All Forum Posts by: Wayne Smith

I used a 7 mm oak flooring from Lumber Liquidators earlier this year.  it was on sale for around $1.60 sq/ft and I love the stuff.  We put it in 2 houses and its doing well so far, and hides imperfections

I had a tenant move in (he was my best friend from high school).  About 6 months into the lease, he thinks he smells smoke and climbs in the attic and searches for 3 hours for "hot spots" using a thermal imaging camera (keep in mind he is the town fire marshall),  finally after not finding any hot spots in the attic he goes to the back yard and discovers the neighbor is BBQing.   He also asked me to replace all the plugs and light switches in the house because if it catches on fire, it will look bad for him as the fire marshall. I told him he was more than welcome to replace them, but I would not be paying for them.   He has been there for 8 years, and I don't see him moving any time soon!

Welcome to BP.  

I am 48, and started buying houses when I was 34.  I put the minimum down and put most of them on 30 year loans.  As I have gotten older, and closer to when I want to retire, I have decided to pay off mortgages.  I also have enough income to comfortably quit my job if I wanted to.   I have paid off 5 houses in the last 2 months and only have 4 with mortgages, which I plan on paying off within 2 years.   I see the advantages to both side of the debate, and I think it all boils down to what you are comfortable with.  When I was younger, I was comfortable with more debt.  As I approach retirement, I want EVERYTHING paid off, so that is my goal.  Sit down and think about what you want out of life, what passive income you want, and at what point in your life, and then make a decision.  The good thing is, even if you pay off your properties and later decide you want the cash out of them, you can go get a loan.   Good luck, sounds like you are on track to be successful!!

I am in the process of refinancing my houses under one loan using a blanket loan.  I am using a local credit union and using a commercial loan.    Try that and Good luck.

I agree that I would wait until the tenant moves out.  Secondly, in my lease it states that I can show a unit the last 30 days of the lease, and if they don't comply they have to pay a fee to me (in my case it's $250/ per showing denied)  If this is legal in your state, I would add this to the lease.  I still wouldn't show it with an aggressive dog present though

Definitely the 4 unit if the numbers make sense.  

@Bill Exeter

Isn't there a time frame for you to buy another property once you enter a 1031?  sorry but I have very limited knowledge of 1031's so this may be a basic answer.    I am eventually wanting to get into apartment complexes so  a 1031 is something I am wanting to look into

sounds like a great idea

IMHO I own 10 houses and do not have an LLC. I will be putting all mine into a single LLC when I refi them next month. I think it all depends on the amount each is worth. Mine are worth 200k or less, with most being around 100K or so, so I keep a million dollar umbrella policy to cover me. I agree with most and talk to a knowledgeable attorney and take their advice. There is to much variation in cost per state.