All Forum Posts by: Patrick Crehan

Thanks everyone!

So me and my friend have been investing in real estate for a few years now. We have been in the talks about starting a property management company. 

I have my real estate license but have read that you will need a brokerage license to own a property management company or work under a brokerage. I want this company to be in my name (LLC) I want to hire my own contractors, accountant, etc. but don't know the stipulations with brokers and how much a broker really gets involved in your business. For example, does the brokerage have to own the company? Can they just have a small share in it? Are their certain broker holding companies that deal with these types of situations?

I was just curious about this because my friend's dad owns a property management company but I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a broker's license (eventually me and my friend will sit down with his dad and pick his brain on this). 

Also, another thing I want to add is that my friend who would be my partner in this does not have a real estate license. What is he legally allowed to do in the company if we were able to successfully bring it to reality? 

Thanks guys!

From Cincinnati OH 

So I applied for a HELOC and the lender did a hybrid appraisal. I guess using market data plus outside photos to gauge the appropriate value of my house. When I got the appraisal back I noticed a few things that were off. (Noted: I have had a few appraisals done for my properties in the past for refinancing, other HELOC, purchases, etc. and this one seemed really off)

The first thing I noticed was that the comps of the sold properties were anywhere from 3.5 months old to the oldest one being almost 1 year old sold in November 2022. I remember when getting my real estate license I learned that typically comps shouldn't be older than a month or so, on special circumstances, 6 months max.

Another thing I noticed was that there was no finished basement square footage included (which makes sense because the appraiser did not go inside the property).

Last thing I noticed is that the appraiser took an average of almost 8% off the property values that she used as comps. One being 14% ($-33,000) on a house that was sold in November of 2022.

I am attaching the report on this forum to see if anyone agrees with what I am seeing here. The loan processor states that if I do not agree with the hybrid appraisal that I can spend $580 to get an actual appraisal but I believe it would be referred out by them and I can't risk another, what seems to be, fixed appraisal in the lender's favor.

Anyways, long story short, the lender is offering me half of the loan amount that we initially agreed on because of this report. If they are going to go off of this, then I am considering abandoning them.

Attached is the report. Let me know what you guys think.

So I applied for a HELOC and the lender did a hybrid appraisal. I guess using market data plus outside photos to gauge the appropriate value of my house. When I got the appraisal back I noticed a few things that were off. (Noted: I have had a few appraisals done for my properties in the past for refinancing, other HELOC, purchases, etc. and this one seemed really off)

The first thing I noticed was that the comps of the sold properties were anywhere from 3.5 months old to the oldest one being almost 1 year old sold in November 2022. I remember when getting my real estate license I learned that typically comps shouldn't be older than a month or so, on special circumstances, 6 months max.

Another thing I noticed was that there was no finished basement square footage included (which makes sense because the appraiser did not go inside the property).

Last thing I noticed is that the appraiser took an average of almost 8% off the property values that she used as comps. One being 14% ($-33,000) on a house that was sold in November of 2022. 

I am attaching the report on this forum to see if anyone agrees with what I am seeing here. The loan processor states that if I do not agree with the hybrid appraisal that I can spend $580 to get an actual appraisal but I believe it would be referred out by them and I can't risk another, what seems to be,  fixed appraisal in the lender's favor. 

Anyways, long story short, the lender is offering me half of the loan amount that we initially agreed on because of this report. If they are going to go off of this, then I am considering abandoning them. 

Attached is the report. Let me know what you guys think. 

Drive around neighborhoods. See which ones are bound to come up in near future. Maybe you see some condos coming up or breweries. Go where the neighborhoods are becoming "hip" Don't focus solely on cash flow but also equity growth and type of people you are willing to handle at your property. 

Also, be patient. Find a property that just needs sweat equity and for a good price. May look outdated and uglier than hell but is that something you can fix mostly yourself? If so, I would hop on that one. Sometimes it takes months or a year to find the perfect property. Don't rush your first ones, as these could be the ones that grow quickly in equity and give you better returns and financing options like HELOCS to fund your next properties without using your own cash. Good luck!

If i go with friends, family etc. bigger space matters. I always rent a studio when it comes to places on the beach or in the city with my fiance. We are always out enjoying our surroundings. I have a motto that if you are going to a place like the beach then a majority of time should be spent outside. So our rental shouldn't matter as long is there is a bed and bathroom (and maybe a balcony lol) 

I just threw down 5% on my second property and lived in it. I also got a heloc on both of my single families and planning on buying my third with that 

So you found one person that, by the sounds of it shouldn't really be on section 8 housing, and section 8 housing is a wonderful system that gets a bad rep? I would try to rent to like 500 section 8ers and see if your opinion changes. 

short background. I am about to start looking to buy a second rental property here hopefully in the next coming months. But also, I will be moving out of my house around the same time and turning that into a rental. In total, once I move out I will own 3 single-family rentals. I believe I can manage these myself but just curious, what was the breaking limit on properties for all those self-managers out there? 

I pay for a service with my local heating and cooling people to come out annually and tune up the AC and furnace. It costs me 180 dollars a year total for both units combined. And I just have my tenants schedule with them at their own convenience. If the filter needs replaced, they replace it. If there is something wrong with the unit then I am alerted. I will pay 180 dollars annually for peace of mind.