All Forum Posts by: Bob Baldwin

I don't post much here but needless to say I have learned a lot here . Been Flipping and Fixing ONLY about 45 years !! Not really looking to do more deals ,Happy with where my family and I are at in life . 

Here is the deal : My family and sellers heir have known each other about the same length of time .. Mother and Father are both now deceased . Daughter lives in Nor Cal she called me up with this offer : The house is appraised at $129,000.00 All she wants out of it is 50 K . However since she has 5 years until retirement this is what she is asking 25k when we agree to the deal .The house needs Furnace , Hot water heater , interior and exterior Painting ,additional insulation in the attic .septic tank pumped out . New carpeting .I am quite sure 30-35 K will cover it all 

However she is willing to pay for 50% of cost If I agree to advance her 25 K which will be credited to her NET NET 50K  So in 5 years her Net Net Check would be reduced to 25 K

Why the hold for 5 years ? She want to have the work done and rent it out for $775 per month which is the going rate for SFH in this area . She is also willing to go 60 Her / 40 Me % splitting the monthly Rent . She also wants me to Manage the property for her !!

She came to town for the mothers funeral ,Gathered up Important documents and took them to her familys attorney for probate purposes .in this town . She claims she has no reason to come back here saying Throw out or Donate anything left in the house 

I have tried making all kinds of offers to her reguarding an outright purchase but she claims she wants the income for 5 years to make the deal fly .

Like I posted I don't NEED to do the deal and quite honestly after 5 years what ever Net Net Proceeds come my way is going to the Grandkids trust fund anyhow  As long as her and my attorneys are on the same page I am Ok with it 

Any Idea on How you would structure this deal ? I am only doing 2-3 deals a year now enjoying my retirement . But still like to stay active when the mood strikes me ..

Joe: I have done a few of these O/I sales . 

       My best leads have come from Commercial R/E Brokers .

       I have also driven " during the Day Through Industrial Sites looking out for Empty Parking Lots 

       Local Chambers of Commerce have actually been helpful

      You just have to be willing to put in the leg work . There is always a little bit of "BIRDDOG" in all that want to succed

      NO COM / Ind / Retail specific forums I am aware of but from an Investment standpoint the same advice you get here as relates to " Residential " still applies . 

My apologies ,I am NOT trying to Chastise you BUT Why WAIT till the CASH is in SHORT supply ?

Why NOT Get 2 Fulltime jobs NOW ?
OR
A full time job NOW PLUS a Part-time Job working with someone with experience in Short sales or Working In the self storage Industry Part time to learn more .

My other concern is HOW will the DEFICIENCY's and Defaults affect your ability to obtain Funding down the road .?

Sure you MAY get a 0 $ down deal but how are you going to pay for closing costs, Repairs , Insurence other Holding costs ?

Steve :
Hyper inflation IS a VERY REAL CONCERN

I don't remember who stated it but " Socialism is a GREAT CONCEPT until you run out of OTHER PEOPLES MONEY "

Sadly look at WHAT is being TAUGHT in School Today certainlyNOT " SELF RELIANCE "

OBOZO ,his Minions , the Libtards and MANY in congress are "WORTHLEES and DON"T have a clue how to ADDRESS the Problem

Seal the Borders ,Send the Illegals back home . Seems like anyone can get on assistence today .

Investigate the Fraud and abuse TOO many are STEALING our Savings

Get us Out of the United Nations

STOP SENDING our MONEY to countries that HATE US

Jeff:
thanks for the compliment I could NOT have gotten established without that full time job . Probably could have stayed at UPS for 40 years ,done some side investing ,Retired and been quite happy .but after you do a few Side investments ,see SOME $$$ , Really understand financing and compounding ,you really get hooked on it . Yet I always had the NEED of a security blanket to fall back on prioritizing the wife and kids first

one area that I failed to mention on above posting and must give a great shout out to was the local Probate court judge .As far as relationships go .I still get calls from that office .Once you are "ESTABLISHED in a small community ,typically most workers were commuting 25 miles to get GOOD JOBS . Typically when a husband would pass on ,the wife wanted sell out the house and property and go to assisted living or smaller house or move in with one of the kids . I would many times get a call from the wife , kids or the probate judge before they contacted the nearest Real Estate Office . Many times I knew the people or the kids sat down with them and offered a few options for ALL involved . Surprisingly NOT ALL wanted CASH up front I would make my proposals ,let them think about it for a week or so and proceed on their wishes if they decided to move ahead .Many times they ended up better off than had they sold out everything Wholesale .

sometimes I wish I had a DOLLAR for every Quit Claim Deed I ever Signed.

moving on to the Commercial and Industrial subdivisions was surely an education in itself though the rewards were greater. That was when the many sleepless nights started happening .

One of the site that I MAY KEEP is a Mini storage complex very low maintenence and Great Cash Flow

strangeset Investment : Bought a Historical Church and cemetary from the methodist church ,Put new roof on the building ,Painted inside and out .ETC . I had 12 acres along side it .deeded the whole thing to the historical Society .Income to be used to finance and maintain some of their other projects .Probably would have done the same with or with-out the Tax Deduction .

I know I will get people PO'd at me but from what I read on here :
WHY would you fight 10 other people to Wholesale a house to a FIX and Flipper ?
Why would you want to invest in the inner city war zone ?
Still can't and Won't use Social Media . I just don't get it
apparently for the GURU's there is more money to be made in selling courses and boot camps and mentoring programs then in actually doing deals LOLTo each his own .
As the times change ,People change ,society changes look at what we have today . THE MAKERS and THE TAKERS VERY SAD

Jeff: Did the UPS thing till I secured retirement .
I suppose to some extent I was VERY LUCKY
Look at the title 40 years That is a LONG TIME
When I started Land was 10-12 K $ per acre
another 20-23K to build a 1200 Sq Ft 3 BR house
So for 35K At 6% interest with 20% down you could still get in a new house .
Todays land values 150K for a building lot in good Neighborhood
we did not use the Fix and Flip terms back then but the first deal I did ,I bought the House for 9K put 3K into it and sold it for 16 K I thought that was BIG MONEY back then.
As noted above I had great Mentors back then
Living on the Cheap and Literally putting every penny available and sometimes using primary residence as Collateral ." NOT SURE I WOULD DO THAT AGAIN " keep building , rehabbing Flips and building the banker and Lawyer relationships to get a track record
established and expanding from there .
Even at the point of being established I continued to PUT BACK EVERY PENNY and PAYDOWN the NOTES . Many were the time that JOB money went into the equation .
I did leave out a couple of "SECRET TRICKS " Though LOL
when the farm was Liquidated 90 building lots I asked to keep 10 lots , Let the developer put in the road ,Drainage ,Utilitie Lines and sidewalks .
Had a fiend at work that inheireted his fathers small construction business Backhoe ,dump truck front end loader , power shovel .He worked UPS nights driving a semi did Installations of septic systems ,dug out foundations etc;
The banker had 2 nephews one was a Plumber , One was An electrician
My lawyer also had 2 nephews one had a carpentry company one had an HVAC business
All of the above were looking to get into their own houses SO on a continuing basis over a few years WHERE do you suppose they got their building lots from ? I ended up trading the lots for services rendered to each . It was beneficial to all involved . That did NOT happen ALL at once as somtimes they DID need there CASH-FLOW .
Another thing I use to do was Take the Banker , The Lawyer and the CPA out for a Prime Rib Business Lunch when I was considering doing another project . Again WHO do you think I was going to be using for Contractors ? I tend to think that it was very helpfull to me at the time to have done it that way .Put ALL the CARDS on the table , Ask Opinions ,Get some advice ,I really believe it gave all involved a better understanding on HOW MUCH my Financial Position had improved year to year .It actually ended up over the years that I did 1 partnership with the Banker and 2 with the Lawyer .I also guess that being a member of the Planning and Zoning commission did NOT hurt things either .
Sadly the Banker and lawyer have passed away The CPA firm is now run by his daughter . Actually had MORE problems doing the out of state Deals . Won't ever do them again that way .
Jeff again doing things my way was very helpfull . always thought LONG TERM . Be it residential or commercial with appreciation and notes being paid off it still amazes me how fast your money can grow .Today you are just another number at the bank or Mortgage Company .Bottom line I'm a happy camper with few regrets . Not sure if the same can be accomplisher in todays TRENDS ,MARKETS unless you a RE GURU !

Rich:

Point 1 . I very much agree with your point of view . Just trying to figure out WHAT is best for my family Goals from a Conservative aspect While keeping the Max Possible for future generations

Point 2. I will be checking out the GST or Bypass Trusts .though I would like to put some restrictions on it such as A severe illness, Education , Purchasing ones First house and a few charities .

Point 3, I am guessing that Bill also is quite knowledable in his dealings . However I tend to think along the same lines as you about Rates/income . Not to say there is anything wrong with them BUT to me it all DEPENDS on your age , What your Goals are , and WHAT your investing strategy is .
Until I can be convinced otherwise at this point in my life I think cashing out and looking towards the future is the best option . Not to say that I am FINISHED in RE Investing it is just as long as it takes to build up to this position securing everything for the future WON't happen overnight.
I do have a will in place though I suspect that it will have to be done over once the majority of everything is in place . So far the wife and kids are all on the same page with me . Though as with most couples the wife tends to outlive the husband and to that end What recomendations would you have as a % of total that wife would NEED to carry on say another 15-20 years . She too is very conservative yet you have to consider long term health care .Though the likelyhood would be she would probably move in with one of the kids

Point 4. Yellow VIPER : VERY NICE !!!
Still leaning in the direction of an Aston Martin . Though I suppose a Ferrari , Maclaren or Lambo would make great choices too HA HA !! Enjoy it while you can cause you can't take it with you

Point 5 . Though I suspect I could still save me big $$$ by buying a PINTO but with my luck someone will rear end me and the car and I will both burn up .

I need to take a break as I am beginning to sound like a MOTIVADED SELLER .
THANKS

Steve : So OBOZO 's thinking about everyone on this FORUM is that NOBODY built their own business ? WHAT A BUFFON !! From someone who has NEVER run a business . WHAT A JERK !! I wonder HOW many sleepless nights he ever had???

Again Steve NOT trying to "engage in silly Financial and Legal Gymnastics just to save some money ."

One of my biggest quirks I suppose is that sometimes I tend to over Analyze too many things . I don't mind paying the professional's be they lawyers , CPA's Trust specialists .Over the years I have dealt with the Good the Bad , and the Ugly . Not trying to save some money .Kids are doing well ,Grand-kids have a good start. The goal is to be able to extend the funding out to 4-5 generations .

The way this Country is headed WHO knows what will be happening 40 years from now ? All I can say is I do believe CASH WILL STILL BE KING !!! SORRY for my RANT

Bill : Thanks for the info about the Great Loop Hope you get to do it

Also thanks for mentioning the CR TRUST . I have added it to my list of MANY questions to ask CPA's and Lawyers . I almost have the Jitters like someone doing their first RE deal . I am a firm believer in going to the Specialists .Doctors are somewhat like Lawyers and CPA's .You would NOT consult a Brain Surgeon for Hemoroids . YET to NOT use the Specialist's would be a waste of time and money .

Bill : what is the Great Loop ? Is that like the old 1 lap around America ?