All Forum Posts by: Chris Harkins

@Jonathan Key , you should just be able to call a local title/escrow company to do the search.. Shouldn't be more than a couple hundred dollars. Might check with your attorney and see who they use, or they might even have someone in house that can take care of it for you!

@Eric H. you're welcome! Good luck.

@Brian Kennedy  an attorney is almost always recommended just as safe guards against things you may not know about or havent thought about.. (such as getting a title search)

I would hate to have a property quit claimed over to me only to find out later that there is an extra 30k lien from a contractor for unpaid work.. or even a 2nd mortgage that wasn't disclosed.. so now you're on the hook for that as well and it destroys the cash flow you thought you were going to get.

While you could just register a quit claim deed.. if you don't do you due diligence, trying to save a couple hundred dollars  on an attorney overlooking the transaction, may cost you several thousand dollars on the back side. Well worth the investment in having someone over see the contracts and do some background work.

Don't trip over dollars to save nickels.

Eric I don't know an attorney there, but MAKE SURE you do a title search to make sure there isn't any unforeseen or undisclosed liens against the property.

@Breanne A. 

@Kyle Gregg , You are "improving" your situation only until you have an extended vacancy or a major unforeseen repair.

Don't forget to factor in a property management fee.. Trust me a made this mistake my on the first few I did.. It will consume time and while you may never physically take that money out to pay yourself.. Need to budget for it. Figure 10% per month, and may want to call around to a couple local companies to see what their rates are.. Here they may take anywhere from 50%-100% of the first months rent for placement.

In the event that you ever had to move for whatever reason, or ended up in a position to where you couldn't manage it yourself.. you'll be way happier you planned for it on the front end. That's just my 2c though.

You can definitely make it work, just be sure you have enough of a financial reserve to cover incidentals, loss of a job, etc. "The unknowns."

Good luck man!

Are you using conservative numbers on your ARV? Because if your not, there's not a whole lot of wiggle room after that (percentage wise), say if you had to discount it to move the property..

Have you factored in closing costs, prorated taxes, insurance, etc?

I think this is going to come down to your appetite for risk and how well you know your numbers.. If they wanted to sell it for what they owe.. It would probably make more sense for them and for you just to have them do it out right. *To an owner occupant

Personally, I wouldn't touch it.

@Kimberly Gillock  as long as it is a dedicated spot you should be good.. just shouldn't be used as something else as well.. 

They really don't have a way of verifying how long you spend down there, but not writing off your office if you legitimately use it that way because you are worried of an audit, is a little bizarre. Where do you draw the line at risk of an audit? Not claiming depreciation either?

As long as everything checks out, I would take the write off.

Hope that helps! 

@Kyle Gregg Could you rent out a bedroom or 2 in your unit to make up the difference? I don't recommend negative cashflow as an "investment". 

@Steve T. , Not that I'm aware of.. but you may have a business plan on your hands..

You could collect premiums from the human, then deny the claim because the animal was subject to undue influence if it didn't agree to the policy.

Pretty standard insurance practice. Haha.