All Forum Posts by: Scott Parker

Hello all, I have an investing question in regard to lenders requiring life insurance. I have apparently reached a threshold with my bank (a million dollars in loans) and they are requiring me to get a million in life insurance with the bank as beneficiary.  Is this standard or common practice? I thought my properties were collateral enough. My properties and financials are great, I have no vacancies, they all cash flow very well, and most appraise at 20-30 thousand more than I paid. It seems as if I am having to pay to do business with this bank besides the money they are making on the mortgages. If this is common practice, would it be unreasonable to ask them to pay some or all of the premium? It seems that the bank has mitigated all of its risk at no cost to them. 

Welcome Angela! I am from Laurel and have only been doing real estate for 2 years and just closed on my 22nd property. I also work can to can't (I've worked every day since Thanksgiving including Christmas eve and Christmas day). I am hoping to transition to real estate full time and start enjoying life. As Brandon and Josh say on almost every podcast, just start. It is definitely the hardest part to take the first step but then you are on your way. Good luck! Scott  

Thank you Charlie,  that helps a lot. I didn't know private money lending was as "formal" as a conventional loan. Where I'm from a guy has 100 grand in his bank account and will lend it to you with the terms written on the back of an envelope. That's where I became confused, no one I have ever heard of "services" the loan and gives any type of tax forms. It's all done with a handshake and these people would never loan money if they thought they would be taxed on it. With what you've said I should probably not do private money where I live. 

Hello everyone. I am looking for advice on private money lending as I have never used this avenue and starting to look into how it works. My biggest question is won't I lose the tax benefits of deducting loan interest if I use a private money lender and exactly what does that look like from a business standpoint? I have an LLC so, for example, if I borrow $100,000 from a private money lender how does that look on the accounting side? Do I simply write a company check to that individual every month in his personal name and are there any tax advantages/ disadvantages to using private money? Thank you in advance for your help!

I exclusivly buy and hold. I work full time so flipping is impossible for me. 

I've only been doing this 7 months. I'm buying 3 bedroom 2 bath brick homes with hardwood floors for 50 to 60. They have roofs 5-10 years old and newer central air etc. I reall don't have a set amount for repairs as the houses are in good shape and I've yet to have a repair call. I've also never had a vacancy and actually have a waiting list but Ive run out of houses for sale that meet my criteria. The rent is 900 to 1,000 per month. Keep in mind I live in southern Mississippi. When I read that people buy houses for over 100,000 I cringe. A house considered a mansion is 150,000 and usually comes with at least 10 acres of land. Real estate here is so much different than other places I read and hear about on Bigger Pockets. I get really pumped hearing the podcasts with Grant Cardone and others but with everything seemingly going well I can't seem to break into the elusive "real estate investing as my career". I really appreciate everyone's a advice and encouragement. 

Thanks everyone for your replies. I clear $500 after mortgage, taxes, and insurance. I do manage them all myself which really only requires collecting rent once per month.  I have considered multi family but short of building an apartment complex myself that is hard to do in my area. There really isn't any duplexes and things like that. It is all single family homes or apartment complexes. I guess I should exercise some patience as it seems I am moving at a rapid pace. I am very thankful for how the properties have performed so far. I just read and hear about these guys working for themselves and being their own boss and really want that for myself. I am certainly not complaining because I have had the same great job for 20 years but I am wanting a change. Thank you all again for helping me. 

Hello all, I have been reading Bigger Pockets for a while and listening to all the podacasts as well as reading all the recommended books. My question is what am I missing? I have been buying single family homes for 6 months and just closed on my tenth one. All were rented within 3 days of closing and I am averaging $500 per month cash flow per house. I have read many places about people quitting their jobs etc with 2 or 3 houses. I have 10 great houses with great renters but there is no way that I am even close to being able to quit my job and do real estate full time. I just was wondering what I was missing to be able to accomplish the goal of doing real estate full time. I don't have alot of personal expenses and I have never had a mortgage on my home. My idea was to acquire enough passive income to equal my current income at my job. Any advice or clarity would be greatly appreciated. I absolutely love all the great advice on the site and podcast.  

Hello all, I am new to Bigger Pockets and this is my first post to any blog ever. I have a full time job and started about 6 months ago acquiring single family homes on the side. I have 6 now and have 4 in the works. I have spent hours listening to Bigger Pockets podcasts, read many of the highly recommended books, and read alot of the posts on the blog. My biggest question is what am I missing? I have never had a vacancy, I meet the 2% and 50% rules and cash flowing $400 to 500 per month on each house. What I keep hearing and reading is people quitting there jobs to invest in real estate or become "rich" or wealthy. Things are going great and I am not complaining but it is going to take MANY houses before I could possibly do it full time and I don't see how I could ever be "rich" even with the houses paid off. I get $1,000 per month rent and mortgage, taxes and insurance is $500. With 6 houses that is $3,000 per month but it would take triple that to equal what my salary is. I would love to invest in real estate full time and, most importantly, buy my freedom from going to a job 8 hours per day but it seems almost impossible with the way I am doing it. Just for more information, I have no interest in flipping houses as I would not have the time to do that with a full time job. Thank you for letting me post my first question ever online. I can say that I have learned more from Bigger Pockets than any book I've read on the subject.