All Forum Posts by: Steve Grace

Hello Dan, welcome to the dark scary world that looks so good on late night TV infomercials. I have been doing this for over 40 years and would be happy to give you whatever help I can offer. I am not a hi tech kind of guy, but do pretty well with that email stuff. I can also find my way around a spreadsheet, with some effort.

Two issues for you to start with are: when looking at a fixer, the basics of real estate applies even more and that is location, location, and finally location. You can pay more for a well located fixer than the cheaper one that backs onto the highway.

The other is that a buy and hold is just a flipper that did not sell. You must alway live with "Plan B" as Plan A never works. Most of my deals actually went to "Plan C & D".

You must always calculate the rent your fixed up unit will demand and that rent had better cover your costs. Your investor will need to agree to a "hold" also, or he will force the sale of the property to regain his investment, even if it means you take it in the neck.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanks for the welcome, Jenkins. I have massive experience in this industry; If there is a way to get screwed, glued or tattooed in real estate, I have seen it all, I have been done in by the best (and sad to say, the worst) of this industry. I have been involved in more than 20 lawsuits, several to the Supreme court of CA. I have been both plaintiff and defendant. I have been in city, state and Federal courts.

This is kind of like getting wounded in the war, except for that one day, I had a pretty good time! Same goes for real estate, it is great fun, exciting and will make you a lot of money. What more can you ask. Beats the hell our of being a banker.

Hi everybody, I am Steve Grace, new to the site but old to the business. I have been a broker for over 40 years and dealt in all areas of real estate that I can think of. I did my first tax deferred exchange before Starker was in court. I have built and developed and owned a brokerage with more than 100 agents. Made a lot of money in the 70's, lost a lot of money in the 80's and lost what was left in the 90's. I am now going for my third millionaire status. This is the one Carnegie says you don't lose. I sure hope he is right and you guys can help me do it.

I am a Purple Heart veteran, wounded in 1968, and to all you other vets, I say "Welcome Home".

Al, I am new here, but I think you mean to use a "donation for a charitable gift annuity." It is a totally free donation, no commission, no capital gains taxes and you deduct the full market value of the property from your personal income taxes. The annuity pays the same net income (or greater) for the rest of your life, tenant free. The extra income is generated by the tax deductions that carry forward for five years, generating much larger tax returns or much lower tax bills.

This is not Star Trek, but it is a real deal.