All Forum Posts by: Steven Bishop

How are you financing the initial property acquisition? I have a HELOC set up on my personal residency and use the cash from that to purchase the rentals in the name of the LLC. I then do the rehab, etc. and take the renovated property to the bank for the cash-out refinance.

If a bank does rental property financing, they will typically also do lines of credit secured against the excess equity in the property, up to the LTV limit.

I have all my rentals in a single LLC but if you have them separated out, you could shell them and have an umbrella LLC that owns and operates all the rest. This might simplify things, but honestly you probably need to talk with a cpa and an atty because you situation is a bit complex and you want to make sure it is structured properly for your state.

If you are a new investor and not familiar with construction, etc. I would definitely recommend that you either bring a trusted contractor with you to review the property or have an inspection done prior to purchase so that you know what you are getting into.  Additionally, certain types of damage will make the property difficult or expensive to insure (bad roof, damaged foundation, etc.)  All of these issues are surmountable, but you definitely need to have a clear idea of what you're signing up for on each property.

I've had good luck getting my properties insured with State Farm. They didn't have any problem insuring them under the LLC and the price was very reasonable.

Hey Mike, I'd recommend Don Lawton at Gregory & Assoc. in Petersburg.  Great guy, has rentals himself so knows what he's doing.

Thanks to you both!

Hi folks,

I'm new to the real estate investing world and am trying to sort some things out in order to get started. I want to close on my properties in the name of an LLC (which I assume is a common issue), but am having trouble finding a bank willing to do this. Does anyone have any advice on how to find lenders that are willing to do this? I found Dwell Finance, but the interest rates are a bit high (6-7%) and I've seen some negative reviews of their lending process on the forums. I'm in the Richmond, VA area.

Thanks for any advice you guys have!

-Steven Bishop

Hi folks,

I am new to BiggerPockets and am just starting to educate myself about real estate investing.  My question is somewhat existential and/or theoretical at this point but I wanted to get some thoughts from the collective wisdom of the BP community. 

A lot of industries are going through significant technological changes and real estate is no different.  I have been reading quite a bit about 3-D printing and its possible ability to revolutionize the construction industry.  For example, the company WinSun has been able to use this tech to build large-scale projects rapidly and at low-cost:  http://time.com/3674557/3d-printed-apartment-build....  

Do you all think this technology will change the way we invest in RE?  If the RE market becomes very efficient or houses become a cheap, easily replaced commodity, how would you make a profit from RE other than starting your own construction firm?  Just some food for thought, would love to hear opinions on this!