All Forum Posts by: Raymond E. Hopkins

@Rob Powell

You are correct.  I saw it there the other day.  It was loaded by @Jon Pitcher, who is a lawyer here in Oklahoma and Texas.

@Melissa Bogle

I have used this lease provided by the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission:

www.ok.gov/OREC/documents/Residential Lease.pdf

Hope this helps!

I am a new investor who is briefly familiar with DODD-FRANK.  From what I understand the major areas of concern under DODD-FRANK are those of us who LEASE TO OWN our properties.  If this is correct, will the abolishing of DODD-FRANK not relieve some of the regulation off of the real estate investor using this strategy? 

I realize this opens the door for predatory slum lords, but I have never been a fan of placing more regulations and laws on law abiding citizens in an effort to punish the few predators.  These predators will find a way to make an easy buck despite the law, thus only hampering small business by levying burdensome regulation upon us.

Please, feel free to correct me if I am incorrect in my understanding of DODD-FRANK. 

@Neil G.,

No life alert needed or ambulance need, but she did have it in a soft cast.  It was her own doing while chasing a dog, apparently.  She did not fill me in on that part until about a week later.  All I received originally was that she had fell and broke her arm while moving furniture after carpet had been installed in their bedroom (fixing storm damage from roof leak).  

She is getting well, and no litigation coming my way!   

@Carrie Utt and @Ryan Murdock,

Do you have to have a business entity to qualify for Lowes QSP?  I have never approached the Lowes contractor specialist, because I have only rehabbed 2 homes (one of those I am currently working).  I've spent $50k at Lowes easily in the past 5 years.  Sounds like I could have saved even more if I would have set up this QSP. 

Luckily, I am a veteran; so I get 10% off on top of any sales prices at Lowes.  Last I checked Home Depot does not offer veteran discounts.  I also love to shop for fixtures on Amazon.  I've saved hundreds of dollars buying faucets and light fixtures off of Amazon, and they have a wider selection.     

In a world of APPS; what are some of your favorite apps for REI?

I just purchased an IPAD for business purposes (tax write off). I have the MLS listing apps; such as Zillow, Trulia, and Redfin. I also have heard of a few from the podcast like Podio, Vumber Phone, and Centriq. Do you have any apps or even software you use in your REI business? I only have one SFH rental unit at this time, and working on my second rehab. But, I am currently prepping my business for expansion into multi family once my rehab is complete. Anything that will help stream line my business process would be beneficial.

Thanks in advance for your input and time!   

I am not trying to be rude, as I said I currently have a lease to own property. If done correctly it's a win/win for both parties. I bought mine cheap. $35k for 3bd 2ba 1700sf on 2 acres. I put about $20k into it. Was my personal residence for about 6yrs. Now I operate it as a lease to own. I've had two tenants. One moved out on her own accord due to financial problems. She lost her down payment, as it was non refundable and only put toward the purchase price upon exercising her option to buy. I did not go after her for breaking the lease. I simply put it back on the market, and did it again just weeks later. New tenants have been in for a few months, but I've had some maintenance issues pop up all at once. In the future I am going to be more detailed in my lease agreement on who is responsible for what. I read an article where the tenants were responsible for the first $ amount of any repair, after that amount the landlord paid the rest. I liked the way they had it structured, because tenants are more apt to report the issues instead of letting a minor issue become a big issue. It allows the landlord to maintain the integrity of the home in the event the tenant does not purchase the property, but still puts the tenant responsible for a portion if not all of the repair depending on the extent of the damage.

@JD Martin, as the post states I am a new land lord, so the thought really didn't cross my mind.  My thought was it was there furniture, and I'm trying to solve the problem the roof leak caused by returning the property to 100%.  But, as others have mentioned and I have agreed that it is an excellent idea to have the flooring company move the items in the future no matter the age of the tenant.  I do agree that "rare, valuable, or fragile items" should be moved by tenants, because the damage to something in that state could be another issue all in itself.  I was merely focused on fixing the issue with the property, and did not see the bigger picture.   

Rookie mistake noted, but this is why I joined Bigger Pockets.  Now if only I would have asked, "Should I have the flooring company remove furniture for tenants" before the install.  Luckily, there is no litigation coming my way, and after talking to the tenant more she had failed to give me the whole story.  Her dog escaped the house as she was moving furniture back in, and while attempting to chase her dog down she fell and broke her elbow.   

Thank you to everyone who put in there two cents.  It is greatly appreciated!

@Chris Chesser this past 10 months or so in my journey should have me a my "point of no return".  But, the opportunity in real estate and my will to succeed are bigger than the obstacles I have had to go through. 

I was raised by two high school drop outs with horrible credit, and in low income housing most of my childhood.  As a kid I always dreamed of being a successful businessman.  As I grew older, and started to see the real world the thought should have became more of a pipe dream.  But, I never let go of that dream to be successful in business.  I graduated in the top 10% of my class in high school.  Shortly after joined the military, and did a stint in Iraq.  Came home bought a house to rehab, got married, started having kids, got a tech school degree, landed a career, and became the first of my family to ever go to college much less graduate with honors.  After adding more kids through the years, we decided it was time to upgrade in housing.  Put our house up for sale/rent.  Ended up renting with a option to purchase shortly after closing on our 3000sf 4bd/ 2 1/2 ba on 10 acres rehab.  That's where the story takes a twist. 

A few months into the rehab on our new purchase, and nearing the move in date we realize...HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!!  The house is no where near ready to move in, and we have a contract on our current house with a move in date fast approaching.  Thank goodness for amazing family.  I move my family of 5 at this time (still 5 as of now, but expecting another baby in Oct. of 2017) in with my mother.  Another blessing in this mess is that my wife and mother get along great!  This is around the 1st of Aug. 2016 and only supposed to be a few weeks, so we pack everything in storage beside mattresses and a few changes of clothes.  Shortly after my contractor goes MIA (not totally, but may as well have).  After a FEW MONTHS of trying to get this contractor to finish what he started I had to cut the losses (knowing what I know now I should have sooner, but charges have been pressed and he has recently plead guilty to the charges).  My brother and I take over the project to save on labor (another huge blessing of having an amazing family).  We start making considerable progress considering we are having to redo work that was done incorrectly and both of us work full time.  Right about the time I start to see the light at the end of the tunnel my tenant informs me she is moving.  Now I have to not only try to get my new purchase fixed while having my family shoved in two rooms with all our stuff in storage for going on MONTHS (we are now around Mar. 2017), but now I have to get my rental ready to show and rented while working a full time job! Luckily the tenant did not destroy the place. Some minor repairs and a good clean up, and it was ready for market. After a few weeks I had it on another lease to own contract. Now time to focus on getting my new purchase finished (we had finally got it move in ready, and moved in about this time as well). A few weeks later a big storm comes through, and now I have a leak in the roof of my rental after a few shingles were blown off and heavy rains and hail slammed the area. Nothing else could go wrong, right? A/C goes out, tenant falls and breaks her elbow (no litigation, but the stress was there until I found out what happened), plumbing issue, and all of this while I'm still trying to finish my family home, work a full time job, and trying to figure out why the state hasn't done anything with my charges against my past contractor! I had briefly thought about giving up the idea of getting serious in REI before, but at this point was my "point of no return". 

The next few days I still find myself on Bigger Pockets, and searching the listing sites.  Am I crazy I thought, and asked my wife.  But, I realize coming from my background that not everything in life is easy.  Not everything is going to be handed to you.  Sometimes you have to fight for your job, for your spouse, for your family, and for your dreams.  I wake up and thank God for the blessings he has poured out on this ol' boy from the middle of no where Oklahoma, because most of them I do not deserve and the rest should have never been attainable by someone like me.  So, I continue to push through all those situations with the rent house, my brother is still helping me finish my house (should be complete by end of summer, so watch the success stories forums), the charges finally dropped on the contractor and he took a plea deal with in weeks, and I'm still grinding looking for my next deal!

I've chalked up the past 10 months or so to some serious crash course real estate investing education, and I am already a better investor because of it.  We keep breathing, so we keep striving, and if we continue to strive after our goals one day we will be successful #butimnotdoneyet

If you have legit deals than more power to you for that kind of ROI, but it does seem a bit predatory in fashion. I've got a home on a lease to own with a $5,000 non refundable down payment, but it is applied to the purchase price of $125,000. As, @Jeff Rabinowitz said, I'd make sure you are talking to a reputable lawyer before proceeding. 

Good luck!