All Forum Posts by: Michael Shadow

At least I know how to pronounce DuLac. I can't pronounce your first name either.

IMO the best seminar you can attend is the one in your car/truck every time you get in it and drive somewhere. Go spend $150 and get yourself an iPod and download iTunes for free and search the itunes store for real estate investing. I have listened to over 200 podcast on REI and I still have over 300 in my list that I haven't listened to yet. I have so much to listen to I can pick and choose which ones I want to listen to. The ones that fit my vision/ business plan I have listened to multiple times. Many of the podcast are interviews with many of the gurus and you can get a lot of information from them. Some times different podcasters interview the same guru's and they give different information so you end up gathering a lot of information about their program. Search the forums here for podcast and you can find many of the most popular ones.

That coupled with the forums here and your local REIA and you are hooked up with more wisdom than you could ever get from one $1000+ boot camp.

After you get your goals written down pick three things you need to do this week to see yourself to the next step and write them down on a post-it and place it on your bathroom mirror so you see it and read it multiple times each day. When you get one of them done, cross it off, after all three are done, put the stickey somewhere so you can keep track of what you have accomplished and make a new one with three more on it.

I got the technique from "The Sales Bible" by Jeffery Gitomer

no, it's good stuff. I was thinking about trying to go for terms like that next time I run into a stuborn seller. But now after your input and REI's I'm having second thoughts on trying to negotiate terms. You're just enlightening me to some new angles I've never considered before. Which is always good stuff :mrgreen:

Thanks again for your input.

-Michael

So why the push for people to invest in TX? I hear it all the time on multiple podcast I listen to.

Why should I invest in a piece of property that is in a state that has a government that is supported by property taxes instead of income tax? Shouldn't I be looking for a state with high income taxes and low property taxes? Especially if I'm an out of state investor...

Good move :mrgreen: Let some one else deal with the head aches

So even if I could negotiate terms that would be much better long term, like 15-20 years down the road (as in 0% rate) it's still a bad deal if it's not sweet now. Even though the cashflow is equal to what it would have been had it been purchased at the 2% rule price.

So if one was to attempt terms like this (I had been thinking about it a lot lately) The best way to set it up with the lowest risk from what I'm reading in your post would be to make the offer assignable and put some money down say 10-20% to help eliminate the risk of being upside down right out of the gate?

I do follow what you are saying and understand that buying at the right price is a much better option.

I'd just call zoning and ask them if the residential/rental housing permits are current on both units. If they say no or they don't know about it then you have two courses of action. First check with zoning and ask them if it's up to code if they would pass it. If they would then you could proceeded but let the seller know that it's not permitted for 2 units so you are only offering x dollars since the other unit is not legal. Your other course of action would be to look for another property, which probably is going to be your best choice unless you are able to get the property for way below market price, and don't count the rental income of the other unit if it's not permitted.

Now for question one. If they are not permitted and zoning will permit them they will have to pass a full codes inspection, which ever housing rules the local city uses. Our city just switched to IPMC 2006, which I think more and more cities are doing if they haven't already done so.

As for your second question... don't do it. Never rent with out the city's approval. First it's illegal and secondly if you are just starting out you will be a zoning/codes officer target for the rest of you life. These people are the last people you want to be enemies with. Of all the people you work with you want to honor these people and be as corporative as possible with them. If you tick one of them off they can make owning rentals in their district something you will wish you never did. You can tick a mortgage officer off so that he won't deal with you, no biggie you just go to another mortgage company. You tick codes and zonning off and your sunk because they are the buck stops here person that you will always have to deal with, and if they leave there is a good chance that they will tell their replacement about you.

rentometer is pretty accurate in my area too. It compares to recent ads and current ads. They also have a nice free little property management tool attached to it that allows you to create web ads and a nice little button to post the ad to craigslist. Not a bad site for free :-)