All Forum Posts by: Mary B.

Hope you all are doing great. First, I want to thank the folks here on BP it's wonderful to be able to speak to so many people who are willing to share good information with each other.

I come from an investment banking background but am now focusing on REI. I am currently looking to form my legal entity for my REI company and one of the CPA's that I spoke to mentioned that an S Corp may be a better fit for me than an LLC. Because of the passive income of an s Corp vs the LLC which may be individual income taxes. Not sure if it's because I'm single and don't have a partner but was wondering if any of you have experience in this area? Or what have you done for your companies?

I plan on working buy and hold strategies to build my portfolio and may even take advantage of some rehab or fix and flip. My goal is to take advantage of any tax rules in favor of either the LLC or s Corp to allow for lower liabilities and increase the cash flow.

Thanks in advance guys.

Cheers,
Edwin Diaz

You know you can be both - LLC's can be classified as single membered / disregarded entity; single-membered / Corporation; multi-membered / Corp or multi-membered Partnership. After/If you choose to be an LLC with the State, you complete a Form 8832 entity classification document with the IRS to choose. If you don't choose and you are the only member they will likely consider your company a disregarded entity. Multi-members have to choose - partnership or corporation, as there are business filing requirements for both. Here's a copy of the IRS form. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8832.pdf

Kudos,

Mary

0 Votes

@Jerry W.

That was a frightening story especially when you mentioned going down hills and icy roads. Thank God you're physically undamaged and no one else was hurt either. Not to make light of it but money comes and go. The situation could've been much worse. As the saying goes: You never lose because even if you don't win you learn. Happy New Year.

Kudos,

Mary

1 Vote

Originally posted by @Bill Gulley:

Originally posted by @Jasmine Brumfield:

@Mary B. Thank you for responding to me! Definitely taking your advice into consideration. Knowing the neighborhoods is a key step I think a lot of people don't think about.

Actually, understanding your market goes to the basics of real estate.

I see you're just starting out, I urge you to learn the basics of real estate before trying to deal in real estate, the gurus don't teach the basics, just the schemes.

I have several methods of how to buy and sell a property that meets the goal of wholesaling legally and ethically on BP as well as in other materials which are free. You also need to read mt blogs on BP as they should serve you very well starting out in real estate.

Also, read current threads in the forums about wholesaling, you'll find that the guru methods taught can be dangerous.

After you get the basics of real estate (takes just a few days) team up with these buyers in your area and implement the safe, legal and ethical ways of closing on properties and transfer interests at or just after closing. It's not buyers who are at risk in wholesaling, it's the wholesaler, your buyers should operating in a way that doesn't leave you hanging out to dry if an issue should arise.

Learn real estate basics to be keen in '16! :)

Care to share the link to your blog?

Kudos,

Mary

0 Votes

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

What are folks thoughts on signing listing agreement with realtors, limited to only three months

I think its great as a trial period. You give them 90 days to perform whatever task they said that they would. If they do it within the 90 days then you can do 6 months or a year if you so choose. If they don't perform said duties within the 90 days, then you part ways no harm no foul. Its much better then a year or two agreement off the back and they want commission of any r.e. transaction of yours in that time frame even if they haven't done squat for it. My coin.

Kudos,

Mary

0 Votes

Originally posted by @Jared S.:

Is this a good idea? Are there good deals to be had? I'm on a website of an RE investment group that wholesales houses. Typical description / example... 3 bedroom 2 bath for 79k. Needs 25k in rehab costs. Will sell after repairs for 175k. So basically a potential 70k profit? Seems like a good deal so why aren't you (the wholesale co.) doing it and making the 70k profit instead of wholesaling it to me for 10k over what they paid for it?

Did you ask them? Seems like you are looking for leads online and may have found one or at least a source for them. Now you're on here second guessing it for some unknown reason. Perform due diligence on the subject property to see if its a deal at all. Try utilizing the Education tool bar above for deal analyzing.

Kudos,

Mary

0 Votes

Hello and Welcome to BP,

Definitely put in the time to fully explore all that BP has to offer via blogs, podcasts, webinars ^^^Education^^^ tool bar above will help immensely. I always recommend taking your time rather than attempting to rush a cram learning session. In any event, happy learning and happy new year.

Kudos,

Mary

0 Votes

What are some of the things that you are doing to secure the buyers?

What's the status of the neighborhoods - is it in decline, stagnant or rising?

Knowing your market is not just about knowing the numbers(which are very important btw) but its about knowing the neighborhoods - if its a buy and hold(mostly tenants compared to homeowners living there etc) or fix and flip - at times it can be both. The difference - a fix and flip neighborhood can secure all types of investors but a rental only neighborhood will only secure buy and hold investors. Low income landlord investors won't close on $150K+ properties. Doesn't matter if they can, they won't as its not their preference. Those investors/buyers looking for $150K & > won't bother with $40K & <. You have to be able to match the right buyer/investor with their preferred neighborhood. My coin.

Kudos,

Mary

1 Vote

Originally posted by @Ali Daiy:

Originally posted by @Ethel Weaver:

It is a great idea. Have you tried to pitch it at your local REI meeting?

No, I was thinking of emailing a few hundred "We Buy Houses" businesses & real estate agents with my custom real estate designs like these. Or get a pro account here on bigger pockets and offer this service to investors on the marketplace section. I was asking out of curiosity to see if anyone would be interested in this, i'm glad you think it is a good idea!

I would agree with Ethel on this. It's a better pitch in person at a REI meeting. You get to do a demonstration from your tablet / laptop and such. Word of mouth will grow your designing business from there. Quite a few online ads by web designers that offer a free website up to 3 maybe 4 pages to real estate investors / agents etc. That's your competition. So you will definitely need to stand out from the rest as to why your product is better than the FREEbies being offered. Happy New Year.

Kudos,

Mary

1 Vote

Free and clear is best in most situations. If the house has debt attached to it, such as liens, 1st & 2nd mortgage, then you will have to do the calculations yourself to determine if its a deal or not. Don't forget to use the Maximum Offer Allowed formula. All of those things should be done before you present it to any buyer. If you're wholesaling, only bother with Off-market properties only.

Kudos,

Mary

0 Votes

Originally posted by @Assaf Kehati:

I'm thinking to buy an apartment instead of renting one in Brooklyn. One direction was to hack housing, which is to buy a 2 family house and live in one of the units and rent the other unit. But, it's really hard for me to see how the numbers work out.

Let's say for a one bedroom apartment in Brooklyn you pay around $1200-$1500 (around Prospect Park area). Then, if you buy an apartment (not even talking about the 2 family house) it will cost you $250-$300K. Only for mortgage you will pay around $1000 a month, on top of that you will pay insurance, taxes, repairs, utilities, and attorney fees, etc. Maybe I don't see how the numbers work, but something doesn't make sense.

I'm trying to look for an option with positive cash flow but it looks like it's better to rent then do buy. Still, I do want to get into the market of buying a property, and buy one every year, but it looks not possible numbers wise.

Anything I am missing in my calculations? Would love to hear your thoughts!

Thank you!

For one thing, you're missing the money amounts even if approximate for: taxes, repairs(labor & supplies), utilities, closing cost, down payment, rehab cost, insurance, mortgage payment, miscellaneous expense and rental income. You need to get a ball park figure by plugging in numbers for each expense / income, be it a one time or / and monthly. Start there and work onward until your numbers make sense. If they don't then you need to find a market where they do make sense. My coin.

Kudos,

Mary

1 Vote

All Forum Posts by: Mary B.

Mary B. has started 17 posts and replied 1764 times.

Post: S-Corp vs LLC for REI

Post: YOU HAD A BAD DAY

Post: Starting Wholesaling and Need to Compile Buyer/Investor List

Post: Three-month list things

Post: Buying from wholesale company

Post: New Member over here in Atlanta

Post: Starting Wholesaling and Need to Compile Buyer/Investor List

Post: should I offer this service, to investors & realtors?

Post: What to look for?

Post: How do you buy? Numbers don't work out.