All Forum Posts by: Anthony Freeman

Hi Everyone

I thought it might be interesting or cool to start a thread about creative financing solutions to buying real estate investments.  I had a really interesting conversation with a new group of investors about all the different ways you can buy real estate right now.

For example, I'm doing several deals right now that all involve some aspect of creative financing.  100% seller financing, rent to own, seller financing part of the deal ( some bringing private money/syndications, others are using a loan to finance part of the deal).  Subject-to financing has been thrown around as an idea but I haven't actually done a sub-to deal yet.  

Would love to hear what others strategies are right now with the difficult lending landscape

Real estate right now seems like there are a lot of buyers and sellers, but you have to start getting creative to put deals together.  At least, that is my experience!  I'm trying to sharpen my creative thinking skills so that I can serve my clients as our goal is to get deals CLOSED and everyone feels like they are getting a good deal at the end of the day 

Has anyone used a "203k FHA construction loan"? I am curious to know how it works and what the rate is relative to the typical FHA-conforming loans.

I think the 'Tax rate' is normally fixed by the county.

I think you want to decrease the 'assessed valuation'.
A tax advisor likely won't be able to do this for you.

There are firms that specialize in this stuff. I never personally did it but from my understanding, the firm, if successful in reducing your taxes will ask for a percentage of the savings(somewhere in the 20% to 35% range)

I.E. if they save you $10,000 in property taxes, they will ask for $2,000 to $3,500

These firms are local, so I would do a better bigger pockets search by mentioning which city / county your friends apartment building is in.

Best of luck

It would not be a "tax advisor."

Google "property tax protest" plus the name of the county where the building is located, and you will see the firms that offer this service. You can also ask in a local BiggerPockets forum for recommendations on property tax protest consultants.

@Anthony Freeman There sure are a lot of options in software.  There's a number of mature options for do it yourself landlords including Rentec Direct, Buildium, Appfolio, and a number of discount options like Rentredi, Avail and Tenant Cloud which are able to offer a lower price as they pass on some fees to your tenants.  For larger portfolios, you might look into Yardi or Realpage too but the minimums on these larger platforms might make them impractical.  I recommend trying those that have free trials and see which one fits your style best and which provides you the best customer service.  Some SAAS software have great service and others have non-existent or very poor service.  Identify the one that works best for your workflow.