All Forum Posts by: Richard Balsam

An an exercise, go on Zillow and find rentals in both cities. Find similar type houses you are interested in. Average the rents, and determine the maximum purchase price + reno + profits you can safely invest if the monthly covers all of it. You'll find that Covid is not an impediment in the market. If it was, the real estate markets would not be on fire like they are. Flood insurance protects your investment - if every house in Savannah needs it, and there are rentals with investors making money there, why is this an issue for you? The costs must be baked into the rents, or every investor would not earn a return, and the number of rentals in that market would be few are far between. On the contrary, I bet there are a ton on investors in Savannah ( and Columbus too). I know one of the REIA's here in Atlanta has a chapter in Savannah. Must be members there or why have a chapter at all? Of course, both towns have investors. Even smaller towns have opportunities. If the numbers make sense, it's an opportunity. If the numbers are tight- and flood insurance is an issue , or Covid, or other issue, find another location or house that makes better sense for you. I look to the numbers to tell me yes or no. People have to live somewhere - regardless of issues in the news, flood insurance, hurricane insurance, etc. The numbers tell the story as to whether it's an investment or not.

Why don't you contact an asset based lender? Hard/soft lenders. Then, refinance in a few months with long term money.

@John M. You must transfer title so the LLC owns the rental property. To do this, you can use a Quitclaim Deed ( the weakest form of transfer) and you can do this yourself. Basically, the Quitclaim says that any controlling interest you have in the property- you are giving up to the new LLC. In your case- you're fine- as long as you purchased Title insurance to defend the title, so when your LLC sells the property - the chain in title remains good. As long as you didn't cause a lien on the property before you transferred to the LLC- it should be fine. I wouldn't accept a Quitclaim from another seller into one of my LLC's but from yourself to your LLC - I don't see an issue. You know what you did or didn't do since you bought the property regarding ay liens, mechanics liens, etc. Once you fill out the Quitclaim,. you file the document with your county. Call them to see the process- either go to the courthouse and file it, or mail it with the filing fee. Done - title is out of your name and held by the LLC. Make sure you read the rules to keep your LLC active- annual minutes kept, filing fees paid on time, etc.

One more thing...If it were that easy - everyone would be doing it. If competing with the established wholesalers or investors, means you have to be creative. Every state has tens of thousands of investors, wholesalers, and newbies wanting a piece of the real estate pie. There is room for everyone, you just have to try different things to locate wholesalers in your area or go direct to sellers. There is no reputable website to find deals. By the time you find houses for sale online- they are the ones that skilled investors didn't want. The best houses are offered to the best customers of the wholesalers. Most of the time, everyone else is offered the remaining "deals". Do your due diligence first when you do find something. 

A tenant in sufferance ( rent to rent tenant) in Georgia must receive a 60 day notice prior to eviction. So...you should have given this notice to the tenant , or do so ASAP to start the clock. Tape the notice to the door and mail the notice- with a delivery receipt. I take a picture of the notice on the front door - to prove you complied with the law to give proper notice. Yes- you have to wait the 60 days. Now...regarding eviction - if your house has a FHA backed mortgage ( from a bank) - you may be out the right to evict prior to January. My funds are not- and recently foreclosed on a property I had owner financed for the past 10 years, during this Covid crisis - no issues at all. There is good news...the tenant owes you every cent they have accumulated in rent owing the landlord. Once you evict, and they respond, you show up in court. The judge will award you the amount you list as "damages" - the funds they owe you from non-payment of rent. They will have 7 days to vacate. Most likely they will not. Upon picking up your signed Writ after the 7 days, you HIRE an eviction company ( do not wait for the free county service- you will be waiting a long time). Walk the signed Writ to the Sheriff dept inside the courthouse, and let them know who will be doing the evicting. They will post a notice of eviction on the house. Next, take a copy of the signed Writ to a collections attorney. They will begin the process to collect every cent + usually $250 + 28-33% additional- which is their fee. I've done this a few times when the tenant was obnoxious, and my losses were compounding. Yes...I collected. Took 1-2 years, and had to wait for a lot of checks in the mail. But- better than no checks in the mail! There is light at the end of the tunnel. And yes...the tenant will understand they should have vacated a lot faster...but sometimes a hard life lesson is needed for them to straighten out. I've had a previous tenant cry on the phone after owing me $7K- and not paying anything- to please accept 50% payment so they can buy a house. After negotiating a while, I took 50% + 28% for the attorney fee. They cut me a cashier check for the exact amount, after 18 months chasing them with their lies. Better to receive 50% now- than $200 checks for 2-3 more years.

I have two suggestions to make the experience better...

1. Shorten your podcast to 30 minutes. Most are over an hour- I will not listen. Mostly listen while driving or exercising. Rarely an hour long. Most podcasts are 30 minutes or less for a reason...general listener interest wanes after 30 minutes.

2. I understand your emphasis with podcasts, webinars and books is toward the newbee - but why is the majority of this information devoted to them? How about the 100,000 + members that have been here for years? How about for the "Pro" level? Not newbees, and not here to mainly give out advise to those that are. We also look for higher level content to keep our axes sharp! Would be nice to see higher level information that full timers can look forward to...legal, financial, reviews of newer apps, interviews with "expert" members and/or retired members, and their path to retirement, etc. Not just B-R-R-R-R investing, and the path to apartment owning. How about podcast interviews with lenders, maybe someone associated with HGTV/DIY that work with the show talent - and how some of the stars got to where they are now? That would be interesting! There are a number of areas of interest to bring this content to your members. BP should have a lot of weight for finding talent in the industry based on your membership and years of providing all this content!

If you have a form from another state...just have a GA real estate attorney review it for you. You would pay for 30 minutes of their time - not much, and cheaper than buying a guru course, which comes with their forms that you may have to modify for GA anyway. That's what I did - and I've been changing my contract ever since, as the need arises. That said, Georgia does not have very many specific bylaws different from other states that makes it necessary to just have a local drawn up form. Any state compatible form will do, as long as an attorney reviews it and approves all wording. If you want to protect yourself ( and you should) I would NOT use the GAR form to protect yourself if buying a property from a seller directly (assuming you are not buying off of the MLS). It is 7-8 pages long now, with more verbage added annually. Very overkill for buying and selling as an investor- dealing with the seller or a buyer directly - with no fiduciary responsibility owed to either party. I am licensed, so I must use this form when dealing with a listing, or when I buy a listed property. When dealing with a seller directly, I use my own form, and disclose that I'm a licensed agent and not acting in my capacity as an agent for either party, and acting for my own benefit...so all parties know this ahead of time. As a last word of advice- stay away from a Staples or Office Depot form - junk, and not worth the dollars saved at all. They are generic only.

Yes- if you feel that your health is in danger from mold- and if you had it inspected- and have written proof, move. Do not wait for Magistrate court to re-open. The landlord will threaten to take you to court to enforce the lease- but if you can prove mold and leaking roof- with written notices to the landlord - and he/she did nothing? The landlord is a fool, and will be held accountable in court when it is back in session. Meanwhile- the landlord will be held responsible if any health concerns come from the property to your family, and will be made to fix the problem before being allowed to re-rent to another family. He/She will be out a ton of money between lack of rent, and the costs to repair. Only an idiot of a landlord would think that it's your problem. It's their problem, and they will soon find out the hard way. 

With the merger of Suntrust and BB&T - I heard  they were suppose to offer more small business loans. I've never been successsful with the large banks...especially Suntrust, and I had a good sized checking account with them and 10 escrow accounts for 15 years - they have all my activity and still refused to make any line of credit available to my investment company. I also heard the SBA is supposed to work with more small businesses now to keep the economy working. It's worth a shot to see today- since everything is turned upside. I do know the SBA looks to home equity to secure the loans they make- not sure if they will do lines of credit lending vs. standard loans. Most people think the SBA makes loans- they do not. They secure the loan a banks makes - if the person cannot pay back the loan, usually banks are on the hook for 10% of the loan - meaning the bank takes some of the risk - although small. 

Of course- get the parents to co-sign on the lease. I do that each time with my kids- it makes sense for the landlord. Just keep each lease separate for each tenant.