All Forum Posts by: Rob Beland

@Dan Deslera bank is likely going to want to see that the "gift" has been in your account for at least two months. A loan is typically not allowed since you are now in effect borrowing 100% of the purchase price. Banks want you to have your own money invested in the deal. 

@Mike EvansI think you asked too many questions without giving enough information. What are your investment objectives? If you're looking for a property to flip you need to offer a price that allows you to purchase the property, rehab it, and resell it. That will depend on the condition of the property and the projected ARV. It doesn't matter if its a single family or a multi family. What matters is that you can make money. If you're looking to buy and hold you want to make sure your purchase price is such that you can get the property rented, pull the cash out and cover your mortgage and expenses and make what you consider to be a good return. Only you know what a good return is for you. Figure out what your end game is with the property you are interested in bidding on. Run the numbers and see what comes out in the end. Are you happy with the big picture? If you are bid, if you aren't, don't bid. Don't try and make a bid fit a particular property. Try and make a particular property fit your bid. Good luck.

@Chan K.landlords in Massachusetts are not required to provide off-street parking nor are you required to police the parking area you do provide. I try to stay out of these types of situations but as a practical matter most tenants do tend to have their usual parking spot and I do get calls because "so and so" is parking in my spot. On occasion if the calls persist I will tell them that I'm going to tear up the pavement and plant grass so nobody can park there. Try and stay out of it as much as you can. The more they think they can call you with these types of problems the more your phone will ring. Tenants really  need to deal with this themselves. They have to live together. 

Id say you're safe. Keep good records. Don't sell dynamite to minors.

sign the checks over to your LLC. What are you worried about? What do you sell?

@Stuart Birdsong I will say that landlord tenant law varies from state to state and the process will vary accordingly. In my experience you will not see eviction notices filed publicly until it gets to court and become a hearing. You may file an eviction notice and if they move out the process ends and never gets to court so you will never know that the notice was even filed. That's the case in MA but maybe in your state or other states eviction notices become public record. Somebody has to file the notice with the court in order for it to be part of the public record. I can't see a landlord going through that process for every notice that is served to a tenant. It would get too costly. 

I think what you are asking is whether or not there is a benefit to converting your passive rental income to earned income in order to establish a work-history, no? Short answer is no, you can not do that. An LLC is a pass-through entity for one thing so its basically all your money anyways. For practical purposes, the bank wouldn't really care whether you gave yourself a W2 or kept the money in the LLC. Again, it's all your money. The IRS won't allow you to pay yourself as a W2 for the purposes of converting the passive income to earned income. Many people ask about paying themselves as a property manager. Same story, you can't do it. You should contact a local bank with a commercial lending department and start building a relationship with them now. Over time you will learn what their lending requirements are and you can show them your experience and how profitable your investments are. Many banks will use a portion of your rental income as a way to qualify you if that is where you derive the majority of your income.

@Josh Fryekeep in mind Landlord/Tenant law is very state specific. You need advice from other local investors and advice you receive from Washington or North Carolina is useless. Good luck. 

When Im selling an investment property I will schedule showings back to back and even overlap them. Its easier on the tenants since I can get a few showings done in a couple hours all at once as opposed to one showing at a time several times in a week. It also creates some urgency when one buyer sees another buyer at the property. Try scheduling the showings back to back. Honestly, if you are accurate with your rehab cost estimate and your ARV is realistic, you shouldnt need more than a couple showings (one even). Good luck @Ken T..

I have looked into it @Chris Field. What I was told was basically unless you are talking about a large apartment complex, its too costly. Thirty units and up in most cases although I really only spoke with a couple companies. I was considering for 6-7 unit buildings. New construction may be different but I don't see too much new construction for large apartment complexes in this area.