All Forum Posts by: Andrew Grieb

We moved our IRAs (my wife's and mine) to a Self Directed custodian 2014. Since that time we continue to contribute and fund flippers, buy and hold investors, and own a duplex. So far the return in two years has been over 25% total, with minimum effort and all of that is out of the "Market." I am wholesaling several properties this month in my IRA so I anticipate having it grow even quicker.

Whether you contribute or not, the balance can still grow exponentially. The nice thing is that if you don't need the income stream now, it will be that much nicer at 59.5 if you contribute.

BP,

I have a new idea that I would like to get some guidance on. I am currently purchasing a group of single family homes in Western NY; the seller owns them in several LLCs. I always own my properties in an LLC, but rather than establishing new entities in NY, I would like to purchase his entities and therefore not have to transfer the ownership of the properties. I will also avoid going through the hassle of creating new entities in NY that requires "advertising" of the new entities.

I have no idea how to go about researching an existing LLC. I am reasonably certain that all of these LLCs were created specifically for holding rental properties, but I have no idea how to check that they are in good standing with the state, that there are no current legal issues, and that I would not be purchasing pre-existing company problems.

Does anyone have any advice on this?  Thanks.

Great information everyone.  I have a small vacation ski condo and I live about 500 miles away, so I would like to install remote locks.  I am trying to find a lock that allows me to change the key codes remotely--not just open and close the deadbolt.  I already have a wink home network setup there for the thermostat and smoke detector, but I cannot find out (easily) which locks allow code changes via the app.  Can anyone help with that?

Thanks

Thanks for the feedback.  I appreciate it.

Thanks Everyone.

@James Carlson which site do you have to sync the calendars on?  AirBNB syncs to VRBO or Vice Versa?  I didn't see an option as I was setting up an AirBNB profile.

@Al Williamson, Thanks for your response.  The short term area that we are starting in is Angel Fire, NM.  I have consistently seen more properties available on VRBO when looking at specific areas like Angel Fire, but I was not aware that AirBNB is such a large operation. 

I really appreciate your feedback because I would really like a clear comparison before I go with one of the other.  I look forward to your upcoming speaking event in OKC.

@Ariel Smith Is there any issue with using both systems where a double booking could occur? Do the calendars talk to one another at all or do you have to manually de-conflict them?

BP,

I'm having limited success finding posts that compare AirBNB to VRBO and I wanted to see if there are any experienced investors that have used both and can compare and contrast.

From my research it appears that AirBNB does not have the wide range of visibility or customer base that the VRBO network has, but AirBNB is much cheaper.

VRBO charges 8% per rental or $400 per year to be a member, but also charges the renter anywhere from 3-9% on top of the rental price if they pay through VRBO.

Does either system calculate and collect taxes that might be required for the rental based on the local area?

Thanks in advance everyone.

We are new to the vacation rental side of investing, but we have been researching it for a while now.  We (my wife and I) finally decided to Invest in Angel Fire, nm.  It is a Ski town in the winter and a mountain biking/outdoor activity location in the summer.  Property Managers there are charging 40% there, so we are opting to use the VRBO management ourselves, along with automation for us to monitor it, and several local cleaners and handy men should we need them.  Most of the agents in angel fire focus on vacation rentals.

@Jason Clinton wow, I knew by being from MD that PA had a transfer tax, but I had no idea it was 4%! That is crazy. 

Well I've done it multiple times, so I probably don't know what I'm talking about--I'm sorry if I probably wasn't clear. There are multiple different topics we are discussing here, Liability protection, ownership issues with mortgages, and insurance coverage. We were talking about avoiding the DOS by moving the property into an entity for Liability protection and triggering DOS.

One of the safest personal liability protections is to move the property into an LLC, LP or Corp that is properly maintained; I have never had or know of anyone else who has had their lender execute the due on sale clause by moving a property to an entity. That being said, if interest rates go up and banks feel the need to make people refinance, that might change. Simultaneously, I always maintain adequate insurance on each property and each investor should decide what level of insurance that they feel comfortable using.

If you move a property to a Trust, you ARE changing ownership of the property to that entity.  Having a different Trustee is not an issue, but changing the beneficial interest of the trust absolutely violates G. St. G. 

Some investors successfully use the Trust to partially mask the sale of the property.

If you change the Trustee to someone else, you are openly changing who controls the property (Not a violation of G.St.G.) and that could be a management company, your own company, your brother--whoever. 

When the insurance is updated, there is no issue adding the new trustee to the insurance coverage or to include other members on the insurance as beneficiaries and this doesn't need to be hidden.  The key is that the Lender is still named.  If you file a change of beneficial interest and make that public record, it is plain as day that the original owner no longer owns the property.

Typically people trying to mask the sale will assign the beneficial interest with the proper paperwork, only they wait to file that assignment paperwork with the county until a later date, when they are ok with the bank knowing--perhaps when they are refinancing or selling. 

I personally like Subject to property buying and we have used several different types of trusts to do it, under our LLC as Trustee and with proper insurance. We have helped multiple families avoid foreclosure and start over without that home burden, the bank doesn't take a loss, a tenant gets a great place to live, and we get a performing asset.

@Shannon Vanderweide I personally would not hesitate to buy a property because of being concerned about my LLC taking ownership, but understand there might be better ways for you to learn about in the future. I don't feel the need for a huge umbrella policy, but I make sure the properties insurance levels are comfortable without making us a target for ambulance chasers. Nothing wrong with an umbrella policy if you decide you are more comfortable with that, I just prefer not having the properties in my name. Good luck.