All Forum Posts by: Simone Johnson

@Simone Johnson 

welcome to Bigger Pockets. We are here to help. 

You mentioned that you have never owned a home. Your first deal should be buying your own home. Buy something that you can make into a rental. Live in it for a year then move out and make it your first rental. Don't invest through your LLC yet. You will have to make a larger down payment and you will pay a higher interest rate.

You should also join a local real estate investors association for networking and education. Check out GAREIA dot com. They have monthly educational meetings for new investors and landlords. 

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

@Simone Johnson Keep in mind most financial institutions including credit unions won't give you a loan in the name of your LLC? Only hard money and private lenders will do so. You can purchase properties in your name to get a better rate and shortly thereafter convert the property to your LLC name. Some credit unions even have good rates as an investor. I've had nothing but bad experiences with Wells Fargo as a homeowner and refinanced a rental with them 10 years ago. I have my business checking with them, but never again as borrower. Good luck and good investing

@Simone Johnson You can apply for loans under your LLC after just day 1 of creating it. That is because banks will always require a guarantor to sign for the loan as well (which will you be).

@Simone Johnson

Yeah people love it when you fix up the neighborhood especially your local government. If the code enforcer is a guy, remember this, “food is the key to a man’s heart.” That’s true for a hungry code enforcer who might be low on the totem pole.

I had code violation issues in rentals I had. For me, I hired expeditors from the area, they're familiar with the local codes, recommend the correct way to mitigate, and in the end, turned out cheaper.

One of the violations is an illegal apartment, would've cost $35K or more to have it totally torn down, blueprints drawn, and rebuilt. My expeditor were friends with the assistant commissioner, had lunch, the order was reversed, we had the blueprints done, minor changes made, the total job cost $6K including the expeditor fees. The expeditor knew the logic behind the original order, i.e. tearing down the unit, convinced the assistant commissioner why it didn't apply to me, and fill out the paperwork for the permits in a way to mitigate fees. This saved numerous often stressful trips to code enforcement, saved time and money in the process. I wouldn't be able to do it by myself, don't even know where to start, what to ask for, when running down to the enforcement office.

Coincidentally when the job was completed and ready for inspection, turned out the entire code enforcement staff but one in the county was arrested for accepting bribes, so we had to hire private inspectors of our own to inspect and file the reports, which was approved. Thinking back, it was either paying bribes, getting arrested, or paying expeditor fees, rest easy, and let the expeditor handle everything.