All Forum Posts by: Scott Voytko

I say don't use a partner unless you really need to... I had a good friend as a partner. A disagreement caused a split, and an end of the friendship. To avoid foreclosure I bought out his share, and he upgraded his truck. You can partner on a house by house basis... But make sure your plan is bullet proof.

There are good schools and bad schools everywhere, regardless of location. Test score performance is directly related to neighborhood demographics... So when you have doctors making babies with lawyers, chances are their baby will succeed in school. You can make sure you child has a good education by being supportive, in almost any school. I agree that if you go inland... You can get a much better investment. Plus, florida has a very friendly "take your kid to whatever school you want" rule as long as you provide transportation.

Anyone in Jacksonville know of any good roofers?? I need a roof redone in fleming island.

Anyone in Jacksonville know of any good roofers?? I need a roof redone in fleming island.

Hi!

My success story began in 2008 when I bought my first rental property with a friend. My partner worked as a contractor, and I was the finance guy. I was way too scared to get started on my own, and needed someone to help with the stuff I didnt know (maintenance). My partner wanted to buy 20 houses, and I was too scared to go beyond 1...

We held the house for about 1.5 years and were great friends, until he did something where I could no longer trust him. I had to immediately cut ties. We had overpaid for the house by a little, so after 2 years we had no equity to sell. I wanted to sell it, and cover the losses myself, but he refused to sign the paperwork to sell the home or have me, as an agent, represent us as the seller. (although I wanted to do it commission free obviously, as we had no equity). He demanded a buyout, and since my father was the mortgage holder, I was put in a very difficult situation where I had to buy him out for a couple thousand dollars... out of a house with no equity!

This was in Florida and the market was still crashing. Luckily as the finance guy, I began to see the potential in rentals all around me. From 2010- present, I have purchased 8 more properties, and plan to go to our original goal of at least 20... by myself. Although I felt the buyout of a couple thousand was too much back in 2009, it has yielded me a 14,000% return on investment. Had this awful partner experience never happened, I would have never found the courage to buy more properties and begin to find my own financial freedom.

Often books I have read say something along the lines of "make sure you have the little victories along the way, otherwise buying and renting can get boring" Whatever those little victories are.. be it a car, vacation, etc.

My main job is a Vice-Principal, and sometimes in this field victories can be slim. So in real estate, when I make a sale as a realtor, buy a new rental, rent out a house, etc... I play my victory song.

My question for all of you is... do you have a victory song?

Mine is... Akon - I'm so Paid

What's yours?

I've heard mixed answers, including in podcast 60 where they say they are not the owner, but the manager, of a rental property they own.

It is my understanding that if you are a licensed realtor(at least in Florida), and own the property, you must disclose that you have a financial interest in the property to any potential renter (and of course, buyer). What do you do? And how do you disclose it?

My first instinct is to disclose it in the lease, but portray myself as the manager. Just curious how everyone else handles it.

My rentals with private investors are 15 yr mortgages, and they don't cash flow... These are with family members . So, my tax return shows little income for those, and due to rehab costs on other loans, I depreciate so much that my rentals actually show little if gain on my tax return. So we were not confident I could keep buying 5-10 due to the properties I am about to report on my 2013 taxes (including a big cash out refinance on my own house). My wife, though, has zero debt and I just didn't realize I could start using her name and income., but our joint account for down payments.

Thanks for all of your input. However, I do enjoy using banks. Although it's worse than a prostate exam, the interest rate over 30 years just can't be beat.

I currently own 8 rentals, with 4 of them with mortgages under my name, and the other 4 with mortgages to my company name using private money with high interest ( they still cash flow so I don't mind the high interest as it stays in family anyway)

I was recently talking to my lender and asking about financing for properties 5-20, which seems to be a very difficult process, one of which I am not confident I could qualify for since I make sure my tax return shows as little gain as possible.... AKA The curse that helps with taxes but hurts with financing..

My question: my lender told me that I could have my wife purchase up to 4 rental properties in her name, because with investment properties a marriage does not imply both name go on the mortgage or deed. I then asked.... What about down payment? Which the lender said my wife could use my Joint bank account for funds ... I then asked... But we will file taxes jointly and the underwriter will see I have plenty of loans on my schedule c... Which she answered, as long as they are in your name, they won't matter.

So, my understanding was that my wife can have her own 4 easy mortgages, use my income for down payments, while at the same time they ignore my liabilities. This was in Jacksonville Florida... So not sure if it varies by state.

Can anyone confirm this as a possibility? I've never heard of it before, nor heard my lender discuss it. I feel like I misunderstood it.

hi all

I'm a realtor and investor in Jacksonville, but I focus in clay county (orange park, fleming island, middleburg )

I can give you some brief insight into the jax and surrounding market. History lesson: river cities tend to sprawl out and grow north against the flow of the river. Because, of course, people would bath and whatnot in the river and the wealth always had to be upstream so they get the freshwater. The St. John's river in Jacksonville, though, is one of 2 rivers in the world that flow north and Not south. So the wealth tends to go south in Jacksonville, opposite to typical river cities. When you look at the maps, consider that as you look into property values.

As for the bad neighborhoods next to good neighborhoods, you're absolutely right. Housing along the river is expensive, and gradually decreases as you get further from it. In some cases, 2 blocks separate 40k from 400k. Blocks change quick in Jacksonville, so be careful to not see low price as a good deal.