All Forum Posts by: Michael Pilarski

Scott Williamson Yes people have done it. There are good and bad points in doing it. I think we'd need a little more info to help you out. Instead of a loan why not do a self directed IRA and you can use all of it with no penalty? There are rules to doing it this way too otherwise you will incur penalties. Hopefully the really experienced ones will be along to answer your questions.

Joshua Dorkin This is an awesome question and would love to hear peoples thoughts on this. In addition I'd like to know who was the first person on their team? I'm still building a team but I have a CPA (1st on the team) and a lawyer (2nd on the team and refered by CPA).

Wayne Woodson I checked out your site and signed on for your current deals. I'm specifically looking for properties in Rutherford county, but I'm not opposed to other counties. How long have you been doing this and how is it working out for you so far? Do you belong to the Real Estate Investors of Nashville? I've been to a few of their meetings on various subjects, but haven't joined yet. I will be here in the next month or two. I do try and make out to the Rutherford County chapter of REIN meetings. Glad to meet you.

Gerald L.I was contemplating the same thing you are, but decided to not get either after reading on this site extensively. You have one very good thing going for you at the moment and that is cash. I would get involved with your local REI club and find out who the investor friendly agents are. You may even want to ask on this site since there are a few people on here in your area. I would also venture to say that taking the GC class does not necessarily make you a good contractor or able to make accurate quotes. I would call a few GC in the area and see if you could stop by one of the work siites or take them out for a beer and ask them some questions. This business is all about who you know and integrity. What type of real estate investing are you wanting to do? J Scott is an expert at flipping and rehabs in his area and has since started branching out to other areas. Ask him some things you'd like to know?

Bill West I'm going with Joel on this one. Very good advice. I do have a question though regarding financing, why would you tie your personal property to an invetment property when the investment property could be the collatoral with normal financing? Are you planning on taking out the HELOC just to purchase or purchase and rehab?

Jonathan Emery Listen to what Bill Gulley and Dion DePaoli are telling you. These two know their stuff inside and out. If I were you I would at least go look at the property so you can learn how to evaluate something like this if this is what you want to get into, but don't buy it. It sounds as if there needs to be some additional knowledge required before you jump into real estate. Have you researched the 2% and 50% rule for rentals? Have you evaluated what market rents are for the area and type of building this is? How long have the rentes been renting? If it turns out that this is on the up and up maybe you could pass this deal off to someone that has the cash to do this deal and collect a bird dog fee. Keep asking the questions, its the best way to learn this business and you're at a great place to learn.

Joshua Dorkin My line of thinking was maybe letting others in the neighborhood know to check their attics. If the company that originally replaced it and didn't cut the vents, I'd bet they did it to others in the neighborhood. I'm assuming the roof has been replaced at least once before you had to replace it being its a 57 year old home and usually the fly by night companies will go door to door and get several roofs to replace lined up so they can get in and get out before anyone relizes.

Joshua Dorkin At least its getting corrected now. Its a real shame it had to happen the way it did. I can't imagine how much more in electricty you've had to pay over that time. Joel Owens I fully agree about learning as much as you can. I just learned something from this thread. The only problem I see is the you don't know what you don't know, so there may be things that you need to check or should check but don't know to check them. That I guess comes down to doing your DD and making sure the ppeople you work with or that are working for you are trustworthy and up on their game. I wonder how many other houses may have been built around Joshua by these people and if anyone else has had a similar problem?

Joshua DorkinThat really sucks. I'm sorry to hear that happened to you. Is there any recourse you can take or are you just stuck with remedying what happened? When I bought my home and it was inspected, the inspector allowed me to follow him and ask questions and he explained anything he found. Granted at the time, I had no idea what to look for and may have missed something like in your situation. I hope this didn't cost you too much.

Bill West I'm still new at this myself, but if I were in your situation (assuming of course, you've done your due diligence regarding rentals in the area, value of the home compared to comps in the area, etc.) I would go with a conventional 30 yr. since your home is almost paid off. I would not use my main residence as collatoral. You could get a private lender to lend you the money for the purchase, once purchased, have an appraisal done to show the actual value of the house, then refinace with a conventional 30yr. loan to take out the proifts for other investing or as reserves if using it for a rental. Hopefully the really experienced guys will jump in here with their .02 and vast amount of knowledge.