All Forum Posts by: Andy J.

They're cheapskates, they won't pay for title insurance. If you're not paying cash they make you pre-qual with BofA, even if you already have a pre-qual with another lender.

Welcome Justin,

I work in the Colorado Springs area and I think you are in a great area to get started. I'd move to Pueblo myself if I didn't have business here already.

If you're looking for a Mentor I can highly recommend Michael Jake of Colorado Springs. I don't believe he's on the site but he has a mentorship program that is absolute dynamite. Localmentor.com is his website. He also has monthly Colorado Springs Real Estate Investment Club meetings that are well worth the drive (check meetup.com). No sales pitch BS, just great people and presentations.

PM me if you want more details or would like to chat.

I have been using Real Prospect for about 7 months now. I don't use it as heavily as my business partner so my experience isn't as thorough. Everything I have wanted to do with it thus far it can handle. It's greatly customizable. I would prefer the search algorithms/functions to be a little more user friendly but it's nothing more than just "getting used to". Like any new software you really have to delve in to see the ins and outs.

For the price I don't think you can go wrong, I believe it was $300 when I purchased. I hope this coupon code is still good:

Use this code when buying to save 10%: SAVE10%-627

As the other gentlemen have said you must learn to use excel, worth its weight in gold. You can use the openoffice excel type program as well (it's FREE) if you don't want to splurge quite yet. I am an engineer by trade so we live and die by spreadsheets.

The option to purchase does not create an equitable interest but merely a contractual right.

However, if you structure a lease/option in a way that grants you all the burdens and benefits of ownership along with terms/payments that more traditionally represent a sale, the IRS may indeed see it as a sale in which case you will have equitable interest (along with other tax ramifications). It comes down to, if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck.......it's a duck.

I use Real Prospect. Has been very handy thus far and holds all the information you could ever want to track. Great for searching through leads, keeping track of campaigns, and keeping everything in order. I think they had a free 30 day trial when I purchased, if they still do then of course I would recommend trying before buying.

Curt,

What Lisa is talking about actually has no "assignment" in it. What she is trying to say is getting an REO under contract through an LLC and then selling that LLC to the end buyer.

Lisa,

1) You'll have to check your state LLC laws and registration system to see when you actually have formed a valid LLC. You definitely want to form the LLC before bidding, otherwise you could be using a name that's already taken.........that could be a big problem obviously.

2) You can use whatever name you'd like for the LLC (as long as it's not already taken of course). Probably best to make it something reasonable and NOT "Mr. Tiddlywinks Fun Time House Buyers, LLC".

3) The forms you'll use to accomplish this is essentially a transfer of ownership or outright sale of the LLC, seek competent legal advice here for specifics.

4) You don't have to do a double closing therefore less cost, time, and hassle. However, making a buyer understand that they will be purchasing an LLC which owns the house rather than just the house itself will take some extra eplanation and finesse.

Firstly, you may want to consider placing the home inside a trust with your LLC as beneficiary. It will mask the true ownership of the home, not a foolproof strategy but may discourage a lawsuit and/or make it harder/more expensive for someone to pursue. I believe the only way to reveal the beneficiaries is to subpeona the trustee (whom I would recommend not be you or your partners, I use friends out of state).

It would be unlikely that you would lose the house in that situation. If it is mortgaged to the full extent of its value it brings no benefit to the litigant, unless they really want to become a landlord with no equity and poor cash flow. They could take ownership interest in your LLC, again though if all you have in this LLC is a fully encumbered property it's unlikely they want it.

I would also recommend Bronchick's wealth protection strategies, some very insightful options to encumbering your property.

Secondly, you need to raise the liability insurance on your property. I have $1 mil. liability per entity (not per house), I believe the cost is around $100/year. $100k liability gets eaten up pretty quickly in a slip and fall lawsuit.

There are no seasoning requirements for VA financing.

That's kind of a big assumption Bill, lol. I imagine someone probably learned about that the hard way and is in fact 1 of 6 sub-tenants of the same property. I heard of that happening with wholesaling before, 6 or more folks showing up to closing. I'm sure the title company loved that.

Yes, I of course include a "no-subletting" and "no-assignment" clause in both contracts with the tenant/buyer. I however do not assign my option, I have a lease/option with the owner (one document) and a lease/option with the sub-tenant/buyer (two separate documents).

I know quite a few investors in my area that take applications online via a secured page "https" on their company website.

Personally, I have hesitations for doing so, not because of the security but because of how easy it is. I will elaborate. I don't do straight rentals, only Rent to Own. I want to be sure that a tenant/buyer is serious about getting into my program. If they take the time to use a pen to fill out an application and find a fax machine to send it to me, I would think they are more motivated than someone who goes online and types in a few fields and clicks "send".

I get enough "flakes" that send applications in and change their minds anyway, I believe that making this process easier for them would increase the number of applications but not the pool of serious qualified occupants. However, I do see this becoming more commonplace in the future and will likely have to adjust accordingly when the time comes..........but not yet.