All Forum Posts by: Brian Mcmenamin

@Frank Cruz I haven't done any flips yet, but I classify my rental portfolio under an LLC. LLC's are a couple hundred bucks to establish. Talk to Jones, Walker and Lake in Va Beach if you are in the area. The annual filing fee is $50. I would recommend establishing an LLC "Cruz Flips" and use that to get your contractors license. I looked into getting my license in Virginia its about a 6hour course and a couple hundred bucks. Having your contractors license in "general Construction" will allow you to do a majority of the oversight and save you money. You can also hire all of your own subs. If you are busy with a different job, totally understand I would just establish the LLC and move on. Good Luck

Has anyone ever considered using pre-fab home on a quick sale option? Buy a plot of land, finance the pre-fab home, and sell the whole package when its complete. thoughts?

@Kash Chau I prefer to get it all under one loan just for convenience. I've also done it before where I have multiple loans, and it works. I probably saved a little bit of money on the multiple loans, but I think 5 years is enough time to figure out if you want to go for a longer term loan. Good Luck

@Anthony Brown I would get in touch with the owner to see if they are even interested in selling. You should probably at the same time be working hard to get your buyers list together. I mean ASAP. You can always advertise deals on Bigger Pockets, but its good to have a few cash buyers that you can go to with a deal. Talk to a REO agent in the area who might be able to provide you a list of cash buyers in the area. Start with them. Good Luck

@Shanae Williams You are absolutely right.. It is extremely difficult to find the focus to stay with it day in and day out. You just need to dig deep and know that putting the hard work in now will pay off for you. Youll do it. 

@Julia Rockwell For me before I start running numbers, I decide what I would like to do. Am I looking to fix this property with the hope of selling it or renting it long term. If I can get that answer, I will look at two different options. If I want to sell it, how much time do I have before I want to sell it. If I want to sell it quickly, I will look at comparable sales in the area and see how much current market sales are. If I want to rent, I will change my house hack plan because I know that I am having renters come in, and they will not always take care of my properties as well as I will.

For house hacking, foreclosures can be tough because of the condition you might find them in. I'm not saying that it can't be done, but understand that foreclosures are sometimes vacant so they might not be livable right away. i.e. Water pipes might be split, electric might not be running properly. If it was occupied prior to the sale, you wont have to worry about a lot of this.

I've bought two short sales in my limited real estate investing career. My two complaints are they rely on the bank to come to grips with losing money, which they never want to do. The other problem with short sales is that they take forever to close. I have closed on a short sale in less than 6 months, not saying it can't be done but I haven't pulled it off yet.

I think house hacking is great, and I've done it a few times. My recommendation would be to sit down and come up with some realistic goals based on a couple questions: Do I want to live in this area forever? Am I trying to fix and sell in a short period of time? Do I want to have long term passive income? If you can answer at least those questions you will be heading in the right direction for how to proceed.

You have all the right tools to be set for success with your calculators. Take some time and think it through. You will be good. Stay with it. Good Luck.

@Olaf Stieber keep that steady stream of income while you build up enough income to be able to quit your job. It will take work, but if you stay with it the rewards will be worth it. Don't give up the current income to dive into the unknown. Take your time and find those great deals. Good Luck

@Monica Litster I listen to them on "Play Music" on my phone and once I have finished listening to one, it gets highlighted. I usually have a little notebook next to me that I take notes on , and then type that into a document I have on my external hard drive for reference. You advertising your wholesale deals on a website or do you have a mailing list?

@Brandon Small I've always looked at it as if I planned on living in the same location for more than 2 years, and I could find a place to buy that was cheaper than what I am paying for rent I do it. That's my personal take, not sure that would work for everyone. I also try to find homes that need a little bit of work, doing the repairs myself, and then selling when I leave. I've been pretty lucky because that plan relies on speculation, but its worked for me a couple times. I think you could probably swing both. Find a place for $2K a month and put away that other $1.5K in savings towards your investments. VA is really nice because you don't have to put any money down. Good luck.

@Lane Cooper You can totally do it with a multi-family house. I've house hacked a condo and a single family house that me and my family were living in.. I do NOT recommend it. Its really tough living in a construction zone, but the end results made it ok. I'm trying to convince my wife to do it again on a duplex, but those discussions are still ongoing. You save a bunch of money