All Forum Posts by: John Pierce

Make sure that whatever you buy has a lithium ion battery and is sized at 20 volts or greater. I have a Hilti set which is incredible, but only because it was free. I would never pay for Hilti (waaay to expensive). I would buy DeWalt or Rigid for the cordless impact and drill. I would still buy a corded Skil saw. Mine is a Porter Cable with a laser and it is incredible. If you get a miter saw for trim carpentry make sure it has a 12" blade. If you ever buy a chainsaw, Stihl is by far the best.

haha. it doesn't work like that.

8 of my 9 houses have wood floors. 6 of them are pretty cheap houses. i don't think sanding and refinishing wood floors every 5 years or so isn't much harder than painting.

Why try to protect them? They need to be refinished anyway. When you refinish them in the future all of the pet damage gets sanded up.

9 people equals a lot of wear and tear. Have they given you any money yet? How much time has passed since the PM told them that they could move in?

$1050 for a 3 bedroom and $850 for a 2 bedroom is a good place to start with Section 8 rents in Richmond.  The most affordable areas are North Church Hill (23223), near the racetrack (23222), and South Richmond (23224).

If you are new to Section 8, it can be tricky to navigate through the process.

I have 2 houses in that area.  If you look at a map of Richmond, the map calls the area immediately south of Manchester "South Richmond."

In general, this is a working class area that has rents and property values steadily rising.  A 2 bedroom house in this area should rent for around $850 and a 3 bedroom house for around $1100 through Section 8.  Outside of the Section 8 program, expect those numbers to be slightly lower.

Thanks for the replies.  So far I have avoided both lawyers and accountants out of fear of the cost. How much does a lawyer and accountant cost?  

@Christopher Phillips I would prefer to cash out of some of the properties and buy more, but both my future wife and dad are opposed to more mortgages.  I'm working on convincing them.

Hi.

Last night at a dinner party I found myself in a conversation with an entrepreneur about taxes, corporate veils, etc. He asked me how my rental properties were structured and was shocked to discover that I personally own my properties with no LLC or corporation as a middleman.

 When I first started investing in rental property I had limited assets, so insulating myself from liability was not high on my list of priorities.   As I acquire more and more assets I become increasingly interested in insulating myself from unnecessary liability. 

I own several rental homes with my father.  These are all owned outright.

I own several more rental homes with my soon to be wife.  Some are mortgaged, some are owned outright.

I was considering starting an LLC with my father and quitclaiming our properties to the LLC.

I was considering starting 2 more LLCs with my wife. The first LLC would hold the rentals that we own outright and any rentals we acquire in the future. The 2nd LLC would be a property management LLC (I self-manage) that manages the houses owned outright and the mortgaged houses that cannot be held by an LLC.

Does this structuring make sense?  Are there any issues that I am not considering?

I provide a refrigerator (ice maker depends on house), range and range hood.  I do not install microwaves, garbage disposals or dishwashers.  If the house is renovated for a stack washer dryer unit I provide it.  If the house is hooked up for separate washer/dryers I do not.  I provide central air and do not allow window units.