, I provide property details, market information and comps.  I don't want to push my buyers but at the same time, I don't want to jeopardize the connections I have that send me the deals.  

Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated.

You should be able to delay foreclosure with an executed contract and earnest money held by the title company. Call the mortgage holder and ask what their policy allows. Secondly, I have an amazing title company here in Houston that can do super fast title work and closes. Message me and I will send you their contact information if you're interested. Best of luck!

I'm so sorry to hear about all of the challenges. Not to sound cliché, but onward and upward sir! This is a great community to learn and network. Best of luck going forward!

Welcome to Bigger Pockets, Marcus McDowell ! This is a great place to network and learn. Dig in, read up and best of luck in beginning a new adventure!

Originally posted by @Josselyne Lugo:

Originally posted by @Nicole Garner:

Josselyne Lugo I don't know of a way to structure this deal with owner finance. As it was already pointed out, in this transaction it appears that you are acting as an unlicensed agent. Be very careful because there are legal ramifications for this violation that could be very costly. Texas laws are very clear in defining the scope of actions allowable by non-licensed professionals.

I set up the owner finance under my name and later assigned it to the end buyer for a fee as any other wholesale transaction. Is this still in violation of the law even if the home was owned free and clear? I would not like to be associated in this kind of wholesale deals if that is the case.

The deal definitely gets convoluted with the assignment of an "owner finance" in exchange for the receipt of a fee. I'm not a real estate attorney, nor am I attempting to give legal advice. I will say that the Texas Real Estate Commission takes violations of this nature very seriously; penalties include fines and possible jail time. In short, unlicensed individuals cannot receive a fee for "referral" or helping someone to buy a property. I found this post from REI that helps to explain it better.

http://www.reiclub.com/forums/index.php?topic=2655...

The safest way to continue moving properties is to (1) obtain a real estate license, or (2) partner with an investor friendly agent in your area.  

My most surprising Christmas gift this year was a lay-off from my full-time job. It was completely unexpected. I was previously doing RE part-time as well as managing our private investments. When I was notified of the lay-off last week... My husband was overjoyed! We were blessed with a decent severance package and I am now blessed to follow my passion and do real estate full time. I'm so excited for what 2016 will bring!!

It's my understanding that Realtor.com gets the majority of its listing from MLS but is not real time accurate with regards to property updates. It's possible that the website simply had not processed the newest updates.

Obtaining your license is a valuable learning tool for an investor but it does open you up to additional liabilities. As an agent/investor, you are held to higher standards with regards to disclosures. Additionally, you have to be very cautious in how you represent yourself to others in a deal. I am licensed and actively invest and flip properties. Some would say that I am overly cautious in my approach to deals, but I always air on the side of caution to make sure that nobody has the ability to question my ethics. My suggestion, if you are new to investing, find an investor friendly agent that you can trust, and start there. I'm located in the Cypress area and would be happy to chat sometime if you would like.