All Forum Posts by: Costin I.

@Jeremy Rhodes - like one of the other posters said, you use your high W2 to get multiple rentals with good net cash flow - that means net income after ALL the expenses, income that is offset by depreciation to zero taxes (basically you get money in your wallet while on paper you have to pay zero taxes ). And you do that till your rentals income becomes same of bigger with one (or both) of your W2 incomes, at which point you can quit the W2 and just collect. Likely at that time, if for example, your wife stays home and manages the rentals, she can qualify as real estate professional, and you can start using all your accumulated deductions against your W2. That's when the party starts. 

@Allison Stewart - does Cozy check the applicants rental history (call the previous landlord references to inquire about the applicant) and their actual employment? And what happens if things go bad and you still need their full information, emergency contact, employer, etc in order to track & get hold of them and recover money? 

What I'm trying to say, even if you use an online processor, you might still want to have their full info on hand.

Does Cozy application have something to this extent made available to the landlord?

"Authorization: Applicant authorizes Landlord and Landlord's agent, at any time before, during, or after any tenancy, to:
(1) obtain a copy of Applicant's credit report;
(2) obtain a criminal background check related to Applicant and any occupant; and
(3) verify any rental or employment history or verify any other information related to this application with persons
knowledgeable of such information."

@Andy Crawford & @Kris Wong et all - there you go, the links and another couple of diagrams:

1. Showing the necessary stars alignment for perfect asset protection, all the things that have to come together for it:

2. A potential full asset protection structure (shield signifies protected, open lock means vulnerable):

• Here are the links to highres files:
  https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/CosIorg/file/asset-protection-onion-diagram-v2
  https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/CosIorg/file/asset-protection-decision-diagram
• https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/CosIorg/file/asset-protection-spectrum-diagram
  https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/CosIorg/file/asset-protection-structures
  
  
  

@Avery Manison Here is my "starting up" collection:

Read ideal-vs-desperate-investor (http://greeneincome.com/index.php/2018/10/29/ideal-vs-desperate-investor/)
Read Dave Ramsey book "The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness." and complete the baby steps there.
Read Scott Trench’s book “Set for Life.”
Finish the school and get your degree - you'll need it later, especially if it's business management.
Get a job first where you have W2 income. Save 50 percent after tax income. Find deals in your market. Buy at discounted prices. Rehab. Rent. Refinance. Repeat.
Work slave job with W-2 documentation for 2 years to gain favor with banks. Freddy/Fannie conventional loans want to see those 2 years. Keep same job no matter how crappy. It's only a stepping stone to break free.
While you are slaving, eat ramen, roommate up or live in trailer, avoid Starbucks and tuck every dollar you can squeeze out into a bank account. need 20% down and money for materials. so for 80K home (trashed), you will want 35K banked to get started, just a rough idea.
Then, get pre-approved. Buy property. Buy another and another until you have enough equity to refinance one for large amount of cash. Take cash and start BRRRRR process (read up all you can on BRRRRR). Give boss notice. (sorry about all the school time you invested). Your free. Done.
Find a mentor to help with the process.
Doing an internship with someone that is serious about their business, and then making sure that you're just as serious about their business as they are, is an awesome way to gain invaluable experience and support for yourself in the long run.
Intern with a flipper. Intern with a wholesaler. Intern with Rental Investor. Then decide what you want to do long term. You have a long journey ahead.
Aggressively save money and buy a Multifamily 2-4 units with 3.5% FHA loan and house hack. Find a duplex/triplex that needs a little work, live in one unit rent out the rest. Raise the rents to market values and rehab to force equity and sell in 2 years to avoid capital gains. If you decide to keep the property you can refinance into a conventional loan and hopefully you have enough equity to eliminate the PMI/MIP. Then move out and repeat the process. Repeat. Do this four or five times and you'll never have to work again if you choose. [Beware = https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/house-hacking-drawbacks/]
I would look for a 2-4 unit too house hack. You can get into these with 3.5% down for an owner occupied FHA loan. Great way to get started FHA makes sure its a cash flowing deal before they allow you to buy. And house hacking allows you to make a little off the property, and seriously subsidize your rent. And lastly, you gotta live like a college kid. Rent out rooms, go the cheap route. Having those cheap expenses will really catapult you forward financially!
Income from RE investing is slow and boring (in a good way). The RE investing that makes fast money is not really “investing” - it’s a self-employed RE business. For example, flipping, deal finding, wholesaling, syndicating.
Boosting your credit score is the no-brainer investment. Go on My Fico and learn the credit hacks. Do them!!!
[Biggerpockets] is notorious for the no and no money down niche, but you really need to have a good financial runway prior to investing otherwise you will lose your bottom when it goes sideways.
Read all the usual books. But to be honest with you, If you do not learn some construction skills, your progress will be a lot slower as contractors will be raking in the majority of your profits.
Get a pro account on this site so you can access the PRO only blogs and avoid all the goofy stuff that can confuse you sometimes.
Take NO advice from salesmen such as realtors/brokers. Not because they are wrong, but because they are salesmen.
Take NO advice from anyone who does not own more real estate than you do. Why chance it.
Just keep reading, saving, researching your target area. Know the rents! Know the values.
Do all this and you'll be on a very good path. Just remember, there are no secrets and shortcuts in real estate investing, just slow and steady progress. You want fast, you are closer to speculating than investing and your risk skyrockets​.
"Ignorance is bliss. Knowledge is power, but also a burden, leading to analysis paralysis. The cure to both - the 4 ions: education, action, progress(ion), not perfection".

Learn to use BP to its whole potential:
Subscribe to BP blog and podcasts and start reading posts and listening to their podcasts collection.
Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: http://www.biggerpockets.com/m...
Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you: http://www.biggerpockets.com/a...
Read Beginner’s Guide: Real-estate-investing (http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing)
+ Actionable-steps-to- reach-investing-goals (https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/12/17/actionable-steps-reach-investing-goals)

You can find a glossary of some acronyms here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

You might also want to read: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide - https://assets2.biggerpockets....
...actually the entire section on Guides - https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

BP has a whole section dedicated to education and starting up - https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Get busy with the entire Education section on BP:
property-types (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/property-types)
finance (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/finance)
strategy (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/strategy)
analyze-deals (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/finding-deals/analyze-deals)
property-management (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/property-management) (including TENANTS MAINTENANCE)
business-operations (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/business-operations) (and the sub section on REAL ESTATE MARKETING TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY TAXES & ACCOUNTING LEGAL TEAM)

One way or another you will pay your "real estate tuition" - either in time, effort or money. My suggestion - better in time and effort, and money (through the mistakes you going to make), than paying a guru.

Between BP and books and all the other podcasts and blogs available for free, you shouldn't need any paid training - don't fall for that. Just find a good mentor to shadow, someone willing to impart from his/her experience, take them to lunch and make yourself useful to them, and they will teach you.

Here some recent articles good for starters:
- one to raise you up: 3-important-questions-starting-investing-real-estate https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- one to bring you back down to earth: dont-just-dabble-in-real-estate-investing https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- one in the middle: cheap-free-steps-today-pro https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- 10-lethal-mistakes-avoid-real-estate-investment https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- telltale-signs-youre-not-ready-to-invest https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- vital-importance-mentor https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- get-ready-to-invest https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- get-your-head-in-the-game https://royallegalsolutions.co...

You might want to read and follow these threads:
advice-to-your-20-year-old-self https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
financial-advise-for-getting-started https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
how-to-prepare-for-a-career-as-a-flipper https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
new-to-wholesale-real-estate https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
what-is-the-best-re-related-9-to-5-job https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Bonus for the weekend, my collection for starters (read the comments too, and then if you like the author, go check out what else they wrote):
- stages-of-investing https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- newbies-learn-real-estate-investing https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- 5-ways-to-know-youre-not-ready-to-invest https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- ideal-vs-desperate-investor https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- how-much-to-offer-property https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- hazardous-attitudes-of-investors https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- 21-traits-scammy-real-estate-investment-guru https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- youre-not-cut-out-to-be-real-estate-investor https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- questions-new-investors-should-ask https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- real-estate-books-beginner-investors https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- what-separates-those-who-succeed-from-those-who-fail https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

If that's not enough, ping me and I'll give you a whole collection of blogs and podcasts to follow.

Bonus 2:
1) Read at least one hour per day every single day.
2) Remember the quote by Jim Rohn "You are the average of the five people that you spend the most time with."
3) Check for toilet paper before sitting down.

@John Collins - procedure and price varies wildly, but ​I can tell you there is more to foundation repairs than just the foundation. Here is what I collected as "warnings" or lessons (from various sources and some experienced myself) about foundation problems and/or repairs:

1. If you have brick on the exterior, you might have to do tuckpointing. $$$

2. If you have tiles inside, the tiles will crack. And if they have to drill holes for interior piers, you pretty much will have to replace the entire flooring. $$$$

3. You'll have drywall cracks, so you should factor in drywall repairs and repainting. $$$

4. If the doors were adjusted to a crooked foundation, you might need to readjust or even buy new doors. $$$

5. A hydrostatic plumbing test is recommended to be performed by a licensed plumber post Foundation work. Plumbing leaks may void warranty. Old houses have cast iron pipers that will disintegrate (because of age and/or foundation shift). You'll have to replace all plumbing at that point. $$$$

6. Depending on how bad is the foundation state (how many inches you have to correct), is very possible the sewer line will disconnect/break in the horizontal portions. Repairing that requires tunneling, a repair that could be very expensive. $$$$

7. If the driveway- garage differential is big (for example, the driveway slab is sunken and you need to raise the house, you'll end up with an even bigger gap after repair) you might need to replace the driveway. $$$$

8. If you are dealing with an addition built on 12" beams (or if the original foundation is old and not built to current standards), the repair company might not be able to push the piers down to refusal depth or psi due to the beam not taking the load, thus leveling it, but not guaranteeing it will not continue to move in the future, thus not providing warranty.

9. The owner may be required to provide a structural engineers evaluation prior to warranty work.

10. Read the fine print in the foundation repair contract: Damages to the property, interior and exterior as a result of the foundation movement are not covered, during and after works completion. This usually includes but is not limited to PLUMBING, flooring, landscape, utility lines and masonry. The foundation repair does not cover any repairs that may be needed to the home during and after works completion. And you'll have new cracks in unexpected places, old cracks that will not close, but instead enlarge. My suggestion is to add at least 25% to the cost of the foundation repair as mitigation to the problems that will come from the foundation repair.

11. The foundation repair company salespeople (and even owners, in some case) of structure companies are not engineers and though they may be right most of the time, there will be gaps in their assumptions. Unless it's a small job with an obvious solution, get an engineer ($250+) to look at it and sketch up a scope of work for a contractor to do.

12. Many foundation problems have water as a root cause - be that infiltration in a crawl space, drainage around the site, cracked sewer line or water line. Before solving the foundation you might want to get to the root cause of the foundation issue and resolve it, otherwise you might repair the foundation for nothing.

13. If you repair the foundation on only select places, don't be surprised if the other sides will suddenly start "working". If the house is stabilized on one side, you might get cracks in the other side soon after. In other words, if you do a foundation repair, it's better to get the whole house stabilized and the warranty for the whole house.

@Andy Crawford - some diagrams to help you visualize answers in your quest:

@David Rohrer To be intimated, to fear, is healthy. THERE IS NO FEAR IN ME is never completely true. We have to learn how to work our way through it. To learn how to act in the midst of it. The people who succeed are the people who are willing to endure the fear, to act despite it, and not wait until the day (which never comes) that they feel no fear.

No pain, no gain; No guts, no glory; No risk, no reward; No sacrifice, no victory. Opportunity carries risk, and risk carries opportunity. Grow some balls and get into action. Action, progress, not perfection! 

Failure can make you stronger. You must dare greatly.

That was the motivational stuff. Now, the practical stuff - learn how to mitigate risk: avoid (don't buy), transfer (wholesale, hire), mitigate (start small, get expert advice or partner, insure), accept.

@William Kwan Here is my "starting up" collection:

Read ideal-vs-desperate-investor (http://greeneincome.com/index.php/2018/10/29/ideal-vs-desperate-investor/)
Read Dave Ramsey book "The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness." and complete the baby steps there.
Read Scott Trench’s book “Set for Life.”
Finish the school and get your degree - you'll need it later, especially if it's business management.
Get a job first where you have W2 income. Save 50 percent after tax income. Find deals in your market. Buy at discounted prices. Rehab. Rent. Refinance. Repeat.
Work slave job with W-2 documentation for 2 years to gain favor with banks. Freddy/Fannie conventional loans want to see those 2 years. Keep same job no matter how crappy. It's only a stepping stone to break free.
While you are slaving, eat ramen, roommate up or live in trailer, avoid Starbucks and tuck every dollar you can squeeze out into a bank account. need 20% down and money for materials. so for 80K home (trashed), you will want 35K banked to get started, just a rough idea.
Then, get pre-approved. Buy property. Buy another and another until you have enough equity to refinance one for large amount of cash. Take cash and start BRRRRR process (read up all you can on BRRRRR). Give boss notice. (sorry about all the school time you invested). Your free. Done.
Find a mentor to help with the process.
Doing an internship with someone that is serious about their business, and then making sure that you're just as serious about their business as they are, is an awesome way to gain invaluable experience and support for yourself in the long run.
Intern with a flipper. Intern with a wholesaler. Intern with Rental Investor. Then decide what you want to do long term. You have a long journey ahead.
Aggressively save money and buy a Multifamily 2-4 units with 3.5% FHA loan and house hack. Find a duplex/triplex that needs a little work, live in one unit rent out the rest. Raise the rents to market values and rehab to force equity and sell in 2 years to avoid capital gains. If you decide to keep the property you can refinance into a conventional loan and hopefully you have enough equity to eliminate the PMI/MIP. Then move out and repeat the process. Repeat. Do this four or five times and you'll never have to work again if you choose. [Beware = https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/house-hacking-drawbacks/]
I would look for a 2-4 unit too house hack. You can get into these with 3.5% down for an owner occupied FHA loan. Great way to get started FHA makes sure its a cash flowing deal before they allow you to buy. And house hacking allows you to make a little off the property, and seriously subsidize your rent. And lastly, you gotta live like a college kid. Rent out rooms, go the cheap route. Having those cheap expenses will really catapult you forward financially!
Income from RE investing is slow and boring (in a good way). The RE investing that makes fast money is not really “investing” - it’s a self-employed RE business. For example, flipping, deal finding, wholesaling, syndicating.
Boosting your credit score is the no-brainer investment. Go on My Fico and learn the credit hacks. Do them!!!
[Biggerpockets] is notorious for the no and no money down niche, but you really need to have a good financial runway prior to investing otherwise you will lose your bottom when it goes sideways.
Read all the usual books. But to be honest with you, If you do not learn some construction skills, your progress will be a lot slower as contractors will be raking in the majority of your profits.
Get a pro account on this site so you can access the PRO only blogs and avoid all the goofy stuff that can confuse you sometimes.
Take NO advice from salesmen such as realtors/brokers. Not because they are wrong, but because they are salesmen.
Take NO advice from anyone who does not own more real estate than you do. Why chance it.
Just keep reading, saving, researching your target area. Know the rents! Know the values.
Do all this and you'll be on a very good path. Just remember, there are no secrets and shortcuts in real estate investing, just slow and steady progress. You want fast, you are closer to speculating than investing and your risk skyrockets​.
"Ignorance is bliss. Knowledge is power, but also a burden, leading to analysis paralysis. The cure to both - the 4 ions: education, action, progress(ion), not perfection".

Learn to use BP to its whole potential:
Subscribe to BP blog and podcasts and start reading posts and listening to their podcasts collection.
Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: http://www.biggerpockets.com/m...
Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you: http://www.biggerpockets.com/a...
Read Beginner’s Guide: Real-estate-investing (http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing)
+ Actionable-steps-to- reach-investing-goals (https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/12/17/actionable-steps-reach-investing-goals)

You can find a glossary of some acronyms here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

You might also want to read: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide - https://assets2.biggerpockets....
...actually the entire section on Guides - https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

BP has a whole section dedicated to education and starting up - https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Get busy with the entire Education section on BP:
property-types (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/property-types)
finance (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/finance)
strategy (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/strategy)
analyze-deals (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/finding-deals/analyze-deals)
property-management (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/property-management) (including TENANTS MAINTENANCE)
business-operations (https://www.biggerpockets.com/hubs/business-operations) (and the sub section on REAL ESTATE MARKETING TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY TAXES & ACCOUNTING LEGAL TEAM)

One way or another you will pay your "real estate tuition" - either in time, effort or money. My suggestion - better in time and effort, and money (through the mistakes you going to make), than paying a guru.

Between BP and books and all the other podcasts and blogs available for free, you shouldn't need any paid training - don't fall for that. Just find a good mentor to shadow, someone willing to impart from his/her experience, take them to lunch and make yourself useful to them, and they will teach you.

Here some recent articles good for starters:
- one to raise you up: 3-important-questions-starting-investing-real-estate https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- one to bring you back down to earth: dont-just-dabble-in-real-estate-investing https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- one in the middle: cheap-free-steps-today-pro https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- 10-lethal-mistakes-avoid-real-estate-investment https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- telltale-signs-youre-not-ready-to-invest https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- vital-importance-mentor https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- get-ready-to-invest https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- get-your-head-in-the-game https://royallegalsolutions.co...

You might want to read and follow these threads:
advice-to-your-20-year-old-self https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
financial-advise-for-getting-started https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
how-to-prepare-for-a-career-as-a-flipper https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
new-to-wholesale-real-estate https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
what-is-the-best-re-related-9-to-5-job https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Bonus for the weekend, my collection for starters (read the comments too, and then if you like the author, go check out what else they wrote):
- stages-of-investing https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- newbies-learn-real-estate-investing https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- 5-ways-to-know-youre-not-ready-to-invest https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- ideal-vs-desperate-investor https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- how-much-to-offer-property https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- hazardous-attitudes-of-investors https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- 21-traits-scammy-real-estate-investment-guru https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- youre-not-cut-out-to-be-real-estate-investor https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- questions-new-investors-should-ask https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- real-estate-books-beginner-investors https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
- what-separates-those-who-succeed-from-those-who-fail https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

If that's not enough, ping me and I'll give you a whole collection of blogs and podcasts to follow.

Bonus 2:
1) Read at least one hour per day every single day.
2) Remember the quote by Jim Rohn "You are the average of the five people that you spend the most time with."
3) Check for toilet paper before sitting down.

@Abby Robinson - get the-complete-guide-to-home-inspection book from Taunton and John T.Reed's checklists-for-buying-rental-houses-and-apartment-buildings and you are set (if you read them and put them in practice).

@John Voors - first foundation repairs and demolition (if any). Then from inside out - plumbing and electrical - and top down (flooring at the end).