All Forum Posts by: Scott L.

Whether lenders will lend to a series of a LLC was not the statement you made. You stated that FNMA would not exempt it from the DoS clause in a mortgage they purchased. My experience with retitling cost in Texas for a LLC is it costs the $35 and a visit to the notary and county clerk (if you don't feel like mailing it). Even when my lawyer did the first one (warranty deed) he charged $250. After that he said here's the Word template, do it yourself :-) . Honestly in addition to the belt and suspenders approach to liability of a LLC plus insurance, I do it to make closings easier. I travel all the time and in a community property state like Texas getting me and my wife to the title company at the same time on a weekday is a pain. Granted if I close in my or our personal names to get conforming financing we need to be there in person. I tried to have wife do it for my w/ our Durable Power of Attorney once and the bank wanted a proof-of-life video call and I was in the Pentagon in a secure area, so pushed the close till I came back. :-) . Anyway the series LLC in Texas has been a great time saver for my SFRs and flips. My local attorney was a closing attorney for one of the biggest title companies after law school, and he told me he thinks it's great too for how I'm using it. Since he's now a partner in the local real estate firm I take his word for it.

A "series" IS a LLC so I'm not sure why you say this is not allowed. And yes you have to transfer it back IF you are going to refinance it with another conventional mortgage...but so what?

And as far as the elusive “due on sale” acceleration on non-fnma mortgages, it seems to be a snipe hunt here on BP. Nobody seems to be able to point to a case not involving some “lease option” or other chicanery...

$50K a month "passive" before tax ;-) . It's way more than I make or spend now, but I like cash and that kind of scratch will allow me to stash plenty of liquid net worth. I worked in Argentina and Brazil for a US company for about a year. I'd love to have an apartment in Buenos Aires or Rio and spend 6 mo or so a year in South America. Work on my (horrible) Spanish and (non-existent) Portuguese. Who says a 50 something Anglo guy can't learn new tricks? Then there's that off grid "bug out" cabin in Wyoming I'd like to have in case of civil insurrection or zombie apocalypse. Gold, ammo, weapons, fuel, and foodstuffs go there...

 Yes the lease should state that he is leasing for one year, for one payment, and he has the right to the premises for one year. If he vacates the premises early, too bad. The rent has been paid. After 12 months he gets his security deposit back minus damage if any. MAYBE, if you allow him to withdraw from the lease early and find another tenant, you take possession early, re-lease and give him some portion of the advance rent back. But you don't have to.

 The very simple work around for this is to draft the lease as a single payment for a single rental period of 1 year. I have done this in Texas and there is nothing I see in the Florida statute that prohibits this. A simple matter of drafting the lease. What this statute addresses is someone on a monthly payment lease who gives multiple months in advance. 

I'd like to see the statute that prohibits this in Florida. I'm hard pressed to understand how two parties can't enter into a single payment, one year lease. Monthly leases are paid in advance as well, and I'm not under the impression that there are limits on what can be done with the money in advance of the end of the month. This whole putting it in escrow and drawing it out monthly sounds like an urban legend. I have a tenant 10 months into a 12 month lease that he paid me in advance, and it was reviewed by my attorney who raised no concerns. I spent the money 1-2 months after on some other investment property improvements. All I owe the tenant is possession of the property and to maintain it for the term of the lease. How I do that is my own business.  This is in Texas, but I'd be surprised if Florida weren't similar.

I love this thread. I'm a 20 year homeowner and 2 year landlord of SFR. I am somewhat handy, but very artistically challenged. Painting and carpentry hard. Plumbing and electrical...easier. I bought a DeWalt 14v power drill/driver 20 years ago when I bought my house. I've gone through some batteries and nowadays I'd buy a higher voltage, but this tool is by far the best. Others that are really handy now that I'm a landlord (3 SFR)...shop vac, tape measure, socket/wrench/screwdriver set, hacksaw, electrical tester, pipecutter, torch, solder, paint buckets, rollers, brushes, power sprayer, 22" lawnmower, rakes, shovels, hammers, electrical fault testers, meter, cutters ... could go on forever. Carpentry seems my nemesis and I hire that out. I put a AO Smith 50 gal gas water heater in my own house (attic), but I couldn't have done that on my rentals as the cities require a licensed plumber to pull the permit unless you're the homeowner/resident.

I still think that's a little high for the cash flow business in D/FW. My target rent on a SFR 3br/2ba $1300-1500 out here in Denton and Tarrant counties. You get too much higher out here and anyone that would rent from you could buy one.

Wouldn't the interest be capitalized into the acquisition cost of the house, to be depreciated from the "in service date" in 2019?

Definitely good this one is in Texas. My layperson's opinion as a landlord in Texas is that I would check for non-compliance with any of your other policies...credit, verifiable income, eviction history, criminal convictions, etc. and WHEN you find where she is not qualified, let her know.  I'll be waiting with bated breath to hear if she finds a lawyer willing to take her case for discrimination for emotional support chickens. Also, the provider of the "letter" might start getting nervous if they're called to testify under oath, since IMO they'd be admitting to malpractice.