All Forum Posts by: Pete Harper

@Account Closed

Something is fishy about this account. I received a PM asking if I was interested in his deal. I responded to send me the details. I also noted his profile was blank and suggested he add more information so I could tell if he was legit. No response. Today I see the account is closed.

Anyone with a similar experience?

@Dawn Heimann

I would recommend you set up you LLC as a series LLC. I didn't and had to create a series LLC later as my portfolio grew. I still have the original LLC with two properties. All the new properties have gone into the Series. You have a great deal of flexibility with a series. You can keep it as a single series while you are small. As you add properties to your portfolio you can either put them In the original series or create a new series. At the advice of my attorney I have spun off a new series for each new property. Series - street name.

As others have mentioned there is extra bookkeeping overhead. I had to set up separate bank accounts for each series. It took some convincing but Wells Fargo has agreed to multiple accounts under the same EIN. Each account is labeled series-street name.

@Rajiv Bm You can’t go wrong with any of the Austin suburbs. The market is super hot. I have a friend who bid $35k over asking price in Round Rock and was still out bid. Be prepared to compete against multiple bidders.

@Courtney M.

For my first successful MF deal I represented myself. I found an off-market deal from the county tax records and contacted the seller directly. We did the negotiations by email and I wrote up the contract. I was familiar with the State MF contract from other properties that I was not able to close through a buyers agent. As others have mentioned it is often cleaner to cut out the middleman in negotiations. I had my attorney review everything for a nominal fee. We did a thorough pre purchase inspection. I used the inspection to negotiate a new roof, GFCI upgrades, and replaced defective appliances. I was able to get everything I asked for in negotiations. In this case I can’t see where a buyers agent would have helped. It may have hurt in this case with this seller who didn’t want to pay a commission.

@Cameron Davis Link didn’t post.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/bpinsights-march-2021?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%20%7C%2004/04/21

Texas scored four of the top-10 cities for rent growth. Houston #1, Dallas #3, Round Rock #7 and Killeen #10. I have property in Killeen and all of my properties fall within the triangle of Dallas-Austin-Houston. Interesting Round Rock made the list by itself as a close suburb of Austin.

I would agree rent appreciation in Killeen has been good. In two years we have been able to raise rents from $595 to $675 for a 2 bedroom 1.5 bath townhouse. We are forcing appreciation by renovations; new floors, great paint and updated fixtures. This year the market is strong enough we will shoot for $735. Killeen still has some catching up to do, a similar 2 bedroom unit in Bryan-College Station rents for $750.

What is everyone else seeing?

@Greg H. So the best I can do is be a PIA, cost him legal fees and ding his credit report. Too bad. Another option is to file a BBB complaint. This would warn other people to watch out.

@Greg H.

I realize the Texas Homestead laws are very strong. I can’t force the sale of his primary residence. I can however put a lien against his property clouding his title. This would force him to clear the lien should he decide to sell or refinance the property. It would also hurt his credit rating until the lien is resolved.

@Lynnette E.

He is licensed and insured but not bonded. Very uncommon to have a bond.

@Michael Garofalo

I spoke with my attorney. We can go after the contractor in court and get a judgment against him. The chances of recovering any money are low. We don’t think he has any assets to go after. I one of our discussions he said “go ahead and sue me, there is nothing left”. He offered this without me even mentioning legal action. The best I could do is a lien against his home. Texas has a strong homestead law I might get someone if he ever sells.