All Forum Posts by: Peter Mckernan

Hey @Connor Bell

I would chat with a lawyer to confirm the decision, since I do not know if it is a good move to place your primary in an LLC. I know many people put their primary within a trust and that is not an issue (I know that this is different than entity perfection that an LLC gives you). I do not see that it is a big issue to having a primary within an LLC. That's just me though and not a lawyer talking. Maybe @Steve Vaughan can explain more on why it would the lawyer stated it is not a good move.

You should also know that you'll need to form the LLC and then before you perform the movement on the deed you'll need to notify the company that holds the loan. If they see this change they can call the loan, which will create a lot more work for you.

Good luck! 

Hello everyone,

I wanted to post about my first residential listing success. I was approached by one of my very good friends and co-worker to help him list his house on the MLS. I of course was very welcoming to the idea since I would enjoy getting the experience for future investment purchases and also the gained capital towards future investments.

My friend owned the house for seven years and while he owned the house he slowly rehabbed everything including the landscape, the interior, and exterior. The house was in an older area of a city that has a high crime rate; however, the area held the value higher than other areas of the city due to the country club it was next, and many other factors. He listed the house by himself as FSBO for over a month and got only a few legitimate responses. These responses fell through and he finally got feed up with the headache of dealing with buyers that were not as serious as they should be, and buyers that did not have their finances in order. So, after dealing with those buyers that fell through he asked me for the listing help.

Once I listed his house I was confident that the house would sell quick due to the fact of how great it looked and also the area of the city it was in compared to other parts of the city. We listed the house for $275,000 and he was firm on that price. The house is a 4/2 with a square footage of 1818. The comps in the area were pulled 0-90 days back of course, and a range of prices from $265,000-$285,000. The properties at $265,000 were 3/2s and a hundred square feet less than my friend's house. The properties higher than $275,000 had the same square footage with more bathrooms. Once again, I was confident in the price we listed it at, we just needed to find a buyer that would be able to qualify.

My confidence on the property increased and decreased throughout the listing. We had the property on the market for 35 days in total. The reason that it stayed on the market for so long is because we went through a lot of people that could not qualify. It was tough to actually find a person that would be able to pass our cross-quailification process. We got someone passed the cross-qualification process and closed escrow yesterday. 

This was a long process of course, but I learned so much from this one experience. I plan to use my license to help reduce the costs of acquisition in any transaction, and also build my property management company; however, I do enjoy learning and building capital by helping people buy and sell homes when they ask.

Hey @Nick Versetto

I am wondering along with Nicole what did happen to the deal. Did you end up getting it after all the persistence. I have tried calling the back on some deals and it seems to be a lengthily process, of course because all the red tape we have to get through for the final action. I hope you got an answer that was good! 

Good luck! 

I'm currently only managing a small amount of rentals; however, once that number jumps up I will discontinue having tenants deposit directly into our bank account.

Thanks for the post @Steve Rozenberg!

@Rasheed Muslimani

Hey man, sounds like you are just getting setup in direct mail marketing. I am sure you have heard this before, but before you go to listsource.com, try getting in touch with a local title rep in your area through maybe a friend that is a realtor. The reps are usually more than happy to help you out with a list because that means when you land a deal you would think of them to use as the title company in escrow. This also would encourage them to help you with updated lists because the lists go bad pretty quickly, and they can help you when you need help searching title on properties that may have liens, or any other title issues.

I say this because direct mail marketing can be pricy and buying lists are just that much more money placed on marketing that you could avoid. I wish you luck!

Great! Thanks for the help!! @Jared McKie

Thanks @George P., I reviewed the link.

@Brittaney Woods I was more so looking for a website with no fees at all. Paypal charges fees. Thanks! 

@Jennifer L. Thanks! Yeah, I think it'll just come down to having the rent cover the fees later down the road when there are a lot more clients to handle. The convenience of the tenant just signing on to the link on the website was what I was looking for, but I'll work through Cozy for the time being.

@Jassem A. Thanks! 

Hello everyone,

I wanted to see if any one uses a tool for collecting rent that is free and that can be integrated into a website. I have heard of Cozy as a great website for collecting rent with no fees; however, there would have to be a tab set up to send the tenants to Cozy's website to pay rent. 

The better option would be to have a tab drop down with the sign-in feature for the rent payment right there on the site. Let me know if any members use this type of feature.

Thanks,

Peter 

@Shetal Gandhi

Hey man,

It is tough getting started! For sure the toughest part is actually jumping on a deal that you know is a deal. This is because the unknown water looks so deep and murky; however, the biggest advice I can give you is take a look in the area you live, or an area that is a little more affordable outside of where you live! 

@Mark Brogan hit the nail on the head when he told you to jump in the car with the family and drive to areas you know. If you want to do it on the cheap and not ask for any professional help at first (i.e. real estate agent), then just pull up Zillow or Redfin. Yes, the prices are not always on point, but you know the inventory of that area and the prospects you would be able to drive by. Check the school ratings in the area, check the park access, check the crime rate, and check walking distances for stores/shopping. What it comes down to is local knowledge and comfortability in that knowledge.

Once you buy your first you will be able to apply that knowledge to that next deal and keep moving forward. You'll get it, just keep the passion and motivation going!

Good Luck,

Peter 

Hey Alex, 

I have been meaning to write back to you on this thread. So, yes, you will need your partner there to open the account, also there is a few other things the bank will need (forms) for the LLC, so bring the whole packet. For example, the EIN number is a big thing they will need to open a business account. Also, you need to make sure that if you are financing the deal there is not any big movements in accounts and you try to give them other accounts while they are trying to underwrite the deal.

If the accounts are not yet made and you are opening escrow on a deal I would wait till after you close just for simplicity purposes. As I believe you know that the property is placed into the LLC's name once the deed is drafted.

In all honesty I would hold off till you close and then open the account and run your bookkeeping through that account since that is your business (LLC) account.

Good luck on the deal.

Peter