All Forum Posts by: Scott Steffek

Michael, 

I do business in Indiana and my attorney sets up LLC's. He also owns a title company, so he knows the business well. But keep in mind what Clint and Dean said. You can set it up yourself for very little cost, if you so desire. I set mine up for about $275 via an online site. Legal Zoom is high priced and there's other good sites that are much less. PM me if you need any more help. Best of luck to you.

John,

Good for you having those rental properties at such a young age! I agree with Alex. Focus on quality deals. It's very easy to get burnt and that can take a lot of money out of your pocket very quickly and be disastrous. We do business in NW Indiana and I'm in Crown Point, so I know the area well. If you need any other pointers, feel free to PM me. Best of luck to you.

Kim,

My wife and I are also looking to relocate to St. Pete. I just came back from there last week. If you could PM me, I'd love to talk to you about the market. I have experience in the biz. 

Mark,

I pm'd you.

Pedro,

I tried to private message you about what to do, but you denied my colleague request a while back. So I guess we won't talk about it. Good luck.

Ray,

People are saying it's illegal to profit from the sale of a property if you're not licensed and/or a principle. That's true and it's not true. The law is very vague. I know people who do "fee agreements" in Illinois all the time. They get paid their fee at the close. However, some attorneys in Illinois won't allow their clients to buy a property that has a fee agreement. 

Here's how I see it and I am NOT an attorney.  The law has never been tested. In other words, no on has tested the actual law in court, to see if it will stand up. I don't know of one wholesaler who has had legal problems, by getting paid at the closing table. There's a fine line between a broker and a wholesaler when it comes to the law. The realtors want you to believe that you can't get paid, because you're not licensed and they are. It's more like they don't WANT you to get paid, without having a license. So you have realtors fighting for their side and wholesalers fighting for theirs. If you sell someone something on Craigslist and profit from it, do you have to be licensed? Of course not. The realtors want people to think they're violating the law, because their agents pay a lot of money to get a license. You're providing a service to a buyer. Realtors don't want wholesalers infringing on their territory. In my opinion, and again I'm not an attorney, getting paid a fee is perfectly fine. Until someone takes a wholesaler or a "non licensed" person to court and sues, it's perfectly ok to get paid a fee. But please follow what you think is correct. So unless the law gets tested in court and the realtors win, I don't see a problem.

Neal,

I don't know what the laws are in California, but here in Illinois and Indiana, I buy properties that MAY have lead paint all the time. The seller is required by law to disclose whether or not the house has lead paint. Most of them don't have a clue, but they have to sign a disclosure either way. We buy homes that were built on the 50's and 60's and haven't had any issues yet. I would check to see what the laws are in the state you're looking to purchase in and see if there's a liability issue that you might encounter. Best of luck to you.

Tara,

Eric is probably correct. The issue right now, is that real estate is overpriced all over. If you can find off market properties for a good price, you'll do well. We have investors screaming for properties right now. The market is extremely tight, so the good deals are far and few between. But they're out there. You just have to find them! Best of luck to you.

Hi Tara,

All the areas you mentioned like Oak Lawn etc; are all good rental areas. Be sure to look up the taxes on each property. I've seen rental property after rental property that doesn't cash flow, because of taxes. I would also take a look at Northwest Indiana. Taxes are about half of what they are in Illinois and home prices are very reasonable. You have a lot of Illinois people moving across the border, because of the high taxes. You might want to look at Merrillville, Hobart, Crown Point, Highland, Griffith, Munster and Valparaiso.  Hobart is slightly "lower class" than the rest of them, but it's an excellent rental market. It's by no means the hood! Best of luck to you.

Tony,

I don't have all of the numbers, but I ran "average" numbers and I'm not sure this property would be a good investment. However, I would need more numbers. You have to take out all of your expenses, to calculate your return. How much rent would come in, if you don't pay anything? You also have to deduct: vacancy, insurance, taxes, management fee and maintenance. On the maintenance side, don't forget lawn care and snow removal in the winter. You may also have to deduct costs like: "Common electric bill", water bill and sewer bill. I don't know if your tenants pay their own water. But usually the landlord has to pay some type of water bill and at least pay for the electricity in the common areas. So be sure to factor in all of the costs associated with the property. Best of luck to you. One last thing.....Don't believe Zillow's estimates. They're all over the map! I would suggest you get some solid sold comps from a realtor and try to have them run in a 1/4 mile radius of the property.