All Forum Posts by: Robert Leonard

Hello @Jason May. What kind of repairs/remodeling does the property need?  Where is it posted if you have people viewing it now?

Hello and welcome to BP @Justin Henry!  Look up meetup.com/bplakecharles

Look up @Braden Smith , here on BP.   I bet he can help you.  That's his neck of the woods!

This is a rule of thumb (ROT).  Not a real rule to live by.  ROT are useful for quick analysis.  This one is totally out of place when used during acquistion, IMO.  A lot of people use it for acquisition, so I'm not picking on you Aric, but I refer to them as retail investors.   These comments are also specific to our market in south LA - I understand there are different market conditions that dictate the relevance and best use of these ROT elsewhere.

I belive it is best applied as an exit rule that relates to return on equity.  When you have a property that appreciates to the point that the rent is 1% or less than the value of the property, it's time to sell and reinvest where you get a better return.  That is a generalization.  It would make sense to consider a lot of other factors when deciding when to sell a property, but that's what a ROT is good for.  To tell you when you need to run some numbers and decide whether or not to stay the course or make a correction.

If I were you @Aric Van Iterson, I would look at www.hudhomestore.com and www.homepath.com and look for REOs that you have an advantage to buy before other investors, because you are going to live in it. The owner occupant only buying period gives you that advantage. Wells Fargo has a similar program for only O/O before others can buy their REOs. Yes, some will need more work than you can move right into or qualify for FHA financing, but there are a lot of them that only need paint and flooring and will qualify for FHA financing. You can buy like an investor and do your house hack all at once!

Hello and welcome to BP @Jessica Kegler No, that's not normal.  Agents get paid at the closing table when the deal closes.  Where did that idea or question come up?

I'm a member of the Baton Rouge REIA/The RING, it is very well organized. I am coorganizer of the Lafayette Real Estate Investors' meetup group you can find at meetup.com/bpacadiana Down in Houma, you are about in the middle of all of those. There are investors from your neck of the woods who I see at the BR and Lafayette meetings.

Joshua W Sommerfeld these are good questions. I'll address #4 first, this area is what can blow the whole idea up. Whatever the relationship is between you and the step side of the family, this type of arrangement can be very contentious! If you pursue it, it's definitely one for the attorneys. People do all kind of partnership arrangements, but if you want to keep things simple, make all arrangements easy to exit. I would only partner in a role, never in ownership. I would act as the lender and make a spread on the financing. Or finance one for him, one for me, with him earning project management fees or property management fees as appropriate. No legal or financial advice here, just what I would do in a similar situation.

Andrew Smith If the mean old landlord had such nefarious intent as suggested, did he even have to tell you he plans to sell the place? Is this the only place you can rent in town? Is it somehow reasonable to you that a tenant should be able to "bar" an owner from selling their property?

Hello and welcome to BP @Ralph Newton!  Subject to and BFD are a couple of advanced strategies and they should put fear into you as someone who's never done them.  Lease options can be done a few ways and many people use the term interchangeably with lease purchase or rent to own and they are all technically different.  You have to do a good bit of homework on this stuff or work with someone with experience to help you fill in the blanks or connect the dots for the parts you don't understand.  I'm right up the road from you here in Lafayette and I keep a pretty busy schedule, but I'll be glad to help you when I can.

Some of the best information you will find here is in the podcasts.  The hosts do a good job of making the podcasts educational by having guests pause to explain any acronyms or terms they use during the interviews.  You might search for podcast and a term you are interested in to learn about each topic. 

BFD is a LA unique strategy (term) that is most similar to land contracts in other states.  There is a BFD service company in Metairie that has a website that is pretty informative with a few short videos.  You can find them if you google LA bond for deed, they will be one of the top results. [I am a customer, but I have no affiliation with the company. :-) ]