All Forum Posts by: Robert Leonard

Its very easy to have a 100sq ft discrepancy on a listing.  Outside of the extremely high cost areas like NYC, SF or Hawaii, I can't see how 100 sq ft can be worth pursuing any recourse?

Is there a stairway in the property?  Is it open to the downstairs from the sides or closed?  Is there a laundry or utility room that can only be entered from an outside door?  Is there area in the upstairs that has less than 7 foot ceilings?  These are the type of technically different areas that either count or don't count in the finished area (living area) of a property when measured in accordance with

http://www.nm-ac.org/ANSI.pdf

 which sets the standard that should be used by appraisers or any real estate professional to measure the finished area (square footage of living area) of a house.

Hello and welcome to BP @Marcus Webb!  Look forward to seeing you around BP and around town.

Generally, you can expect 15-20 year amortization with a 3-5 year reset or balloon for commercial mortgages.  Your interest rate will be a point or two higher than consumer rates based on your personal credit and you can expect to sign a personal guarantee.   The balloon is technically "due in full" like your lender told you, but it usually is like a reset and works like an adjustable rate loan.  That's how banks take some of the interest rate risk out of the loan.  They don't get stuck with loans at today's low rates for 15 or 20 years.

Those are the trade offs for obtaining loans on properties that don't meet normal lending requirements.  You also have an unlimited number of this type of commercial loans - none of that 10 loan limit stuff.  When you hear the term "portfolio lender," it refers to a lender (bank) who holds a portfolio of loans and doesn't resell their mortgages.  Being able to sell loans comes with regulated requirements and the smaller banks have lots more flexibility in their lending when they aren't reselling their loans.

You have to shop around or seek a referral from other local investors for lenders that offer favorable terms for investors. Whether or not you NEED to do business in an LLC or not is a matter of asset protection and tax planning that you should discuss with someone with intimate knowledge of your financial situation like your attorney, estate and or tax advisors.

Sounds like they are really good tenants - because they called you and it wasn't something you all "discovered" at move out.  Moisture in our environment is a real issue and although I haven't heard of this situation, your uncle's explanation makes sense to me.  

Depending on how bad the damage is, I would get a quote from a reputable carpet cleaning company and if it's a reasonable amount and they expect it to come clean, offer to split it with the tenant.  If the carpet cleaning pro is hesitant about whether or not it will come clean, get another opinion.  If it's a consensus that it's not likely to come clean, move on to getting flooring replacement estimates.  This all needs to be done ASAP - no time to waste with a moisture problem.

I would first ask the tenant how they plan to take care of it, if it ends up needing replacement.  If they sound like they are unwilling or unable to pay for it, I would then offer to share the expense to take care of a good customer.  Carpet for one room, if you go back with that, is a pretty low cost flooring.  This is not something that can wait until they move out.  If you know it will need replacement when they move out, you effectively have  reduced your security deposit by what it will cost to replace the flooring.

Welcome to BP @Brandon Howard.  That's a pretty broad area and while it's not impossible, you may do better to focus on getting established in one of those cities at a time.  You may want to find different contractors for each of those areas rather than looking for someone who covers them all from the outset.

I would like to hear about your plans in the Baton Rouge market.

Like Joe Villeneuve said, how long to rehab is specific to the rehab. Depending on how extensive of a rehab, it can be largely dependent on the regulatory environment (permits/inspections) and the level of competition and availability of contractors. Average DOM, once market ready, is a critical number that you can easily get from your comps. That is one component of what makes a property worth considering a flip (quick resale).

I'm not sure which of the tax assessor's websites y'all are referring to, but if you use this one:

https://atlas.geoportalmaps.com/ebr

it is extremely easy to use and has all the information you need.  If you click on "Layers" then "Data" then "Parcel Data" then select the box "Owners Names" you will see owners names displayed as you scroll around on the map over properties.  This is the best information ever made available by any public organization in EBR Parish.  Many still use lot and block numbers of subdivisions for properties and you can't even look things up by the street address - that's crazy!  If you look at the list of properties coming up in the sheriff's sale, there are no addresses!

Anyway, I hope the link helps you.

Hello and welcome to BP @Ray Vidos!  I hope the group you found is our group? ;-)

In any case, feel free to contact me if I can help you with figuring out your strategy or just to discuss your ideas.  I keep a pretty busy schedule, but I always say, a man's gotta eat.  Maybe we can grab breakfast or lunch one day.

I hope to see you around BP as a regular and maybe around town!

  Hello and welcome to BP @Michael Matte!  This is a great place to make some connections while learning about the business.  I highly recommend the podcasts.

We have a local investor meetup group that you can find at meetup.com/bpacadiana I hope to see you here on BP and around town!

Great question @Reginald Winn!

This adjudicated property problem is a problem in a lot of places.  There's a company that started in New Orleans called Civic Source.  Google them. They came up with a private solution that satisfies the monumental task of adequately providing notice to anyone with an ownership interest in the property, to allow you to buy with title insurance.  That's only in the municipalities and parishes that are signed on with using Civic Source for the disposition of those properties.  They have a very informative website that has tutorials of the basics of how it all works.  You can also see the list of where they operate and information on properties that get auctioned off every month!

Moderator's Note: I do not work for them or have any affiliate relationship with Civic Source. :-)