All Forum Posts by: Steven LaClair

I didn't see this suggested yet, but for our place (somewhat close to yours), we raided the furniture outlets at the Asheville outlet mall.  Our entire property was nearly furnished completely by barely flawed furniture from West Elm at a fraction of the MSRP.

Then we rented a uhaul, filled it up and drove it back (2hr)

Sitting around and waiting for staggered furniture delays wasn't an option for us.

Keith,

Glad to hear you're having success in the area.  We're under contract for our first property in Sugar Mountain.  I'm located in Raleigh and would be more than happy to grab lunch one of these days to bounce ideas and gain insights from your experiences if you're able to make the time in the coming weeks.

Thanks!

Steve

I'm saying that you can setup the LLC yourself for next to nothing but when it comes to actually having the Articles of Organization which is the guidelines and bylaws of how your company is ran there is no reason to half *** it with legalzoom or some other random website...

I had our articles wrote up for $250 by a real attorney, it's an important document, do things right.

I don't know what CA charges to set one up, but here in NC I set mine up for $125 if I remember right and then I have to pay $200 year to the state... But I would definitely have a local attorney set up your Articles of Organization instead of somewhere like legalzoom.. My CPA said it makes his head spin all of the companies that are running out there with bootleg LLC paperwork.

The process of getting the name is disgustingly easy though, it would make you sick if you paid somebody to do it when you found out how little it was. After you have a name setup then you can go ahead and contact the IRS for your EIN (which can be expedited the same day) and then you're in business.

Thanks for all the advice guys.

I've been trying to sponge everything I can from this site, it's definitely going to be helpful.

I meant it in a light-hearted manner, even put a smiley face afterwards. Keep the good advice coming guys!

Typerider,

While I understand what you're saying; however, to compare to an inheritance is borderline insulting :) I'm taking a year of my live to sacrifice away from my nice home and cozy crap to work 12 hour days/7days a week, sleep on a little cot in a warzone because I can see the bigger picture.

Even right now with the work I do in the IT field I do very well, I'm making well over the double family median income for where I live and at 25 it's impressive, but it's miserable? I feel that I've already bought my box tickets to the Rat Race and my short time on this earth will be spent as a sucker.

This has little to do with getting rich, if I could bring in the same monthly income via rentals that I do from my full-time job then I would be the happiest camper ever. But I know it could be exceeded 10-fold with a proper strategy, so this is why I come to you guys

To ask why I've always been fascinated with real estate? I don't know, I just always have been, for the last few years. And in the career sector I'm in now it's too fast-paced and you can be hot one minute and a dinosaur the next. But all the while property and the concepts behind it have been consistent through the eras. Nothing seems really enticing to me about taking a nest egg and playing the odds with the stock market at all.

ncarey,

That's whole part you stated about having a larger sum of cash to "leapfrog" steps is sort of what I wanted to know if it was a reality. It seems that most success stories I've read have been spending years building equity/collateral in smaller properties to finally dive into larger ventures.

Like stated I have much time to really think this through and research a good game plan but I'm always interested to hear what the experts would suggest of course :lol:

I wouldn't think I'd be able to get my feet wet via development, just seems too over my head. In the city where I live as well as my hometown (which I would like to get something going there as well) are both military towns where it seems to make more sense to buy and hold since people are always in and out. But then you get into the whole property management side of things, in addition I'm not sure how effectively valuate the potential costs of bringing a home up to par.

I just know there's so much I'm really eager to learn, I just want to make sure I'm looking in the right places and using my time effectively. My background now is solely on IT/new media/internet (which I know I could use for my advantage since I haven't seen a decent listing site thus far :) ) and not so much in property/construction.

I'd really like to know what some of the other guys that have "made it", or perhaps steps you'd take differently as a younger guy starting out with a bundle of cash like that.

Let me just start out and say I've been looking for a forum like this for awhile. Just as an intro my name is Steve and I'm 25. I'm from Fayetteville North Carolina which the home of one of the largest Military communities. I've always been facinated with real estate and success stories of the guys that made it but I guess the reality of it for me is that it always seemed out of reach.

Well my company is offering to send me overseas to one of those warzone countries (I'm an IT guy, not a killer, plus I know a bunch of guys already over there it's rather safe) and it comes with rather sizable compensation. I'd rather not be the typical american and come back with some italian sports car but perhaps use cash that's in the bank to make an investment in my future and get me into an exciting career for once.

So the question I'm posing to the experts, if you were just starting and had a giant lump sum of money (roughly 220k after taxes) to play with in a market that isn't really inflated what would you do?

I have a long time to really sort this out and think of a strategy but I figured this wouldn't be a bad place to start!

Thanks,
Steve