All Forum Posts by: Brad Z.

great thread! i think through this every day. i have come to the conclusion that if/when I get to that time where my re salary is 2 to 3 times my career salary and the time feels right, then jump. but if I am able to manage the re business very efficiently in 12-15 hours a week, it will make it tough, my approach is just to keep growing the business and if i ever get to the point to where i feel like my time is more valuable to growing re and i am in a position to continue to get finance, its adios!

i do agree that financing is easier to mange when you have a salary job but I plan to continue to use equity lines and buy more buidings, then lines on those properties,etc.... if I ever start to get resitance doing that, I will be able to start cash refi'ing properties. i hope that the effort and time I have put into relationship management will carry me a long way.

thanks Alan. my plans are pretty close to your thoughts. I want to get my cash flow to triple my current take home salary then I can really start to think seriously about transitioning to full time. I have put a lot of effort into networking with regional banks in our area and hope to rely on those relationships to continue to aggressively grow. The thing with RE is that the sky is the limit. You just have to be super patient and pick your spots!

i am in a fortunate situation of having bought quite a few properties for about 20% of ltv and have heloc's on them through local banks, i plan to continue to buy on a discount and fund the next purchase through equity. i can always cash out refi as well. not sure if using heloc's vs. conventional means alot since they probably still want to see proof of income.

the fact is owning a business allows you to write off everyday expenses that depress your taxable income but not your livable income if that makes sens. for instance, if i wasnt a re investor, I would still have a cellphone, truck, tools, etc.....but since I have a company, I can write those things off

When transitioning to fulltime my biggest concern is the loss of income from a stable job. I have income from re investing but like most I do maximize my deductions to keep my taxable income low but when I go for financing I think that may hurt me? How have others achieved this? How far back to lenders want to see re income? I am thinking of creating a seperate cash flows file that shows my true income vs. expenses for each property. thoughts?

Barry,
How did you setup the direct deposit?

boarded up windows is a good one, it scares alot of people away but in most cases window need to be replaced anyways!

ok so what is the general consensus? i am buying/rehabbing/renting. I think I will continue to acquire at an aggressive pace straigth through the winter, i am hoping to see a decline in buyers, especially on the rental side and maybe even pick up some even better deals, even if it takes an extra month or two to rent, ill be just fine with the carrying costs.

Do you allow smoking in middle to low income areas? I have completely rehabbed a property and would like to find solid non smoking tenants but will that seriously deter renters? Its a two unit, with 1 unit per floor. If the lower level unit smokes and the sencond floor doesnt, the smell will cause issues? What are your thoughts?

We are going into winter and i was wondering how much things slow down during hte cold months. I am currently doing some rehabbing/rent and hold and am wondering if I should pull back a bit going into the winter months. Do renters backoff in the cold midwest winters or is there still a steady demand?