All Forum Posts by: Ralph Taylor

I can recommend Brian Cloud of Cloud & Willis.

Ralph

Giving management responsibility to an agent does not relieve you of the responsibility to oversee your investment. You should be receiving and reviewing a monthly report on all your tenants. Definitely, fire the agent and evict the tenant.

I would look the property over to get a ball park idea of what renovation costs might be and then make an offer subject to inspection. The offer has to be made on the basis of what is profitable to you.  I assume your inspector is a professional, who wants to get paid. It can get to be very expensive having professional inspections done on a lot of properties that you can't bring to a deal.

Unreasonable and unrealistic sellers are a huge road block in this business. I recently came across a property that had been inherited and was on the tax sale list. Rather than sell to me at a discounted price, the owner let it be sold for taxes.  On the other hand, the first income property I bought was almost exactly as you describe yours. My offer was accepted with no negotiation. 

Neither owner had any skin in the game. One took what ever she could get as found money, the other held out until the end, looking for a windfall. You never know!

Whatever you do, don't lose any sleep over it. Just keep plugging.

I have been contacted by Cindy, but I have not heard from Wayne. I will try to coordinate with them on future meetings. However, I have reserved the Rotary Room at the library for Wednesday evening. I will show a video produced by Equity Trust on creating TAX FREE profits investing in real estate using an IRA. Everyone is invited.

Hi Guys,

 I am starting an investors group in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Our first meeting, which will be an informal meet and greet, will be held Nov. 5, 2014 at 6pm in the Rotary Room of the Tuscaloosa Public Library. I hope to have monthly meetings, and I am working on lining up a speaker for the December meeting. Everyone is invited. NO CHARGE.

You should not let what happens in one jurisdiction poison you against the tax lien business. Many jurisdictions have tax exemptions for elderly and or disabled property owners. Additionally,you as the investor, are free to conduct your business in an ethical and humane manner. Examine the rules in each jurisdiction and choose one in which you would be comfortable.

I would recommend Center Point as a good area to begin investment. You will find good values there in a stable neighborhood. The Birmingham AIA has a monthly meeting in the evening at the Vestavia Library. The next meeting is September 23 at 5:30pm.

I personally would not want to live in a multifamily that I own. Your worst nightmare will be having a bunch of tenants thinking you are at their beck and call 24/7.

As for 203k and Homepath, these are designed for home owners and not investors. Houses with more than 4 units will not qualify.

Alan,
A couple of points. First, the state does not control the relationship between NAR and MLS. You should contact your local Board of Realtors. They will tell you if NAR membership is necessary to access the MLS.
Secondly, and most importantly, remember the broker is in business, and trying to increase his profits. He is not going to be favorably disposed to someone who is not making a contribution to his bottom line. Especially if you are going to need a large portion of his time for supervision. How does what you want to do benefit him?
You have the basics of a real estate transaction when you took the license course. The details are going to have to come from the broker. No two brokers do things the same way. So it looks to me that you will have to interview brokers one at a time until you find one you can work comfortably with.

There are a couple of considerations here, not the least of which is expense.This will vary according to your state and even your county, since Boards of Realtors are organized by county. In addition to the cost to obtain your license, you will have to pay the local board membership dues and MLS dues which may be separate charges and may be billed monthly.Many franchise companies will charge you a monthly rent in return for a commission split more in your favor. Your Realtor friend should be able to give you an estimate of the monthly cost in your county.
Another consideration is the fact that you will not be able to work independently for at least a year, depending on the law in your state. Whether your state law requires work as an agent under a broker as a sort of an apprenticeship, or whether you can be a broker from the outset and work under a supervising broker, you will have to abide by some one else's ground rules until you can establish independence. Even though you will be an independent contractor, the supervising or managing broker is responsible for your actions. He will probably want to know what you are doing and will certainly give you some feed back. He may or may not be helpful.
Don't forget he will be looking to you to do some sales. He gets a piece of your activity.