All Forum Posts by: Richard J.

Couldn't have stated it better than Will.
I believe having a Broker's license helps if you are not holding re assets, which we have absolutely no interest in doing at this time, so on the resale end, we have no listing commissions to pay out and also we are on top of the market for the most part as licensed professionals. Realtors can sometimes steer you wrong and if you are not in the business you may not be aware of that fact. When people work only on commission, sometimes they do and say things that they normally would not... not all of them, but more than a few. Always do your due diligence and remember that the buck stops with you!
Good Luck. -- Dawn

Susan and Bill, love your advice!!! Someday I'd like to do some community housing project, maybe in 3 to 5 years and with your tidbits of info, I can file it away for future reference. No offense, but God Bless! -- Dawn

If you have a small operation, you may want to price check with an EA as opposed to a CPA, I used one for years with great results... they seem to be up on tax law and not too busy to educate.

Good Luck! -- Dawn

What is an Enrolled Agent?
An Enrolled Agent (EA) is a federally-authorized tax practitioner who has technical expertise in the field of taxation and who is empowered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to represent taxpayers before all administrative levels of the Internal Revenue Service for audits, collections, and appeals.

What does the term “Enrolled Agent†mean?

“Enrolled†means to be licensed to practice by the federal government, and “Agent†means authorized to appear in the place of the taxpayer at the IRS. Only Enrolled Agents, attorneys, and CPAs may represent taxpayers before the IRS. The Enrolled Agent profession dates back to 1884 when, after questionable claims had been presented for Civil War losses, Congress acted to regulate persons who represented citizens in their dealings with the U.S. Treasury Department.

Lots of areas on the 1003 or Loan App for misrepresentations, deception and outright lies that's for sure. With the recent crash, it was typical for many of the whiners (people now currently losing their homes cuz they weren't qualified to begin with), to do the following:
1) Lie about income, enabled by NINA, Stated Income and Assets, which was not an invitation to LIE, but to avoid excessive paperwork and to save time, what a joke,
2) Lie about occupancy, stating they were owner occupants when they had no intention of occupying the home,
3) Bill already mentioned, a smoke-screen of actual debts,
and the list goes on and on...
just agreeing with Bill, when does it stop? Funny the Greed and Fraud within a religious nation like ours... kind of embarrassing if you asked me.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. -- Dawn

As mentioned in our Newbie Intro, we are actively doing fix and flip via SDI in a Guidant created LLC. Hubby is a retired CEO and only recently self-employed since 2006, the IRA is his; would we still be able to utilize the Solo 401k, having just read about it here and not having done any follow-up research as of yet. We have to start taking the required minimum distribution this year. Any recommendations for professionals to help us pull it off legally and successfully (roll-over from traditional IRA to the Solo 401K)? It sounds like a dream come true for what we are doing. We do not wish to buy and hold and not looking for immediate cash-flow, just putting it all back into the IRA. Like the idea of being our own custodian(s). We might be interested in buy and hold eventually, although prefer commercial if we go that route as landlording isn't the most fun job out there. Thanks in advance! Dawn

Will;

Great factual response. We are fairly new at IRA RE investing and have so much to learn. We do have CPA and Attorney, but they do not have a background in IRAs(we were in a rush). I am in search of IRA experienced professionals with references, if you or anyone else knows any, would greatly appreciate. Thanks, Dawn

Hello Everyone:

We are Dawn and Richard in California, new to BP. We are both DRE licensed Brokers, but not active in the public RE arena at the present time. We currently buy at auction (trustee sales), fix and flip with IRA monies. We list our own properties and pay a commission to the Selling Brokerage. We have been fairly successful and find the people and situations quite stimulating to say the least. We do have a CPA and an Attorney and we operate within two LLCs. Although we do have a CPA and an Attorney, it has been my past experience that if you do not ask the right questions, then you cannot get the right answers and sometimes busy professionals, although being paid, do not always do an A+ job on your behalf, hence our main concern is finding competent, fully informed professionals regarding IRA investing in real estate. As we are new here, we have not checked out all the topics as of yet, just wanted to do a quick intro and hopefully get some friendly feedback and guidance from anyone and everyone that might be willing to steer us in the right direction. We need IRA experienced CPA and Attorney located anywhere in California between San Diego and Sacramento as we travel quite a bit and do not mind traveling to meet with qualified professional(s). Thank you. Dawn :D

Hello Ian and other like-minded BP friends,
Happy 2010! A New Year, A New Decade and a New Opportunity to Succeed Indeed!
Just wanted to post a "Thank You" note for all the pointers and so happy that you did not walk away when you were capped on. We are newbies here and appreciate the good folks with good intentions! Thanks again! Sincerely, D and R