All Forum Posts by: Vida Novak

Working on a house flip, but have a bit of a concern.  A wholesaler sold me the house-half of a double lot.  Typical strategy, they hold and sell the empty lot separately, I didn't have a problem with it, as I got a good deal.  However, after doing some more research, it appears that the house I am rehabbing is much too close or pretty much sitting on the property line between the two parcels.

First, get out of the way that I fell just a little short on the research end, because I knew about this before and I should have made the offer for both lots together, or at least figured out the ramifications of this situation in advance.  I am not completely inexperienced and I certainly knew better.  Let fly the chastising, but I'm hoping for more constructive input.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this and how I am supposed to deal with this situation.  Obviously the original owner of the lots was not concerned about the property lines, so they put the house where they wanted.  I feel like there must be some laws or zoning regulations that would prevent the seller from doing this.

Who is really responsible here and what is the process to clear up this situation?  I don't know if I believe the seller should be required to give me the other lot for nothing, but then again, I can't be required to "move the house", right?  The seller tried to sell the parcels separately, thereby creating the violation, so shouldn't they be responsible?

What excitement!

Haters gonna hate.

There are a dozen saying that go something like, "if nobody is criticizing you, you're not doing anything worthwhile."  

Keep going.

What an active thread, this is very excited, and you must be keeping very busy catching up on everyone's input.  Anyone who commented to stay up and move through the discouragement is on point.  Subscribe to the Zig Ziglar podcast, it will keep your head right.

I don't want to say this, and I'm not knocking anyone, but "keep learning" and "get involved in real estate", while all great and obviously very important parts of getting into the industry, just don't hit on actionable advice to me.  It kinda sounds like, "just get out there and do everything at once" to me.  Seriously, what are you supposed to do with that?  (but do it anyway, by the way).

Here's what I would consider a more concrete suggestion if you really want to bust into the real estate game but think you are completely helpless to do so:

Buy a duplex.  Move in to one unit.  Rent the other.

Bad credit, no money, blah blah blah right?  There are plenty of programs for those situations, government guaranteed loans, down payment assistance, it goes on.  Just move on it.  It's so easy to do as a homeowner, especially a 1st time home owner, rather than as a "real estate investor".  Find the right program for "bad credit" and DO IT NOW.

This is what will happen: you will instantly become a real estate investor and it probably won't cost you anything to start, not to mention that since someone else is paying your mortgage, you will pay much less rent than if you live in an apartment, which will also instantly improve your cash situation.  You will get to be a landlord; maybe that is or is not the direction you thought your real estate career was heading, but it's an interesting experience, not to mention that you will find great satisfaction in that check coming to you every month.  Now you're learning what "passive income" means.  When the clock strikes 1st of the month, someone owes you money, and you didn't have to trade a minute of your time for it. 

This may be the start of a slow and steady process to realize your dreams, but the alternative is to keep doing what you have been doing, and you're clearly not satisfied with that, right?!!  Oh, and if you find that the real estate industry is not for you, you still own an asset and are paying less rent for more space than you would otherwise, so you pretty much cannot lose.

This is an interesting topic for me, too, because I am starting a flip with a partner, but the structure of our deal is that I am going to be the owner and I am signing the note for the property. 

I am wondering how this will work out at the end of the deal as far as returning investment funds and profit allocated. I obviously can't claim all the profit, but it would be there under my business and my accounts. We probably will form an LLC if we continue working together, but it's our first project and we're trying to keep it simple for now.

I know the short answer is, "talk to your accountant", and no doubt that I am planning to take my project spreadsheet to the accountant and say, "here's what I did, how do we handle this?", but I'm hoping to get some general idea about how that will work out just so I know what to expect before I get to that step.

I'm doing it right now along with hard money for a flip.  It's going pretty deep, right?  Kinda scary, and also a pain to have to start making installment payments right away.  But if you're serious, then do WHATEVER IT TAKES to make it happen!

I agree with everyone above, you should wait 0 minutes.

Buy a duplex or larger, and move in to one unit.  You'll get easier financing, and you'll be on-site to practice your landlording.  If you do that a few times, you easily build your income property.  And do it fast, because your future wife won't want to continue that process!  ;)

Oh, here's another perspective, you don't, "wait until you earn 100k per year" to take action, this is one of the ways by which you WILL earn 100k per year!

Thanks for the wonderful greetings!

Looking forward to getting involved here and learning more.

@Jeff Brower I am under contract and closing next week, but glad to hear from someone in my neighborhood and hope we can connect later.

Hello Bigger Pockets world!

I'm new to the site, finally broke down and joined after listening to the podcast for a couple months now (those guys really are shameless with the plugs!  but hey, you gotta do it).  Actually started pumping audio into my head after getting a clue from Life Leadership that you have to motivate daily (like bathing, thanks Zig Ziglar), something I'd already heard before, but just did not act on.  

I mention that story because it had surprisingly immediate results for me once I started motivating myself consistently.  I've been a real estate investor since 2006, acquired a second rental property in 2011 and basically have been moving at the speed of a glacier.  I've been very interested in trying a flip for the last few years and always got stuck on that typical, "got no money" excuse.  Well, I just heard the right thing one day and I realized that I am fully capable of making it happen.

So now I'm about to purchase my first rehab, will have a very interesting project to tackle over the summer, and start taking a much more active role in my real estate investing business.

- if - it - is - to - be - it - is - up - to - me -